Starfire and I wish you Black Cat Appreciation Day

Every day is Black Cat Appreciation Day when you share your home with a cat as wonderfully loving and intelligent as Starfire.

Born April 6, 2009, Starfire joined our home in July 2011. She brought an essential feline life and energy to our lives.

This sleek, healthy, 4-year-old cat is a very different creature from the half-starved adolescent of two years ago.

When she looked at me with her enormous round eyes, I imagined Starfire pleading with me to help her.

Starfire spent her first night with us, hiding beneath the bed and dressers. She gradually emerged from these hiding places as she became at ease with her surroundings.

Starfire is black with white stars on her chest and belly, plus she was so full of life and energy that our name for her seemed a good fit.

Two years later, Starfire retains much of her adolescent zeal.

She loves to pummel a ball of yarn or tangle herself in the strands of a macrame-ribbon toy that I knotted for her. At night, Starfire sleeps close to me, a comforting presence on the bed.

The purpose of Black Cat Appreciation Day is to help dispel myths and prejudice that prevent these wonderful animals from being adopted into loving homes.

As related on Tails of the City, hosted by SFGate.com:

“There are no hard numbers, but informal surveys done at animal shelters show that black dogs AND black cats typically take much longer than animals with lighter-colored fur to be adopted (if they are adopted at all). Why? Possible reasons run the gamut from superstitions and negative connotations to the perception that it is more difficult for people to read the expressions on the face of a dark-furred pet.”

The post includes a top-10 list of reasons to adopt a black cat.

Many of the reasons cater to humans’ superficial values about luck, status and style-consciousness. But included among them is credit to black cats for being “statistically” friendlier than other cats.

Starfire brings so much life, joy and love to my life and I am profoundly grateful. Black Cat Appreciation Day is an important reminder that so many other animals are in need of loving homes.