International Cat Day, held on Sunday, August 8, 2027, celebrates an animal people have lived alongside for at least 9,500 years. An animal welfare charity started it in 2002.
International Cat Day’s Date
August 8, worldwide. The U.S. also has its own National Cat Day on October 29, so American cat owners get two chances.
From IFAW to International Cat Care
The International Fund for Animal Welfare created the day in 2002. In 2020, it handed custodianship to International Cat Care, a nonprofit that has worked on cat health and welfare since 1958.
Its name varies. Some countries call it World Cat Day. Russia marks its own cat day on March 1.
Where house cats came from
Every domestic cat descends from the Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica. A 2007 genetic study of 979 wild and domestic cats pointed to a single origin in the Middle East, Scientific American reported.
Researchers sampled cats from southern Africa to Mongolia and sorted the wildcats into five genetic groups. Domestication arose in one region, not several at once, the authors concluded.
Wildcats from remote deserts in Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were “virtually indistinguishable” from house cats.
Cyprus offers early proof. A 2004 dig found a 9,500-year-old grave holding a person and an eight-month-old cat about 40 centimeters away. Cats aren’t native to the island, so people likely brought them by boat.
That suggests people kept cats as pets long before the Egyptians did. Egypt came much later. By about 2,900 years ago, the cat had become the goddess Bastet, and Egyptians were breeding cats.
From there, cats spread with farming and trade. They reached Greece by about 2,500 years ago and likely rode grain ships out of Alexandria, keeping rats in check.
Romans carried them across the empire, and cats became common in Europe.
Genetics also explains their coats. The 2007 sequencing of an Abyssinian cat’s genome helped identify the mutations behind traits like tabby stripes.
Why Cats Get a Global Day
Cats share tens of millions of American homes. The U.S. had about 73.8 million pet cats in 2024, in 42.1 million households, the American Veterinary Medical Association reports.
That’s up from 59.8 million cats in 1996, when 27.3% of households had one. By 2024, the share was 32.1%.
Most owners, 84.7%, see their cat as family. Yet only 57.3% of cat owners took a cat to the vet in 2024.
About 77.1% of owners said they have a regular vet. Among those who did visit, the largest group, 44.9%, went only once that year.
Ideas for International Cat Day
- Book a checkup: only 57.3% of owners took a cat to the vet in 2024.
- Learn the ancestry: read about Felis silvestris lybica, the desert wildcat behind every house cat today.
- Mark both dates: celebrate again on October 29, National Cat Day in the U.S.
- Look up iCatCare: see what International Cat Care, the day’s custodian, recommends for cat welfare.
- Find Bastet: look for the Egyptian cat goddess, revered by about 2,900 years ago, in a museum’s ancient Egypt collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a vet visit for a cat cost?
About $138 on average, down from $163 the year before, AVMA data show.
When did the U.S. cat population peak?
In 2006, at 81.7 million cats.
When were Egyptians thought to have tamed cats?
Traditionally, about 3,600 years ago. The Cyprus grave is thousands of years older.
Why do some owners skip the vet?
Among owners who spent nothing on vet care, 31.1% said their cat “did not need a checkup,” up from 17.4% a year earlier.