Days Until International Cat Day

About International Cat Day

August 8 was established in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, aiming to raise awareness of cats' needs and promote responsible pet ownership and animal welfare worldwide.

It has grown into one of the more widely recognized informal international observances online, particularly associated with cat-related charity and adoption awareness campaigns.

Cats are believed to have first been domesticated in the Near East roughly 9,000-10,000 years ago, among the longest-running animal-human relationships the observance implicitly celebrates.

Studies on cat domestication genetics have traced the ancestry of most modern house cats to a single wildcat subspecies native to the Near East, distinct from the multiple wolf lineages behind dog domestication.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which founded the day, also runs broader global wildlife and companion-animal protection campaigns well beyond this single annual observance.