If you have a cat, you have to choose your roommates extra carefully. They might not like your cat enough to be nice to it, or they might love it way too much. 

We have come to the conclusion that the ideal situation, if you are a cat owner with roommates, is for your roommates to not care about your cat at all. Better that than the opposite - in either direction. Your roommate might go in one direction - they might hate cats and allow your cat to escape, then act like it wasn't their fault. Or it might go in the other direction, with your roommates liking your cat too much. 

You might not think that it's possible, but oh yes, it is. Some roommates might think that your cat is 'our' cat, and those roommates will start locking your cat in their room for the night, whether the cat wants it or not. We, as people who write about cats on a daily basis, kind of thought that this was the worst that it would get. But apparently not. Apparently, some roommates might like your cat so much and think that your cat is 'our' cat to the point that they might feel entitled to take your cat after moving out. 

It might be summer, but one thing that still shines brighter than the sun is a dainty dash of kitty cat cuteness. 

Summer is officially here, everyone, and honestly, as much as love winter, we have to say that we have been waiting for this. We needed the gloom to be over with. We needed the sun to shine and warm our bones. We needed our cats to have more sun spots to sunbathe in because watching them do it makes us happy. The sun is out, but thing still outshines it. It's the same thing that we have been using to stay warm throughout the cold months. It's funny cat memes, of course. 

Laughing at silly cats is how we stay warm on the inside. Waking up, scrolling through adorable cat pictures, wholesome cat stories, it's how we distract ourselves from everything that stresses us out and makes us want to stay home. All it takes is a few minutes. A short break. It's a simple thing. But it works. It's why felines continue to rule the internet. Because their mere existence is something that puts a smile on our faces and makes us warm on the inside whether the sun is out or not. 

Have you ever had the spontaneous, serendipitous, or surprising happen on your way to work? If you have then you know it's not meaningless and to pay attention to signs. 

Signs and symbols are around us all the time, it's just a matter of paying attention to is. From Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem, an office worker had an unexpected morning on her route to work. Despite doing her normal routine, she stumbled upon a tiny, helpless kitten caught in the rain near a local coffee shop. She asked around, and the shop owner told her she had rescued the little thing from the busy street after she realized the mother was nowhere around the area. The office worker had to make a split decision: either leave, and wonder what will happen to the kitten, or decide her fate in that moment. She chose the latter, and she took the kitten home. It's the best impromptu decision she's ever made, and is now the happy new cat mom to a little kitten who's absolutely melting her heart. 

Millennial life: giving up on buying a house and boat to have a cat who lives a better life than you do. 

For many millennials, life hasn't unfolded exactly the way previous generations expected. The cost of living, of buying a home, of buying anything that are basic needs, the inconsistency around work and careers, and the whole struggle around dating has got us rethinking everything we were told about life. The idea of being responsible for another human can feel so overwhelming in this context, as if it didn't feel overwhelming before. Somehow people have managed to be parents in the past, and millennials have still found themselves having kids and getting married. But not all millennials. There are many of us who don't want to conform to the traditional standards, or who think it's too difficult financially or emotionally to perform. So what's the solution to this problem? Get a cat, of course. 

If you're already a cat pawrent then you're probably reading all of this with a great sense of being seen. If you're not and you want to be, well then welcome to the club. The life of having a fur baby is simple, it lacks the complications of having a real baby. You don't actually have to teach it much, you can let your cat pretty much exist in a way that you don't need to be so fixated on them. You can still live your life without having to sacrifice anything. In all honesty it's surprising people do still have real kids. Why would someone put themselves through that when there are fur babies? Cats really do give us all that we need. 

As any cat lover can tell you, the only thing on this planet that can truly hold a cat's attention is food, especially hooman food. So today we celebrate our feline friends' fascination with the food that they so dearly crave.

After all, one of the closest moments we share with our cat children is when they sit close to us while we eat. Sure, they are less concerned with sitting by us and making sure that we are safe, and far more interested in waiting for the moment that we stop paying attention to our precious plates of food so they can make their move.

But nonetheless it is a cherished time shared with your fur baby and that is what counts. So whether you find yourself in the office far away from your cat children, or you are yet to bring cat children of your own into this world we present you with this comforting list of crafty cats with their eyes set on one thing and one thing only, stealing their pawrents' food.
 

Wandering cats can end up in some of the strangest of situations, much like the cat in this story that ended up 8km away from home in a field where he felt at home.

