Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2025 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Join APR on June 23 for Community Night! The festivities will take place from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Hotel Indigo in Tuscaloosa.

June Is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month

Such a sweet face!
Roham Sheikholeslami
/
Flickr
Such a sweet face!

Juse is the peak time for kittens to be born and surrendered to animal shelters.

The month of June means the official start of summer. School’s out for the summer. Churches are booked for June weddings.

But for animal shelters, June means more cats will be surrendered this month than during any other time of the year. That’s why June is designated as Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month.

There are good reasons to adopt any animal from a shelter, such as giving it a good home with a loving owner to care for it.  But adopting a cat is an educational experience for the new owner.  You can learn a lot about living by observing your cat.

Begin by noticing your cat is curious about everything! Exploring the unknown expands our horizons, and the ability to get excited when we discover something new makes life interesting.

Watch your cat bathe itself and you’ll learn the importance of staying clean. See how your cat will play with anything – a twig, a piece of string, even the beam of a flashlight in a darkened room. Your pet knows that playing makes life more fun.

Study your cat as it becomes very still, watching the bird in the tree just outside the window. The only thing moving is the very tip of your pet’s tail as it waits with great patience and attention, ready to leap at just the right moment. Your cat understands the importance of patience and planning.

Of course, as you continue to observe your cat, you’ll notice it spends most of its time catnapping; but your cat knows that if you’re well rested, you’re ready for almost anything.

Perhaps the greatest lesson you can learn from your pet is unconditional love and acceptance. With a cat, you get something extra – an animal that has the ability express its pleasure and contentment by purring. What a great way to say thank you!

Consider adopting a cat this month from your local shelter or rescue group. You’ll make a new friend and companion for life - and learn a lot about living, when you’re speaking of pets.

__>^..^<__

Mindy Norton has been “Speaking of Pets” on Alabama Public Radio since 1995.