We love our cats everyday, and the creation of National Cat Day in 2005 by Pet and Family Lifestyle Expert & Animal Welfare Advocate Colleen Paige gives recognition to the wonderful addition cats bring to our families and our lives: fun, entertainment, joy and unconditional love.
But the two most important parts of the National Cat Day mission is:
Those of us who live with cats know that some cats are smart, while others not so much. Just like people. My wonderful sister-in-law, a devoted cat lover, admits that her Himalayan is a “not so bright” cat. Although a main difference between cats and humans is, some cats who appear dumb just might not want to deal with us and are smart enough to ignore us.
Either way, here’s an interesting video demonstrating a cat’s ability to mimic. Studies prove that humans learn by repeating or mimicking others who pass knowledge down to them, like learning a language. We often learn by doing, often via imitation.
Watch this video — how smart is this cat?
To conclude: my cats have trained me very well. I feed them multiple servings of food, clean their litter three, sometimes four times a day, pretty much do their biding. Who’s the smart one?
When we travel, we need to know our cats are being really well taken care of. A dependable, loving cat sitter essentially becomes your cat’s aunt or uncle. So here are some suggested qualities that a good cat sitter must have, according to My Kitty Care:
Love cats
Have time or makes time to spend with our cats
Preferably have their own cats, or have had cats in the past
Understands the importance of kitty litter
Patience with kitty dinning
Likes to play and sets time aside for play activity
A terrific place to try to find a cat sitter, especially if your cat has any special medical needs, is at your favorite vet’s office. That’s where we found the wonderful Bridget. She took care of Bear from January 2014 – February 2015 (R.I.P.) when Bear was sick with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Bridget came twice a day to give her fluids. Bear not only felt better because of the treatment, but also because Bridget was loving and caring and Bear felt it. Bear also knew she was safe with Bridget.
Our regular cat sitter is Monika. We met her many years ago and bonded over the love of cats, and shared our experiences with the cats in our lives. We asked if she’d cat sit for us. It worked out well, and Monika has been our cat sitter for over fourteen years. We trust her completely. Then, as now, she has multiple, rescue cats.
Do you trust your potential cat sitter with the life of your cat?
Are you comfortable giving your cat sitter the key to your house?
Are you confident that if any emergency occurs, your cat sitter will know what to do and be able to handle it?
Is this person reliable?
Can you contact this person easily, especially when you’re away?
Is this cat sitter a kind person?
You must trust your cat sitter, and your cats must feel secure with them. Otherwise, they’ll definitely let you know when you come home. My cats did, before we found Monika and Bridget.
It’s time to check-out the most popular cat names for this year. Okay, let’s start with some popular Italian names from Daily Italian Words. This is lo svago — fun!
Pallina (female) Pallino (male) means small ball, like a toy, in Italian
Luna, or moon in Italian. Like the moon, cats are mysterious, beautiful and nocturnal.
Birba is perfect for your mischievous kitten. Italian adults call mischievous or naughty children birba.
Trilly (also spelled Trilli) is the Italian name for Tinkerbell, the beloved character in Peter Pan. Oddly enough, it’s very popular in Italy. Guess Tinkerbell in any language is just so cute.
Bella, Italian for beautiful and popular in Italy and around the world.
My favorite is this one: Briciolina (female ) Bricionlino (male). They are affectionate derivatives from briciola, meaning crumb (usually said of bread or a cookie) or a small amount of something. Really cute.
STUPENDO!
Some more popular 2021 cat names
One of the sources for the list of the most popular cat names is from the Cat Fanciers Association, an organization with the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats. Then there’s an actual site called FindCatNames.com, plus other random searches. But the consensus seems pretty consistent.
To conclude the Italian favorites, Rocky is a diminutive of the Italian name Rocco for your wise guy cat.
Oliver is on just about every list of the most popular cat names. And, Oliver just happens to be the #3 most popular male baby name in the United States.
Simba is Swahili forlion, made famous from The Lion King. Nala is another popular name from The Lion King, for a girl cat.
Chloe has been a popular female kitty name for several years. Cute yet sophisticated.
Max is a name that remains on the list year after year. Our friend and cat sitter of many many years had a beloved cat Max. Max continues to be a cool and favorite name.
Girl cat names like Lucy and Lily continue to be popular. They’re cute and sweet, and are perfect for cute, sweet kittens.
Sophia is really popular for both babies and cats. It’s a pretty and elegant name.
The 1986 Japanese film The Adventures of Milo and Otis introduced the world to the now popular name Milo. In the movie, Milo was an orange tabby, his pal Otis was a pug.
Tiger is obvious for your striped orange tabby. According to the CFA (Cat Fanciers Association) breed registry, Tiger is the 5th most popular cat name in China. I prefer Tigger, from Winnie-the-Pooh. It’s goofier — although no cat would ever admit to being goofy, some are endearingly so.
Coco is big in the USA, but even bigger in…China, where, according to the CFA, it is the third most popular name for cats registered with the CFA (Cat Fanciers Association.)
Charlie had been a very popular name in the United States for late 19th century human parents. Then it lost favor. However, Charlie has been revived as a popular cat name.
Smokey is used for grey cats, and that’s about it. Unless you’re a Highway Patrol guy.
It’s popular for some people to name their grey cat Shadow because he/she follows them around. I don’t get it — wouldn’t it be better for a black cat who follows you around?
Mia is like a little meow.
Jack is a name like Max: determined, confident, as if ready to pounce. People once used Jack as a diminutive of John, but eventually it gained ground on its own. Over the centuries (it’s an old name) it continually went in and out of favor. As for your cat, Jack is a name of choice for cat parents.