It is a strange one, we will cop to that. But it is a story from Reddit's r/cats subreddit with a lot of sense and sensitivity. For what we believe happened here (we will leave it up to you to decide for sure) is that a cat child decided to go for a longer than usual walk around its local area. In doing so it actually got a little lost, something which it likely planned on doing (after all, who does not enjoy the freedom of letting go of directions?). But when his internal GPS began to falter he panicked and lost his direction.

After hours or even days of trying to figure out which way was going to get him home he suddenly hears something familiar being shouted upon the flow of the wind, his name. A comforting sound for anyone to hear, let alone a scared and lost feline who just wanted to feel the comforts of home once more. And with nowhere better to be, this cat hung around this area where he could periodically hear his name being called out for years, until his rescuers finally found him.
 

The cat may only weigh ten pounds, but manages to shed thirty pounds of fur a week.

Living with cats means accepting that absolutely nothing in your house will ever truly be fur-free again. The couch is furry. The blankets are furry. Somehow the inside of your backpack is furry too. Cat hair spreads with unbelievable dedication and somehow appears in places the cat has never physically been near.

Every cat owner also learns very quickly that wearing black clothing becomes a dangerous purrsonal choice. The second the outfit goes on, the cat magically appears and sheds directly onto it with laser precision. Lint rolling helps for approximately thirty seconds before another layer mysteriously forms out of nowhere.

Cats are casual about the whole thing. They'll stretch once, release an entire cloud of fur into the air, then sit there blinking proudly while everybody else struggles to breathe in peace. Brushing them barely helps because somehow the brushing process just creates even more loose fur floating around the room.

Eventually cat hair just becomes part of daily life. Finding fur in your coffee stops being shocking. Every hoodie permanently belongs partially to the cat. Guests leave your house carrying little souvenirs home on their clothes whether they wanted them or not. The fur starts feeling less like a problem and more like proof the cat was there.

Bruiser packed nine lives worth of adventures into two tiny weeks.

Little Bruiser sounds like the kind of tiny fighter people in Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem subreddit would instantly fall in love with. In only two weeks he has already battled upper respiratory infections, bottle feeding, digestive issues, interstate transport, and even being abandoned by his mom after she accepted the other kittens back but left him behind. Despite all of that, he is still growing, exploring, playing, and apparently winning over every dog living in the house too. Rescue kittens are unbelievably resilient sometimes.

The dogs becoming protective over him makes the whole story even sweeter. Instead of treating him like some strange little intruder, they apparently decided Bruiser was part of the family immediately. Tiny rescue kittens always seem to bring out everybody's soft side, especially when they are this small and vulnerable.

His progress already feels huge too. Going from 9.6 ounces to 15.8 ounces in only two weeks after everything he has been through is such a massive improvement for a kitten that tiny. Every ounce gained feels important with rescue babies.

Rescue kittens also never seem to arrive at convenient times. They just suddenly appear needing medicine, warmth, bottles, attention, and constant care, and somehow everybody becomes completely emotionally attached almost overnight. Bruiser may have started out as a fragile little rescue baby, but he already sounds completely loved by both the humans and dogs around him.

A tuxedo cat was all dressed up with nowhere to go, until it caught eyes with a Mom and her cat-obsessed youngest daughter. 

The love of a pet cat is immeasurable. For children especially, who tend to bond with kittens and cats immediately, getting permission to get a cat of your own is the epitome of childhood greatness. Dreaming of this moment since they first watched Aristocats or Olive and Company, kids dream of the day they can come home with their own furry feline. 

My parents, like many, always said 'No.' Driven by logic and reason, my parents were always stunned that my sister and I continually asked the bring the pets from the Petsmart window back home with us. When it came to cats, a special place in my heart melted watching them paw at the adoption center glass. Even as a wee child, I knew I could give them a better life than any other hooman. With me, this kitten would recieve 24/7 love, a billion kisses per day, and all of the kibble gravy their little heart desires. 

Alas, when parents always listen to reason, cats don't find homes in a family house, which is why the story of this tuxedo feline is so impawrtant. With both rhyme and reason telling her to avoid adding more animals to the feeding roster, this mom felt her heart flurry every time her kids begged for a kitten. There was one little rascal who earned his stripes (so to speak) by having a built-in heart on his chest for them. 

With a heart-shaped marking engraved on his back, this woman could hardly deny her daughter's groveling, and will a heavy sigh and a happy smile, this mom brought home a new kitty. Now, a year later, she revels on Reddit, claiming that the Cat Distribution System saved her and her family by giving them a heart-filled feline. 

As it turns out, this kitty had more than just a heart to give to their future family, they gave them their soul, their love, and a whole lot of snuggles. 

These tuxedo cats showed up to the meeting fully dressed and completely done with your excuses.

