It's World Cat Day on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, but cat-owners will tell you that every day is World Cat Day, because felines believe the world revolves around them, and act like it. Add to that the fact that the International Fund of Animal Welfare introduced this day in 2002 to increase the public's awareness for the needs of cats, and you begin to suspect if this is all a conspiracy by our furry friends to subjugate the whole human race.
Not that they have not already done so. Any person with a cat at home knows who the real owner is. It's not the human that wakes up the feline in the morning, nor the human that is the centre of all the attention, attraction or adulation. And there's good reason for that! Scientists say while humans domesticated animals like dogs, cows and horses, cats domesticated themselves. Thus, they act as the owners of the house and everything in between.
Cats, as a species, are quite prolific when it comes to diversification. There are at least 70 breeds of cats known, and that's without counting the big ones, like lions, tigers, cheetahs or pumas. They have been valued, over the years not only for their vermin-extermination skills but also for their companionship.
In fact, that companionship has extended to the extent where spinsters or widows have been known to collect a lot of them, giving rise to the "crazy cat lady" stereotype. It has also drawn humorous comparisons between modern-day humans and Egyptians, because they both worship cats and write on walls! For those who did not get that, think Facebook walls and our adoration for cat pics and videos.
Here's wishing all those people and their furry friends Happy World Cat Day, not to be confused with the National Cat Day, which falls on a totally different day.
