Ahhh, I was looking up black cats, because I was curious. When we were thinking about adopting the cats we have someone mentioned to me that it was hard for black cats to get adopted and she had to explain it to me. I mean, I am aware that there is a superstition around black cats, but I didn’t know that was what she was talking about. I think it is sad that a lot of black cats don’t get to live because of superstition. So I looked up Black Cats and Wiki told me otherwise. I mean in addition to there being a superstition that black cats bring bad luck, there are some countries that think black cats signify good luck. So YAY!
If you are Scottish you may believe that “a strange black cat’s arrival to the home signifies prosperity. In Celtic mythology, a fairy known as the Cat Sìth takes the form of a black cat. Black cats are also considered good luck in the rest of Britain and Japan. Furthermore, it is believed that a lady who owns a black cat will have many suitors. However, in Western history, black cats have often been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens, specifically being suspected of being the familiars of witches, and most of Europe considers the black cat a symbol of bad luck, especially if one crosses paths with a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death. In Germany, some believe that black cats crossing a person’s path from right to left, is a bad omen. But from left to right, the cat is granting favorable times. In the United Kingdom it is commonly considered that a black cat crossing a person’s path is a good omen.”
Some believed black cats could 
shape shift into human shape. Some thought they were so evil that there were mass killings of black cats. But some sailors thought having a black cat on the ship brought them luck. And some sailor’s wives kept one at home thinking it would protect their husband’s at sea. Pirates believed that the kind of luck brought by a black cat depended on the direction of its path, if it walked toward a person they would have bad luck, but if it were walking away they would have good luck. But in the United Kingdom they thought the opposite, coming towards a person good luck and walking away bad luck.
So, really what the superstition of cats being bad luck equates to is black cats having lower adoption rates as cats that are not black. If you don’t have any sort of hang-up about a black cat and you are going to adopt a cat, I would encourage you to look at black ones first. Some people prefer to have black cats.
I’ve never had any superstitions about black cats so aside from not wanting two cats, I didn’t have a problem adopting a black cat. Although, I will admit that both me and my husband had a period of adjustment when the cats came home and were allowed out of quarantine. It was odd to have dark cats walking around. We were used to a lighter cat . . . a tabby. So a black cat and a tortie was kind of odd at first.
Our black cat is a super sweet girl who always has a lot to say. We are LUCKY to have her!
What do you think about black cats?
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