They were born in formal wear, they have never once been underdressed for any occasion, and they will be running this office whether you hired them or not.

Anyone who has ever had doubts about adopting a stray cats, this is your sign. With a little bit of love, that withdrawn, scraggly-looking kitty that you're considering adopting will turn into the fluffiest, happiest lovebug. 

The lives that stray cats live out there in the world are hard ones. They are nothing like the lives of our spoiled house cats. Every scrap of food and shelter is something that they need to fight for. And that kind of life has a toll. Cats outside often look skinny or malnourished. You will never see a chonky cat living on its own outdoors. The ones you see are always fed by humans. These cats will often be skittish or scared, having most likely had bad experiences with humans throughout their lives. 

All that doesn't mean that those cats don't deserve a chance. And it doesn't mean that they would be bad pets. These cats just need a little love - a little help, a little compassion. It's exactly those adopted stray cats who end up being the sweetest. You help these cats transform - get healthier, happier, more confident, and they will reward you by giving you all the love that they are capable of holding in their little bodies. 

Adopting a senior stray cat in need of help, giving them a chance at a comfortable retirement, making sure that they know what real love feels like, even if it's just for the last portion of their lives… there is nothing kinder and more beautiful than that. 

Most people adopt kittens. This is a fact, and there is a reason for it. We love our cats, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible. So, we normally get them young - so that we have that time. But kittens are not the only ones in need of love. They are not the only ones in need of homes. 

So many senior cats wait in shelters for years and years on end for their purrfect forever home. These senior cats are usually there for a reason. Some are cats that have been surrendered by their owners, some of them had their original owners pass, some are abandoned after they get "too difficult" to take care of in their older age. It is never the cat's fault, thhe cat's are always confused by their new situations, and them being in the shelters at this older age does not mean that they are "bad" pets in any way. 

Seeing senior kitties in shelters is difficult enough, but what is even worse is seeing them on the streets. More often than not, stray cats don't live to a very old age. There are too many risk factors out there when they are trying to survive on their own. And those who do - the cats who make it to seniorhood outside - don't deserve to live out the rest of their days working to survive. We know it, and sometimes, they know it too.

This senior kitty decided that he was too tired to keep on fighting to survive outside. It was time to retire. It was time to be spoiled by some humans. The humans who adopted this senior knew that he was sick, and although they didn't know exactly how long he had to live, they knew it wasn't going to be long, so they decided to make the very best out of every single moment that he had left. 

Wouldn't it be nice if doing the "right thing" was always met with a good reward?

People say "a good deed is its own reward", but when they coined that phrase, they weren't living in this economy. Sure, it feels good to do a good thing, but less so when it ends up costing you a lot of money. And even less so when you realize that you were tricked by "the system" into paying fees that you never should have had to pay in the first place.

Our rescuer's story that was posted in the r/CatAdvice Reddit page really grinds our gears for this exact reason. It takes a lot of effort to rescue kittens, both emotionally and financially. They may be smol, but they still need food, medicine, and care, all of which are expenses that you often haven't budgeted for. They rescued an abandoned kitten, and the shelter asked them to foster the tiny baby and try to find a home for it themselves. Knowing that shelters are crowded and underfunded, they agreed to take on the burden for the sake of helping this kitten find her furrever home.

Six weeks later, with no interest in the kitten, they returned to the shelter, only to be denied because of an unspoken policy requiring them to pay $240 to surrender the kitten. 

So, we ask you again, wouldn't it be nice if doing the right thing was always met with a good reward?

What cat? I can't see any cat. Cats are curious, funny, chaotic, adorable, silly, and so much more. But there is one thing they are not: invisible. These fluffy ninjas really need more training. They are certain that their hiding place is perfect, but their tail is sticking out. Or half of their entire body. 

Please ignore the pair of wide eyes looking straight at you from behind the chair. That's definitely not a cat. Keep scrolling for very suspicious-looking pieces of furniture, boxes, or windows. 

Fresh off the grill and somehow still full of purrsonality.

From tiny kittens sandwiched between slices of bread to deluxe cheeseburger cats loaded with toppings, these adorable felines are serving up the cutest comfort food on the internet.

Every neighborhood has at least one cat silently monitoring the street from behind the blinds.

Cats take neighborhood watch duties incredibly seriously. The second somebody walks past the house, they are already sitting in the window tracking every movement like tiny furry security guards. Delivery driver? Suspicious. Neighbor watering plants? Needs further investigation. Plastic bag blowing down the street? Potential threat.

Window cats always look way too invested too. Some of them spend entire afternoons sitting behind curtains staring outside like retired old men keeping tabs on the block. One little noise and suddenly they are running from window to window conducting a full inspection of the neighborhood.

