Beware! Black cats are evil!

[Behind the Aegis]

There is a beautiful black cat that visits my house for grub. I was outside yesterday and my neighbor said "I am afraid of black cats." I laughed. I thought she was kidding. She said, "No, really I am afraid for cats like that." I guess I had misheard her the first time. So I asked why. She said during this time of year solid black cats are sometimes nabbed and tortured and killed because they are black cats. I was appalled.

I am not sure if this is a neighbor's cat or one of the throngs of feral cats that roam the streets of NOLA. My place has become a kitty flop-house, they get water and food, and sleep under the house or on the porch.

Have y'all ever heard of people killing black cats during Halloween? I have a house cat, Tony, who isn't allowed outside. I also have a long-haired chihuahua, Voodoo. So, I can't bring the stray in my house because I don't if one, he is a stray, or two, if he has been treated for various diseases.

What should I do?

[ginnyinWI]

1. do you have some sort of garage or shed?

It would be really kind to keep the black cat in until the danger is past. I've heard this too. We had a black cat for 18 years but he was indoor so not in danger. Now we have another one and she is likewise an indoor cat.

[Jo March]

2. I know that some rescue groups won't adopt out black cats this time of year

Because they fear violence against the little black cats. Also, people might want a black cat for Halloween but then grow bored of them afterwards and abandon them.

I have a little black cat and he is awesome. He was a stray who came up and we adopted him. It was last Halloween, actually. :)

[badgerpup]

5. My ninja clowder gets to stay INSIDE on Hallowe'en...

...under protest...vociferous protest, I might add.

Got a tranquilizer one year for one of my cats who protested this abuse (not being allowed out when he wanted out) mightily.

You have not been properly protested at until it's been done by a cat with enough Siamese in the bloodline to give them the volume, range, vigour, and stamina of a Wagnerian tenor...:wow:
Hence the tranquilizer.

Well...it didn't work out quite as planned. Instead of settling down and going to sleep, Misha decided to change tactics.
He didn't want out this time...he was a Mama's boy, he wasn't ashamed to admit it, and he going to SING about just how much he loved his Mom.
MRROOUWW purrrrr, snuggle MRAAAAOOOAAAUOOW (hard to do phonetics)...for 4 hours.:hide::yoiks:

Told the vet next time I'd just take the tranquilizer...

[Why Syzygy]

8. lol..

The trank put him in the love mood. ;)

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I know that North Shore will not adopt out any black cats starting at the beginning of October.

[EndersDame]

3. I am glad my 13 yo baby is safe inside with me

This is Frisky my mom got him for me when I was 10. He is the only animal we have from a breeder because no one in the small bfe Texas areawanted him because it was a highly "studpidstitious" area

[AlienGirl]

4. I've heard this rumor every year, but no evidence that it actually happens

Snopes found inconclusive evcidence: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/blackcat.asp

Of course, random cruel fucks and dumbasses are always a hazard for animals, and sometimes they copycat urban legends for kicks: http://petwriter.com/article5.html includes a genuine black-cat incident involving duct tape.

Tucker

[Warpy]

6. Shelters won't adopt black cats out this time of year

for that very reason. There are too many cruel and superstitious people out there.

My yard is also a cat flophouse. Lately there's been a chubby white tomcat with a big Maine coon tail around, total love bug when I go outside.

I think my woodpile is prime hunting ground for mice and lizards.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. UPDATE

Turns out it is a neighbor cat. I call him "Obsidian," they named him "Obama!" LOL! So, I will make sure they keep him in during Halloween because, though we have no children in this neighborhood, little hoodlums come in from all over to trick-or-treat.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Great idea. Thanks for the update.

[badgerpup]

11. The Naming of Cats is an interesting matter...(apologies to TS Eliot)

Y'all probably have guessed by now I love me some black cats...:loveya:
I intend to have only black cats (unless 'chosen' by a cat of another color; e.g. Wimsey) for the rest of my life.
Just I figure they're owed something- they've taken so much abuse throughout history. :cry:

Anyway...
It's a point (of honor? pride? stubborness?) for me to NOT name a cat for its color. All my cats have 'told' me their names, in one fashion or another...

Riktor jumped on an office-type chair I was using and made it quake with the strength of his purr (he seems to have a lot of subsonics, which gives it a very 'rich' sound). "Geez, this kid's purr is off the Richter scale!"
Only 'Richter' didn't feel like the right spelling when applied to this kitten...finally figured out that spelling it as 'Riktor' incorporated part of the word 'temblor'...another word for earthquake.
Yeah, my mind works in very weird ways...:crazy:

Wimsey jumped up on my lap and gave his polite little maow? while I was reading Dorothy Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon...
at the very INSTANT I'd gotten to the description of the Wimsey coat-of-arms.
I won't blazon the whole thing, but it does include an 'argent (silver or white) domestick Catt, crouched as to spring'.
Well, that one was pretty blatant...

Esme (EHZ-may) looks (and behaves) as though she's got a lot of British Shorthair in her, so she needed a British name.
Came down to 'Esme' or 'Gwendolyn'. Asked her what she thought, and she responded to "Esme'.

Finnegan and D'Artagnan were more subjective. For Finn, I watched him, and after a few days the phrase 'Finnegan, begin again' began going through my head. I had no preconceptions about D'Artagnan; just one night at work, his little face SPRANG into my mind along with the name "D'Artagnan". I'll take my oath I hadn't been near anything to do with "The Three Musketeers"...including the candy bar.
Figured since they both began responding to these word-sounds within two days, they approved...and this was without 'treat' reinforcement. Didn't have any on hand at the time, plus I wanted to make sure they approved the name (as opposed to the 'nom').

Know one absolutely gorgeous longhaired white cat whose well-meaning (but not-all-there:yoiks: ) ex-owner tagged 'Fluffy'.
"Fluffy' was not a nice cat- aggressive/hostile with her feline roomates, hissing at people, and god help you if you tried to pet her.
Her new human minions (who are very wise in the way of cats) thought she might not like her name and changed it to Czarina.
You'd swear they'd traded her in on her angelic twin sister. :wow:
Czarina PURRS. She's an absolute sponge for attention and an accomplished lapwarmer. While there are still a few spats with her five feline roomates, it's well within normal limits for that number of strictly-indoor cats in that size a dwelling.

They'll tell you, if you give them a chance...and methinks they do appreciate having their dignity respected.

[Louisiana1976]

12. I've a sweet black cat named Lucky who I rescued from a house where the

husband had been keeping him in the basement and had been mistreating him (not physically, but by yelling at him.) This is the cutest cat--he's 15 now.