Black Cats and Halloween—Let’s Have Some Fun!

This week’s post comes to you from guest blogger Liz Pease. If you’d like to know a little more about Liz and her experience in non-profit management, TNR and cat care, check out episode 51 of the podcast. 

For years, as recently for the first half of my career in animal welfare, if you said the word “Halloween” around another animal welfare person, you were bound to hear something about black cats and making sure not to adopt them out around Halloween. The thinking was that black cats were at risk of being adopted just to be used in Satanist rituals. In some cases, people even went as far as banning black cat adoptions for the whole month of October—and in the case of one shelter I am personally familiar with, having a staff member sleep over on Halloween night to ensure the safety of their black cats. (They have long since stopped doing that, not to worry!)

Luckily for black cats, all this hysteria has largely settled down over the years. Shelter workers have come to realize that while well intentioned, these efforts to protect black cats around Halloween were ultimately based on inaccurate or anecdotal information. (See this Best Friends article for more details.)

Further, shelter staffers came to understand that these bans were really only accomplishing one thing—denying black cats a chance at a home. Of course, shelters also realized that they were missing out on some pretty awesome adoption opportunities centered around Halloween! Being a huge fan of black cats myself (2 of my 4 current cats are black, and I’ve had a total of 7 black cats in my life so far), I love the idea of actively promoting black cats at Halloween.

So this Halloween, let’s all have a little fun. Embrace the idea of sending more black cats home, not fewer. Come up with a fun theme for an adoption event, either a spontaneous one advertised on social media over the coming days, or a planned one for next year. You can use a tagline like “Black cats—they’re not just for witches anymore!” or “Add a little magic to your household this Halloween—adopt a black cat (or two)!” The possibilities are endless. You could give away a tiny pumpkin with each black cat adoption (after all, black cats look great with pumpkins!) or offer a discount on black cats (or better yet, on ALL the cats in your shelter that are still there after the busy summer season).

With some advance planning, next year you could partner with a local school or community program to help you decorate the shelter for Halloween, including some “myth-buster” posters with facts about black cats. (For instance: Is it really true that black cats get adopted last? Read Dr. Emily Weiss of the ASPCA’s take on this potential myth.)

For more ideas on ways to promote your black cats—at Halloween and all year round—check out this article from the ASPCA on black cat adoption promotions, or this post on black pet adoptions (dogs too!) from the Animal Farm Foundation. Happy Halloween!

Liz Pease is a freelance writer and editor who spent over a decade at The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society in Salisbury, MA, first as a program coordinator, then as director of operations, and finally as executive director. She lives in Salisbury with her 4 spoiled cats (who have a fabulous custom catio), her husband, and two young children.