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National Cat Lovers’ Month

An unofficial month-long observance in December celebrating cats as companions and encouraging shelter adoption and responsible care.

Tuesday
1–31
December 2026
Last updated February 26, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar Team
Have an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEAll of December
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYAnimals
SUBCATEGORYCats
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A December tradition with no recorded author.

National Cat Lovers’ Month has no documented creator and no primary establishment record. It is a grassroots December observance promoted by animal-welfare organizations, veterinary practices, and pet-care brands rather than declared by any single founder, government, or company.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

A grave on Cyprus older than the pyramids

The oldest physical proof that people kept cats is a single grave. About 9,500 years ago, on the island of Cyprus, someone buried an eight-month-old cat just 40 centimeters from a human. The two were laid down together, deliberately, on purpose.

That burial predates the famous cats of Egyptian art by more than 4,000 years. There were no wildcats native to Cyprus, which means a cat was carried there by boat, long before anyone painted one on a tomb wall. The bond is older than almost anyone guesses.

National Cat Lovers’ Month sits at the far end of that long story. It runs through all of December as a warm, unofficial appreciation of cats and a nudge toward adoption and good care. The animal in the Cyprus grave and the cat asleep on a radiator this December are the same companionship, separated by ninety-five centuries.

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ORIGINS

Cat Lovers’ Month history

INTRODUCTION

Long before anyone set aside a month for cats, an entire civilization built temple cities around them. The cat went from rodent control to sacred animal to show-ring champion over thousands of years, and National Cat Lovers’ Month sits at the modern end of that run.

The history of the bond is documented in detail. The history of the December observance itself is not, and the two should not be confused.

CHAPTER 01

Egypt made the cat sacred

In ancient Egypt the cat crossed from useful to holy. Cats were tied to the goddess Bastet, whose cult center was the city of Bubastis, and the devotion left a physical record. Excavations at Beni Hasan in the late 1880s uncovered an animal cemetery, most of it cats, offered to that cult.

The reverence carried real penalties. The historian Diodorus Siculus recorded that around 60 BC an Egyptian crowd killed a Roman for killing a cat, even as the pharaoh tried to step in and stop them.

CHAPTER 02

A Victorian artist rescued the cat's name

Centuries later the cat had sunk in Western esteem. In Victorian Britain it was seen mostly as a scruffy rat-catcher, not a companion. The artist Harrison Weir set out to fix that.

Weir organized the first formal cat show, held at the Crystal Palace in London on 13 July 1871. About 170 cats appeared before a large crowd, including the first Siamese ever shown. Often called the father of the cat fancy, Weir had once admitted "a bias" against cats, then came to call the cat "possibly the most perfect, and certainly the most domestic" of animals.

CHAPTER 03

America crowns its first champion

The idea crossed the Atlantic within a generation. America's first major cat show opened at Madison Square Garden in May 1895, a competitive spectacle modeled on the British shows.

The winner, named Best Cat, was a brown tabby Maine cat called Cosey. Her silver medal survives today, held by the Cat Fanciers' Association Foundation at the Feline Historical Museum.

CHAPTER 04

From show ring to health center, and a month with no author

Loving cats eventually became studying them. Cornell established its Feline Research Laboratory in 1974, the first US institution devoted entirely to cat health. It was renamed the Cornell Feline Health Center in 1980.

National Cat Lovers’ Month belongs to that modern, welfare-minded chapter, but its own beginning is missing from the record. No founder, no first observance, and no establishing document can be traced. It surfaced as a December peg promoted by shelters, vets, and pet brands, and it has stayed that way: a real tradition whose author was never written down.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Cat Lovers’ Month

COMPANIONSHIP

More US homes keep a cat now than at any counted point.

The number of American households keeping a cat has climbed sharply in recent years. The month meets that reality, turning a quiet pet into a thing worth marking on the calendar.

WELFARE

December is a risky month for cats

The holiday season fills homes with tinsel, ornaments, and tree water that can sicken or injure a curious cat. A December observance puts seasonal safety and shelter adoption in front of owners at exactly the moment it matters.

HISTORY

It marks one of our oldest partnerships

Few animals have shared human life as long or as intimately as the cat. Setting aside a month acknowledges a relationship that the archaeological record traces back roughly ninety-five centuries.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Cat Lovers’ Month by the Numbers

49M
US households owning a cat
200,000+
Mummified animals found at Beni Hasan
176
Entries at first major US cat show

TIMELINE

Timeline

Cat buried beside a human

A cat is interred next to a person at Shillourokambos, Cyprus, the oldest evidence of cats living with people.

Roman killed over a cat

Diodorus Siculus records an Egyptian crowd killing a Roman for killing a cat, despite the pharaoh's effort to intervene.

First organized cat show

Harrison Weir stages the first formal cat show at London's Crystal Palace, the birth of the cat fancy.

America's first major show

A cat show opens at Madison Square Garden, and a brown tabby Maine cat named Cosey is named Best Cat.

