Respect Your Cat Day: Your Cats Already Know You Should
There is a day on the calendar called Respect Your Cat Day, as if respect were something we might consider offering… once a year… if we remember.
Your cat would like to clarify:
respect is not seasonal.
It is ongoing. Preferably immediate. And ideally delivered with snacks.
Respect Is Not the Same as Affection
Humans tend to equate love with touch. We scoop, cuddle, kiss, restrain, and call it bonding.
Cats have a different definition.
Respect, in cat terms, means:
- Not picking them up when they didn’t ask
- Not interrupting a nap of obvious importance
- Not assuming that a belly display is an invitation rather than a philosophical statement
Affection may be welcome.
But consent is everything.
Respect Their “No”
Dogs often negotiate. Cats do not.
A flicking tail, a rotating ear, a sudden stillness—these are not minor signals. They are full sentences.
Ignoring them is the human equivalent of someone continuing a conversation after you’ve clearly walked away.
Respecting your cat means believing them the first time.
Respect Their Space (Even When It’s Yours)
You may believe you own your home.
Your cat believes you co-signed a living arrangement in which they have primary spatial rights and you have… access privileges.
That chair you just stood up from?
Reassigned.
That keyboard you need?
Occupied.
Respect, in this context, does not require surrender—just acknowledgment.
(And perhaps a backup chair.)
Respect Their Intelligence
Cats are often mislabeled as aloof or untrainable.
In reality, they are highly observant, deeply associative learners who simply decline to participate in activities that lack meaning for them.
They know your routines.
They anticipate your movements.
They train you with remarkable efficiency.
Respect means recognizing that what looks like indifference may actually be discernment.
Respect the Emotional Life You Don’t Always See
In a multi-cat household, this becomes even clearer.
Cats form alliances. They grieve. They worry about each other. They celebrate reunions. They show restraint, generosity, and, at times, astonishing empathy.
If you watch closely, you begin to see it:
- The cat who waits until the shy one finishes eating
- The gentle detour around an elderly companion
- The quiet presence beside a stressed or sick friend
Respect means understanding that their emotional world is not simple—it’s just quieter than ours.
Respect Is the Foundation of Trust
You don’t earn a cat’s trust by insisting on it.
You earn it by:
- Listening to signals
- Honoring boundaries
- Showing up predictably
- Letting them come to you
And when they do—when they choose your lap, your hand, your presence—you realize something important:
Respect is not what you give your cat.
It’s what makes it possible for your cat to choose you.
Learn more about cats. See our many Caturday posts.
Be entertained. See all our posts about cats.
Be inspired. See posts by and about Sula, parish cat, and her books.
Have a chuckle. Read posts by and about Jeremy Feig's award-winning book (book of the year finalist, Kops-Fetherling Lagacy Award for Humor), How My Cat Made Me a Better Man.
Watch for Luna Norwood's forthcoming book, Raising Happy Cat Families. Now available on preorder at MSI Press Webstore. Use Coupon Code FF25 for 25% discount.
MSI Press, a veteran-owned publishing house based in California, United Statesbest known for turning new writers into award-winning authors,
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally. Check us out on Wikitia.
To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.
Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)Check out recent issues.
MSI Press welcomes submissions that reflect legacy and lived experience. Learn more about our publishing process on our website. We help writers become award-winning published authors, one writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Check our listing in Writer's Market, the most trusted guide to publishing.
Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help. Ask us. Check out more information at www.msipress.com.
Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process. See what we can do for your at www.msipress.com.
Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.
Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.
Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment