{"id":3472,"date":"2019-06-04T04:29:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T12:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3472"},"modified":"2019-06-04T04:29:33","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T12:29:33","slug":"newsday-tuesday-national-hug-your-cat-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3472","title":{"rendered":"Newsday Tuesday \u2013 National Hug Your Cat Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2535\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Smokey13-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Smokey13-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Smokey13-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Smokey13.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>Now this isn\u2019t a difficult assignment. We live to interact with and love on our cats. They bring us so much joy. And remember, having a cat around is healthy. All cats can be considered therapy or support cats.<\/p>\n<p>It is known that sitting with a cat can lower your blood pressure. I don\u2019t know about you, but just looking into my cats\u2019 eyes makes me smile. And watching them at play makes me laugh. Laughter is healthy. Cats can create a more pleasurable and fun environment.<\/p>\n<p>So today, give each of your cats a little one-on-one love and wrap them in a sweet bear hug. That is unless your cat doesn\u2019t warm up to hugs.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a cat who can be considered aloof or at least a little or a lot resistant or <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-407\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/046-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/046-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/046-375x500.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>downright opposed to hugs? This morning I felt the urge to cuddle with Lily and since this show of affection wasn\u2019t her idea and since she was more interested in me getting right into the kitchen and feeding her, she protested by stiffening up and struggling in my arms and she even dug a claw into me. So much for Lily\u2019s National Hug Your Cat Day hug.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true, not all cats care to be confined in the arms of a human unless it is on their terms. Lily will curl up in my lap, but only when I\u2019m wearing my robe and in front of my computer. She adores petting and affectionate scratches around the neck, but only when <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2344\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MomSmokey4-1-e1510750351564-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MomSmokey4-1-e1510750351564-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MomSmokey4-1-e1510750351564-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MomSmokey4-1-e1510750351564.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>she wants it. Otherwise, she will duck and sway away from my attempt to pet her. One of 15 kittens to three feral mother cats that year, I don\u2019t think she got much human affection. Such a shame. But she does love us on her terms. She keeps me in her sight almost 24-hours a day and she\u2019s often close to me\u2014at my feet, mostly.<\/p>\n<p>I heard recently that the grace period for socializing kittens is 3-7 weeks. Not much of a window of time. We adopted Lily at about the 7-week mark as close as we can figure.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie came straight off the street at 10-weeks and she was untouchable at first. We still cannot pick her up. Try and she becomes Jello. But boy does she love a warm lap and loving hands. She\u2019ll turn inside out for some nice petting and even a hug if we do it to her liking.<\/p>\n<p>So if you have a cat who shuns a hug, you can still lavish affection on her, just approach her from her good side. Make it a hands only hug. Caress her. Give her head and neck scratches. Just remind her who loves her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now this isn\u2019t a difficult assignment. We live to interact with and love on our cats. They bring us so much joy. And remember, having a cat around is healthy. All cats can be considered therapy or support cats. It &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3472\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3473,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472\/revisions\/3473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}