Those who have an inclination to baby talk to your cat may lapse into “precious Angel,” “sweet Angel” or something like that. Hence Angel is popular. Not a criticism, in fact, totally acceptable.
Oreo is popular with people who live with black & white cats. A delectable name. Another food related name popular for cats is Biscuit. Not really sure why.
Once, Felix was a popular name for boys. It’s Latin meaning lucky, happy, successful. The name isn’t common anymore, but for cats, it has been for over a century. Thanks to the cartoon character Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan, Otto Messmer and Joe Oriolo. Felix the Cat was first seen in 1919, in Feline Follies. Since then, Felix is a popular and loved name full of fun, smarts and pizazz. My Kitty Care loves Felix!
Felix the Cat, the wonderful wonderful cat…
A relatively new popular name is Willow. If I had a Ragdoll cat, I’d consider naming him/her Willow — droopy, like a Willow tree.
Names like Molly, Sammy or Gracie are both popular and personable.
Gizmo is something undefinable, but has a presence. Possibly inspired from the 1980s movie, Gremlins. This name makes me think of a cat who runs around a lot — not for any particular reason, you just know your cat Gizmo is around.
I like the name Jasper, and apparently so do many others. It has a friendly authority to it. Some cat parents may name their cat Jasper because the gemstone Jasper, is a spotted gemstone that might remind you of your cat’s coat or eyes.
Bailey is popular as a drink, and now as a cat name. If your cat is the color of the Irish cream beverage, Bailey may come to mind.
Loki is a rascally demigod from Norse mythology, known for making trouble. Absolutely applicable to many a cat.
Sasha is a Russian nickname for girls named Aleksandra, If your cat’s furry brow always looks Dostoevsky serious, perhaps Sasha is a good choice.
Simon and Toby aren’t as popular for people anymore, but are for cats. Toby is derived from the original Tobias, going back to the Old Testament. One of my cats is a Toby. He’s such a Toby. He just is.
Cloe is a classic reference to Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, a culture known to revere cats. Cleo is great for a dignified, royal cat. And just about any cat can be viewed as royal.
Peanut is popular but ought to be reserved for a small, so adorable you want-to-eat-them cats. Especially if they have a nutty personality.
Finally, there’s Leo. It’s Latin for lion, is the fifth sign of the Zodiac, and even has it’s own Leo the Lion constellation. It’s such a loaded name, of course it’s understandable that it’s popular, even in China.
Found this list from 2018. And guess what, it looks mighty familiar.
Luna
Oliver
Bella
Lucy
Charlie
Chloe
Leo
Max
Lily
Milo
And look at this one: popular cat names from 2016 All great names, but I think we need to add new fun ones…2022?
In 2016, Universal Music announced it would be the first major label to release an album not for human consumption. It’s for cats. The creator of Music for Cats is David Teie, an American cellist, composer and music researcher. On the Music for Cats record, Mr. Teie plays the cello, accompanied by colleagues from the US National Symphony Orchestra.
David Teie shares his music with cat friend
photo: Getty Images
But let’s start with this:
Do cats like music?
Years ago we had one cat, our beloved Ludlow. We hated leaving him home alone, even during the day when we worked. If we left him overnight, which didn’t happen often, it wasn’t food and water we worried about, it was loneliness. We knew he missed us as much as we missed him. We plugged in a portable radio and played classical music, very softly. We liked to think it comforted him. Now Toby and Marnie live with us. Even though they have each other, we still hate leaving our cats alone, even for one night.
When Steve plays the guitar, our cat Marnie frequently settles next to him, and listens.
David Teie from University of Maryland created Music for Cats
Mr.Teie produced Music for Cats after he and Chuck Snowdon, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, researched and discovered cotton-top Tamarin monkeys responded to music created for them, whereas they were unresponsive to human music. Mr.Teie decided to expand the experiment to other animals.
“There are not very many cotton-top tamarin owners out there.” Mr. Teie acknowledged, “so we decided if we were to go out and spread the word, spread the music, we should go with a species we hang around with a lot.” He eliminated dogs because there of too many variations in the breeds. “I was worried about having to write terrier music and labrador music and so on – it would have slowed things up,”
Cats were selected, and studies proved the music to be calming for most cats, especially neurotic, nervous or cats abused in the past.
excerpt from Fostog’s Touch (original piece is 11 mines. 31 secs. long)
Music For Cats was self-produced after a Kickstarter campaign raised almost $250,000. Universal noticed and signed Mr.Teie up; the album was released in the UK in October, 2016. Mr.Teie admitted, “I was very excited about it at first, then not excited about it … was I signing my life away to somebody else? Now that it is all done I’m very excited again.”A spokesperson said the label was “thrilled to be part of this world-first project” and predicted “Music For” albums could follow for dogs and horses.
David Teie listening to his music with Crumbs & Whiskers
photo Getty Images
Mr. Teie stated, “…animals don’t give two hoots about our music and they really shouldn’t,” he added, “everybody knows what music is – and animals are not included. If you really look into it, what’s silly is the idea that only one species could have music available for it. I am hoping that in a hundred years from now people will have to be taught that music was once only for humans.”
Hopefully, people will attribute this fascinating and helpful research to David Teie, the pioneer for species specific music. Mr. Teie concludes, “As a matter of fact I’m allergic to cats, [but] I’ve grown from being an admirer to a genuine cat lover now, but I’m still allergic.”
my kitty care does not endorse any product discussed on The Scratching Post, nor does my kitty care receive payments, or any form of compensation from any company or product on my kitty care.
