National Cat Day – The Bouncy Kitty

As a self professed felineoholic, today is probably my favorite day of the non-traditional holiday year: it’s NATIONAL CAT DAY! I usually reserve my phone dump of fur on Saturday – Caturday, if you will – but I’ve saved my favorite feline pics, flicks and memes for today. When you get home from work, make sure you stop by your local PetCo or better yet, that Mom and Pop Animal Store around the corner that you’ve been wondering about and snag a little treat for your furry friends; trust me, they’ll thank you!

Don’t have a cat? No problem! There are tons of ways you can celebrate, too.Head on down to your local animal shelter or ASPCA and give those kittens in the cat room some lovin’! It doesn’t matter if you’re thinking of getting one of your own, or just have a few minutes to spare – these guys spend almost their entire day trapped in a small cage: except when you come in to play! Even if you don’t want to commit to volunteering in the long term, today’s the purrfect day to pop your head in and say hello.

Back when the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was hot and heavy, I took a different route and donated to the World Wildlife Fund. Founded in 1961 as a collaborative international fundraising organization, the WWF was created after the Morges Manifesto was signed by top conversationalists from around the globe. Though there was an international push for nature conservation, the resources at hand simply weren’t enough to satiate international needs. And ever since, the WWF has taken center stage when it comes to protecting endangered animals and the acres and acres of land necessary for their survival. Currently, there are over 120 different species that you can opt to protect on the site – but did you know that of those 120, almost 10% are cats?! meOW!

Last but certainly not least, get your structured cuddlement as Uber, the ASPCA & Cheezeburger combine forces to bring the cats directly to your doorstep! For the second year in a row, Uber will be delivering crates of adorable to the following cities; just place an Uber for KITTENS between the hours of 1 and 4pm in Austin, Chicago, DC, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle. The best part – besides ALL of it – is that these kittens are also up for adoption! Please, don’t sleep on this – I would love to live vicariously through anyone that actually does it!

Not like we need a reason to celebrate on the daily – personally, the only reason I need to celebrate is because I want to – but when I was in college, my friends and I stumbled across a calendar that assigned holidays to each and every calendar day. For example, it just so happens that National Cotton Candy Day falls smack dab on my birthday (serendipity, right?), International Sushi Day is on June 18th and April 16th is National Eggs Benedict Day. As you could surmise, the other 365.25 days are equally zany and fun – but since when was I too old for zany and fun?! Now, there’s one holiday that I’m just head over heals in love with and it’s because of the two little furballs that invade my life on the daily – Sake and Stella. Ladies and gentlemen, cats and kittens – Happy National Cat Day!

Beyond being adorable, fun and entertaining for hours on end – there are a lot of health benefits associated with owning a cat. Those little lap lovers purr at a frequency between 20 and 140 Hz which qualifies them as medically therapeutic! Do you find yourself overly anxious at times? I know I do! So I was excited to learn that petting a cat can lower the amount of stress hormones coursing through that little body of yours. Plus, your blood pressure and risk of heart attacks decrease ! If you don’t have a cat of your own to hug, squeeze and pamper today then head down to your local pet shelter and put in an hour or two with the sweethearts without homes – I guarantee they’ll appreciate it, even more than their little mews let on.