• This International Cat Day, let's not just post cute pictures. Let's also reflect on how far we've come — how we've gone from fear to fascination, from whispered warning to cuddly adoration. Let's celebrate how far we have come — and how far we still have to go — in learning to love, respect, and protect our feline friends.

International Cat Day is August 8, every year, a global celebration created in 2002 to promote the protection, awareness, care, and appreciation of cats.

But to the rest of us who grew up in Kenyan houses, this day is something more than a global animal calendar day. It takes us back to our childhoods of heeded warnings and spine-chilling whispers about cats — particularly the ones that roamed at will under the shroud of night, eyes glowing and paws silent.

Cats were not the Instagram-celebrity fur babies we know these days. They were mysterious, mystical, and sometimes downright feared. To many families, they were omens in their homes. If a black cat appeared in front of you, it was bad luck.

If a cat was sitting outside your doorstep meowing at midnight, it was thought that some member of the village was going to die. Some even said that cats could see ghosts, or that they were witches in disguise.

PHOTO | COURTESY: PetsRadar

These stories weren't simply myths they determined how humans treated cats. They were given sparing rations unless you were spoiling them by handing them leftovers after dinner. Nobody bothered to pet them or give them names. They weren't allowed in the house or on furniture. They simply had one job: kill mice and go away.

But as with so much, time took its toll.

Now, cats don't just exist but are adored. They are Simba, Luna, or Tofu. They have toys, beds, bell collars, and an adoring fan base on social media. City millennials and Gen Zers are happily raising cats, sharing memes about them, and considering them emotional support animals.

We’ve come to understand cats better — their independence, their loyalty, their calming purrs. Science has replaced superstition.

Education has replaced fear. And a new generation is embracing cats not as creepy beings, but as comforting, quirky, and intelligent pets.

So on every International Cat Day, let's not just post cute pictures. Let's also reflect on how far we've come — how we've gone from fear to fascination, from whispered warning to cuddly adoration.

Let's celebrate how far we have come — and how far we still have to go — in learning to love, respect, and protect our feline friends.