Take a moment and glance at your calendar. What does it tell you?
It’s Thursday, October 16th. It’s Boss’s Day.* It’s Flea‘s birthday. It’s the 630th anniversary of Jadwiga being crowned King of Poland. It’s the eve of Wear Something Gaudy Day.
But, much more than this, it’s National Feral Cat Day.
I’m about to pelt you with gratuitous cat photos. But first, permit an etymological aside.
The word “feral” can be divisive. We’ve debated this at Tabby’s Place as we’ve touted our Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) work. People — even awesome cat-loving people — hear “feral cat” and think this:
But they hear “stray cat,” or “community cat,” and think this:
Don’t believe me? Just try a Google image search for “feral cat,” then try one for “community cat.” The connotations are a universe apart.
But just like “flammable” and “inflammable,” the words “feral,” “stray” and “community” all mean the same thing.
They are, simply, cats who live outside.
Some of them would love to live indoors. Some of them would rather be strapped down and forced to listen to MacArthur Park than let a human touch them.
But they are all our neighbors, our priceless fellow souls. They are cats who purr and love and rejoice. They are cats of uncommon courage. They are cats who need us and deserve our love, and fortitude, and tuna.
And they are cats who are increasingly part of the Tabby’s Place family.
To celebrate National Feral Cat Day, I propose we begin using the word “feral” as slang for “outrageously awesome beyond awesome.” Let’s think of it as the 2014 answer to that most 90s of 90s terms, “jiggy:”
Jiggy, jig·gy,ˈ/jiɡē/
Exclamation that means “Sweet!” or “Tiiiiiight!”
Need some motivation? Feast your eyes on just a few of our feral-born, former-feral and otherwise feral-related Tabby’s Place residents:
Now go out there and get feral with it. Word.
*We love ya, J-Ro.
Photo credits from de top: Mark; the interwebz x2, AT x3; Jess B x2; Mark; AT x2.
Thank you for awesome gratuitous cat photos. Samantha in a tube!