Time to read : 2 Minutes

Happy Halloween (unless you're a black cat) 🐈‍⬛

It’s commonly believed that black cats are unlucky. This may be true - for the cat!

A study among Colorado animal shelters found that solidly black cats took around a month to be adopted. This is at least a week longer than most other felines.

It may not seem like much in the scheme of things, but because they’re likely to linger longer in the animal shelter, black cats are the most commonly killed of all shelter cats, and the least likely to be kept by anyone who does take them in. 

The cat colour most commonly admitted to shelters is - you guessed it - black. Sadly, they make up almost 30% of the shelter-dwelling feline population. They’re so pervasive that black cats can often be adopted at a discount, due to their unpopularity. So, they're budget cats, and that's not all they offer:

Disease-resistant:

Black cats are also thought to be more resistant to disease - so there’s some good news for these magical furrkids at last. According to researchers in the US, the genetic mutation that causes your cat’s fur to be solidly black may also protect them from some common feline diseases.

The Final Meow:

Finally, in keeping with this Halloween season, I’d like to offer a suggestion that despite all the mythology around black cats being witchy familiars, and dangerously demonic, it’s possible that many are sweet and just haven’t had a lot of good press since their Salem days. After all, some cultures consider them to be lucky.