Black Cats Mean Halloween

When we visited the shelter last May, looking for a new kitty to adopt, we had no intention of picking a pure black cat. We held and snuggled many other kitties but the quiet, little, dark guy in the last cage stole our hearts. It was then that I began to learn about the plight of the black cat.

Sure, we all know black cats adorn all the Halloween decorations, right next to witches and ghosts. But in real life, that doesn’t necessarily end up being a good thing. The shelter staff told us that during most of the year they have trouble adopting out pure black cats. The only reason I can even imagine is that they are very hard to capture on film. Unless our kitty, who we named Phoenix, is against just the right backdrop, with just the right lighting, he turns into a black blur in any photograph.

Our new family member had been taken to several adoption fairs and had never been picked, yet he was the sweetest and most loving cat we held that day. It never occurred to us not to pick him because of his color.

As a side note I do have to tell the story about our first night home with our new kitty. It was Mother’s Day and here in Colorado we were in the middle of a big snowstorm. By midnight our power had gone out. We suddenly found ourselves in a pitch black house, with a pitch black cat underfoot somewhere, but we weren’t quite sure where. Not knowing his patterns yet, paired with his intense curiosity of his new home, led us to tread very lightly until the lights came back on.

The folks at the shelter had also told us that they will not adopt out black cats in the weeks leading up to Halloween. There have been too many bad things that have happened to these innocent little guys at the hands of people claiming they are celebrating the holiday. So this year we have kept our kitty indoors for the past two weeks. He sits by the door and cries, intensely watching all the bugs jumping in the tall grass in our backyard. He just doesn’t understand why his loving family suddenly turned cruel.

After posting a picture on Facebook of our little beauty, several of my friends commented that they also had black cats. Pure black cats, just like mine. Then I realized that every one of the comments had come from a GeekMom writer. We started to wonder, what is it about black cats that makes them end up in geeky households? Ours happened accidentally but I love hearing the stories of how others came to find their furry friends.

Have you ever had a black cat, or do you have one now? Does he/she have an interesting story? Have you ever had trouble with people bothering him/her in the last weeks of October? We’d love to hear your stories, and see your pictures.

For now, here is a small sampling of our black kitties, to get you in the Halloween mood today.

GeekMom Judy’s boys carry him around like a baby and he pretends not to like it. Having only had older cats before, they are enjoying the spunk and silliness of a younger kitty.

GeekMom Ariane says, “Her name is Raven after a character from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. The verdict is she IS plotting to kill us.”

GeekMom Cathe reports: “Echo is 7lb of pure black, annoying sass. She kicks the butt of cats three times as big as her, and is the most tolerant of small children. Bonus points for the loudest purr ever.”

GeekMom Jenny’s feline baby: “This is my black cat, Ezra. My daughter gussied him up for the purpose of who knows what. He is a hellion and probably deserved it.”