With Valentine’s Day this month, we look at the signs that cats are one of your true loves!
February is the month of Valentine’s Day and when it comes to love, our feline companions are always high on the list!
So, as the most romantic day of the year approaches, we take a look at the things cat lovers do to show that our furry friends hold a special place in their hearts.
1. Talk to your cat
Cats are good listeners and never interrupt (well, maybe sometimes!) when you’re telling a story or sharing your worries.
Many of us enjoy a conversation with our kitties and our feline friends may be more in tune than you think.
Research from a study, published in Animal Cognition Journal in 2016, found that cats behaved differently depending on whether their owner was smiling or frowning.
Cats wanted to be closer to their owners and displayed more positive behaviours when their owners were smiling.
Positive behaviours included purring, rubbing, or making themselves comfortable on their owners’ laps.
By contrast, cats didn’t change their behaviour when meeting a stranger, whether the person was smiling or frowning. This suggests cats can read their owners’ facial expressions, and this is actually learned over time. More importantly, it shows that cats are actually interested in us (which may come as a surprise)! So remember that the next time you’re having a chat with your furry friend.
2. Cat as profile pic
Your cat will have taken pride of place as your phone background or social media profile picture. Every time you log in you get to glimpse your kitty. You won’t be short of pictures to choose from either; you just pick the purr-fect picture from the hundreds of photos you already have on your phone!
3. Buy your kitty presents
A survey at Christmas found that over 75 per cent of owners planned to get their pets gifts. Whether it is Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or just because the mood takes you, you enjoy buying your cat gifts.
Even if you’re not exactly sure of when your cat was born, you will celebrate their birthday or the anniversary of when you brought them home by giving your furry friend a present.
Shopping for a tasty treat, an entertaining toy, a new scratch post, or a cute collar is great fun and better still, you don’t even need to wrap it up. Then the real excitement is giving the present to your cat!
4. Sign cards from your cat
When sending best wishes to anyone, cards are from the whole family, which, of course, includes feline members. Cards are signed off including your cat’s name, and those with the arty touch may even add a cute hand-drawn paw print for an added personal touch.
5. Take care of your cat
Cats give us so much as they enrich our lives with their companionship. While we revel in their happiness, we show that we truly love them by also taking our responsibility to look after them seriously.
Being wormed, vaccinated, protected from fleas, fed a healthy diet, groomed, mentally stimulated, and treated for any health issues — our furry friends may not always enjoy it, but the way we look after our cats is a real sign of how much we love them.
Some owners will put their cat’s health even before their own (though that’s definitely not recommended). Cats are family and we want them to be healthy and happy — as that makes us happy too.
There is a considerable time and financial commitment that comes with looking after our kitties, but many owners are barely aware of it. In fact, we don’t give it a second thought — it’s just part of being a cat owner.
6. Spot other cats
“Oh, a cat!” You may be out and about in public but there will always be excitement if you spy a kitty. If you’re with friends who are not cat people (they seriously don’t know what they’re missing!) they will look anything from bemused to frustrated. You will be oblivious though, as you try to entice the cat over so you can say a proper hello to your latest feline friend.
It’s a similar story when you go round to friends’ houses who have cats. As you head inside, you’re secretly hoping that the feline family member is in too, and looking forward to having visitors. While a lovely catch up with friends will undoubtedly be enjoyed, getting a chance to fuss their cat will still be a highlight of the evening.
7. Want more cats
Once you’ve had a cat in your life, things have changed forever. You will always want a feline friend alongside you. Even if you can’t own a cat because the time or situation is not right, you still wish you had a furry friend.
For some owners, having just one cat is not enough! So, they add more felines to the family. If you have more than one kitty, or are thinking about it, then you should definitely read this month’s (February 2020) multi-cat household feature on page 24 about ensuring there is harmony when cats live together.
Once our kitties pass over rainbow bridge, we still miss them and wish they were still with us. And while they can never be replaced, we may decide to welcome more cats into our lives because we want to share that bond with a feline companion Ultimately, once a cat lover, always a cat lover!
8. Let your cat sleep in your bed
Cats are constant companions, even when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep. You will buy your kitty the best pet beds but they only get used when your cat decides to have a nap in the day. At night, your feline friend will snuggle up alongside you and when morning comes, he will be your furry alarm clock!
A recent survey about pets sleeping in our beds, from pet well-being company Itchpet.com, found that 37 per cent of owners enjoy the warmth of their pet cosying up with them — aww!
You can learn about the pet-owner bond from how we share our beds with our cats. If you welcome your cat into your bed, then you need to read the ‘Happy kitty, sleepy kitty’ feature on page 46 (February 2020 issue), which goes through the different ways pets cosy up with us and what they mean.
9. Make time to spend with your cat
Modern life is busy but we all need to make time for our family and friends — and this certainly goes for our kitties! Sometimes you just need to clear the diary and snuggle up with your furry friend on the sofa. Maybe you’ve even turned down an invitation because, secretly, you’ve already made plans with your feline friend?
Whether it is curling up, giving him a good groom, or playing a game, we all enjoy making quality time for our cats.
10. Talk about cats
Sharing stories about our cats is just the best, and Your Cat Magazine is testament to that! We love to tell our friends about the latest mischief our kitties have got up to and hear about the foibles and characters of their feline friends. People love to chat about what they love and, of course, one of those things is most definitely our cats.
Talking about cats also helps to bring people together. There are countless social media channels where people enjoy cat chat and share snapshots of their cats. Communities are created between people who otherwise wouldn’t have known each other — none more so than the Your Cat community, which shares stories and enjoys the mag, social media, and newsletters!