Fifty shades brighter for black cats

Saturday 27 October is National Black Cat Day, a time to recognise the beautiful black cats in our lives and raise awareness of those still waiting for a loving home.

Now in its eighth year, Cats Protection’s National Black Cat Day, encourages more people to adopt a black or black-and-white cat.

Also known as Black Cat Awareness Day, the day celebrates our tiny house panthers and tuxedo counterparts, consistently overlooked when it comes to adoption.

Last year, the dusky felines took 13% longer to rehome than moggies of other colours.

Shrouded in mysterious superstitions, some believe black cats are harder to rehome for their associations with witches, whilst it has also been suggested that they don’t photograph as well their brighter friends.

In the UK, a black cat crossing your path is believed to bring good luck, despite other countries, such as America, believing the opposite.

So, in celebration of this year’s National Black Cat Day, cat owners are being asked by Cats Protection to share their pet’s unique coat colour using the hashtag #50ShadesOfBlackCat

 

 

Knight Rider Black, Sirius Black and Onyx Black are just three of the 50 black shades and five patterns on a specially created colour palette that is being used to highlight the subtle but important differences between black cats.

“It’s a sad fact that over 40% of cats given up to our centres are black or black-and-white and they take longer to find new homes than cats of other colours,” explained Gemma Croker, Social Media Manager.

“We think this is because black is a more common colour, so we want to highlight just how individual each one is and hopefully find them new homes more quickly.”

Cats Protection currently has over 1,400 black or black-and-white cats in need of homes across the UK.

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