They somehow make it dramatic too. Tiny paws on the windowsill. Slow blinking while observing civilians. Ears twitching like they just overheard important gossip. Meanwhile nothing is actually happening outside except somebody parallel parking badly.

And for some reason cats always act personally offended when another neighborhood cat walks by. Suddenly the peaceful surveillance session turns into intense staring through the glass like a tiny territorial standoff is taking place.

Window duty is clearly exhausting work, but somebody has to monitor the street for birds, squirrels, suspicious leaves, and people walking dogs. Tiny little neighborhood watch captains.

One heavy rainstorm completely changed this tiny kitten's life for the better.

Reddit's r/kittens subreddit is full of tiny rescue glow-ups, and little Loris had one in record time. He was found soaking wet in the middle of the road after a heavy downpour, and the difference between the first photo and the updated one only two days later is huge. Going from tiny drenched kitten with irritated eyes to bouncing around playing with everything in sight is such a satisfying recovery.

The timing of the rescue really could not have been better either. A five-week-old kitten alone in the middle of the road during heavy rain is a dangerous situation, especially for one that tiny. The fact that he was not injured is incredibly lucky. Instead of being left there, he got picked up, cleaned up, treated, and brought somewhere warm and safe.

The little details make the story even sweeter too. Naming him after the town where he was found is adorable, and Lori is such a cute nickname for a kitten. The update about him already running around playing with everything feels like the biggest sign that he is feeling better and settling in fast.

Tiny kittens somehow recover emotionally so quickly once they are safe. One minute they are cold, scared, and soaked from the rain, and the next they are zooming around the house acting like they have lived there forever. Loris seriously went from stormy roadside rescue to spoiled house cat.

You never know when the Cat Distribution System will call on you to take in a cat or two, but whenever it might be, you'd better be ready. Something that this story's pawrent was most certainly not.

It is tough, you cannot possibly be expected to live your life in the constant knowledge that sometime soon you might be called upon by the Cat Distribution system to save a cat. But to a certain degree that is the burden we take upon ourselves as cat lovers anyway. Let's be honest, who amongst us who does not even have a cat has found themselves out and about with cat food at the ready to give to a stray in need of feed? Yeah, that's what we thought.

But when this story from Reddit's r/cats subreddit pawrent came across two cute kittens curled up in a box he was less than prepawed for the leap than he thought. Perhaps it was his late night and lack of sleep that knocked him off his game, but in the time it took him to deliberate what to do with the kittens in question they could have been half way down the next block. Well, not really, but it does give us food for thought about how we prepaw ourselves for the fateful day the CDS calls upon us. 
 

The life of an artist is hard enough, but the life of an artist cat parent is even harder.

You don't know to what extent people have to go just to have a cat live at home with them. People think having a cat is easy, because they're "independent" or something. These people have clearly never had a cat for once in their lives. Cats are extremely social, and this "independent" bullsheep is an ignorant stereotype. That's why every time a cat pawrent takes on a new hobby or activity, the household cat takes it upon themselves to be part of the process and participate. Just ask any artist - which is exactly what artists on wetcanvas talked about.

It's a question as old as time (or at least as old as humanity domesticated cats) - how do we get them off our art supplies? Artists were helping other artists here, advising on the realm of paint and pets - but as we've said, this isn't a pawblem that artists deal alone with. Just take a look at a guitarist with a cat who worries about his gear, because even here, cats tend to take over the hobby. But they only do it because they love you and want to be part of whatever you do. That's wholesome.

Luckily for us, cat people, the online feline family is a worldwide source of cat knowledge filled with people who are always willing to help. Seriously, cat people are some of the nicest people. Also, they love sharing cat advice online because they know it'll also help another cat in the world. How to build a catio, how to train cats on leash walks, how to care for an abandoned kitten - the online cat community is already ready with answers.

But now? Let's focus on the artists among us.

Why do we love to squish our cats so much?

It's almost a given that all cat people would love to squeeze their cats, giving them a big bear hug like they have a chiropractor appointment. Sure, we all want to squish our cats because we love our cats, but that's not a detailed enough answer. Cat people don't just stop and think about why we all love to squish our floofy feline friends, they just go and squish the fluff out of them.

But the fact that we don't think about it doesn't mean there's no real answer, based on science and research. Did you think we were going to give it to you right meow? Sorry, we're way too busy grabbing our cats like hamburgers and pretending to eat them because we love them so fluffing much. We can't resist. Come and see other squishable cats with us, maybe the answer hides there, between the smooshy feline faces.