First US cat-health institute

Cornell establishes its Feline Research Laboratory, later the Cornell Feline Health Center, the first US institution devoted to cat health.

DNA traces cats' spread

An ancient-DNA study shows how cats spread along human trade and sea routes, reaching a Viking-age Baltic site.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Cat Lovers’ Month

Cats sailed to a Viking-age site by ship

A 2017 DNA study of more than 300 ancient cat remains found the Egyptian maternal lineage as far away as a Viking-age site on the Baltic Sea. Seafarers carried cats aboard ships to control rodents.

Tinsel can act like a piano wire

Cornell's feline experts warn that a swallowed strand of tinsel caught at the base of the tongue acts like a piano wire as the gut contracts. It can perforate the intestines and require surgery.

A cat's purr may sit in a healing band

A study reported that cats purr with strong frequencies at 25 and 50 hertz, low frequencies linked to bone growth and fracture healing. The idea remains a hypothesis, not settled clinical fact.

The father of the cat fancy came to regret it

Harrison Weir founded the National Cat Club in 1887, then by 1892 wrote of "the deepest regret" at the involvement. He complained members cared more about winning prizes than the welfare of the cat.

The cat on the windowsill is a contested guest

Cat keeping carries a real, unsettled trade-off. Letting a cat outdoors gives it enrichment but shortens its life and stirs concern about the wildlife it hunts, which is why the indoor-or-outdoor question still divides cat lovers.

MYTH VS FACT

Common Misconceptions

The myth

Black cats are at special risk and far harder to adopt, especially around the holidays.

The truth

A 2020 study of 7,983 shelter cats found coat color was a weak overall predictor of outcome and saw no worse results for black cats around Halloween, though black cats did have the lowest adoption rate.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

How to Celebrate National Cat Lovers’ Month

Dig into the history of cats and people

Read about the first cat shows or the ancient burials that prove how old the bond is. A month built on affection is a good excuse to learn where that affection came from.

Adopt or sponsor a shelter cat

December shelters fill up, and an adoption clears a kennel for the next arrival. If you cannot take a cat home, sponsor one or cover an adoption fee instead.

Cat-proof your holiday decorations

Keep tinsel, ornaments, and Christmas-tree water out of a cat's reach, since swallowed tinsel can injure the gut and require surgery. Keep the ASPCA Animal Poison Control number on the fridge in case your cat eats something it should not.

Support a cat-welfare organization

Donate supplies, money, or time to a local rescue or a feline-health body. Even a bag of food or a few volunteer hours stretches a shelter's December budget.

Learn your cat's body language

Spend the month reading tail position, ear set, and slow blinks instead of guessing at moods. Understanding the signals makes daily life calmer for both of you.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Cat Lovers’ Month?

1 / 10

What is the oldest physical evidence that people kept cats?

Answer

No, it is an unofficial, grassroots observance with no documented founder, government proclamation, or establishing record. It is a normal working month, just one many people use to celebrate and support cats.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

12sources
6primary records
5independently dated
Primary records
American Pet Products Association2025
APPA Releases 2025 Dog & Cat Report
Survey finds 49 million US households now own a cat, up from 40 million.
View source
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
History | Cornell Feline Health Center
The center's own account of its 1974 founding as the first US cat-health institute.
View source
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Beware Holiday Hazards | Cornell Feline Health Center
Vet guidance on December dangers to cats, including the tinsel piano-wire risk.
View source
Feline Historical Foundation
Cosey
The CFA Foundation's record of Cosey, Best Cat at the 1895 Madison Square Garden show.
View source
Animals (Basel) / PMC2020
Coat Color and Cat Outcomes in an Urban U.S. Shelter
Peer-reviewed study of 7,983 shelter cats on coat color and adoption outcomes.
View source
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America2001
The felid purr: A healing mechanism?
Conference report that cats purr at 25 and 50 Hz, frequencies linked to healing.
View source
Additional coverage
National Geographic2004
Oldest Known Pet Cat? 9,500-Year-Old Burial Found on Cyprus
Coverage of the Cyprus cat-human grave that predates Egyptian cat art by millennia.
View source
The Science Breaker2017
How cats conquered the Ancient world: a 9,000-years DNA tale
Plain-language summary of the 2017 study tracing how cats spread with seafarers.
View source
Wikipedia
Cats in ancient Egypt
Background on Bastet, the Beni Hasan cat cemetery, and the Diodorus mob account.
View source
Harrison Weir Collection
Cat Shows
Archive of the first 1871 Crystal Palace cat show and Weir's role in it.
View source
Atlas Obscura
How England's First Feline Show Countered Victorian Snobbery About Cats
Weir's motivation, his own words on cats, and his later regret over the cat fancy.
View source
Audubon
Why Is It So Hard to Keep Cats Indoors?
The trade-offs of indoor versus outdoor cats, for lifespan and for local wildlife.
View source
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