International Hug Your Cat Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

International Hug Your Cat Day is observed on May 30, and it is an opportunity to bestow your cat with affection and treat it as it deserves. Obviously, you should already be doing this, but International Hug Your Cat Day is the one day specifically designated for this activity. The ‘domestic cat’ is a Felidae species that is distinguished from the larger feline family by its domestication. Cats are categorised as either domestic cats, farm cats, or feral cats, which avoid human contact and roam freely. Domestic cats are of great significance and value to humans due to their companionship and rodent-killing abilities. Mice and other small mammals produce sounds that are either too faint or occur at frequencies beyond the range of human hearing. Cats can detect these sounds.

If you want to give your cat a special gift, check out our lists of the finest cat beds and litter boxes available on the market.

The background of International Hug Your Cat Day

Ancient Egyptians revered cats, and the deity Bastet is frequently depicted as a cat, sometimes in a lioness-like fighting stance. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, it was illegal to kill a cat in ancient times, and whenever a household cat perished of natural causes, the entire household mourned and shaved their eyebrows as if the cat had been one of them.

When a cat passed away in a Greek household, it was transported to the sacred city of Bubastis, where it was embalmed and buried in sacred receptacles. Herodotus was surprised to see domestic cats in Egypt, as he had previously only seen feral cats. The ancient Greeks and Romans considered weasels to be the most effective rodent-killers, so they kept them as companions. Two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the middle of the fifth century B.C. provide the earliest unambiguous evidence of Greek domestic cats.

The coins depict the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras, Iokastis and Phalanthus, frolicking with their pet cats. The ancient Greek term for ‘cat’ was ‘ailouros,’ which meant ‘having the undulating tail.’ Cats are only occasionally mentioned in ancient Greek literature. Aristotle wrote in “The History of Animals” that female cats are inherently lecherous. Later, the Greeks combined their own deity Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, attributing to Artemis Bastet’s associations with cats. In Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” when the gods flee to Egypt in animal guise, the goddess Diana allegedly transforms into a cat.

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INTERNATIONAL HUG YOUR CAT DAY ACTIVITIES

Donate time to an animal shelter.

If you do not own a cat, you can volunteer at a cat shelter on International Hug Your Cat Day. If you have the space, please consider adopting one of these homeless animals. Or two!

Throw a cat bash.

Invite other cat owners and throw the purr-fect party if you own a cat. Remember to bring wool skeins and warm milk.

Pet your pet.

Hug. The. Cat! This is the essence of the festivity, so please embrace one another.

5 FACTS ABOUT CATS THAT WILL STUN YOU

Cats have extraordinary leaping ability, enabling them to leap up to six times their height.

Cats spend up to 16 hours per day snoozing, which accounts for approximately 70 percent of their lives.

They can run as quickly as 30 miles per hour.

There are currently more than 500 million domesticated cats.

The eldest cat, who passed away recently, lived 38 years, which is more than twice the average cat’s lifespan.

INTERNATIONAL HUG YOUR CAT DAY DATES

Year	Date	Day
2023	May 30	Tuesday
2024	May 30	Thursday
2025	May 30	Friday
2026	May 30	Saturday
2027	May 30	Sunday