To My Working Cats - Happy Labor Day

The earliest reference I’ve found to working cats dates back to about 8000 BC when humans started moving away from nomadic life styles toward settlement farming in the Middle East. Wild cats started settling down with the farmers providing their hunting skills to keep down the rat and mouse population threatening their primitive grain stores and garbage dumps. Over the next 5,000 years cats expanded their work-range to include the lofty status of being worshipped as gods --most notably in Egypt but also to some extent in Greece, Rome, China and Japan. Today cats engage in a variety of assignments – from rodent control to TV acting to library and retail store hosts to therapeutic aids and everything in between.

The first cat I put to work was my beloved pet Amino. She was upset about living with my other two pet cats and so I moved her to our company as our Office mascot. Since I spent most of my waking hours there she saw more of me than she would have at home – and was royally spoiled by our staff who would bring her leftovers from their dinners or share snacks off the food truck with her. She had a keen sense of who needed her attention most and when someone was having a frustrating day at work you’d find her sitting on their lap. One of our engineers had a baby who was allergic to cats and they would bring him in for brief controlled visits with Amino – I can still remember the giggles he’d let out when she notice he was there for her attention.

Several of our TLC retirement cats spent time in service – most notably Mama who lived for several years at a local Assisted Living home on the Alzheimer’s floor. Everyone benefitted from her care – residents who would recall stories of their former pets, staff who got well-meaning respite from her affection, and relatives and visitors who could release the inherent tension of visiting a diminished friend or relative by simply petting Mama’s coat.

Earlier in the TLC program, Picasso performed a very special hospice stay with an Ann Arbor man who was on breathing equipment. Because Picasso was old and blind and hard of hearing he could provide extended lap time– where younger healthier cats were scared away by the noise of his supportive life equipment.


A few months ago I enjoyed reading the best-selling book by Vicki Myron -- Dewey The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched The World. The author provides great detail on the variety of services he provided to the town residents. He enjoyed international fame with people coming from as far away as Japan to see him in his workplace.

As you enjoy this holiday remember to include the cats you see – outdoors mousing – greeting customers in specialty retail stores – and doing lap-sitting time with the elderly – in the workers you remember. They are an important – albeit unnoticed – group of willing workers that enhance our lives with their beauty, affection – and yes – work duties as well. All they need to do their jobs is a kindly human to feed them and pat them on the back.

Happy Labor Day to you and your cats.