Cats don’t use calendars.
They don’t know when January becomes February.
They have no idea that Valentine’s Day is approaching, Easter is around the corner or someone has decided it’s time to put a Christmas tree in the living room.
They measure the year differently.
By the sunny spot moving across the floor.
By birds returning to the garden.
By windows opening again after a long winter.
By suitcases appearing in hallways.
By children suddenly disappearing every morning in September.
And by the completely inexplicable arrival of a large tree inside the house every December.
Spend an entire year with a cat, however, and they become part of all of it.
The holidays.
The seasons.
The routines.
And all those ordinary days in between.
Here is a year with your cat.
January — The Best Seat in the House
Outside, winter has settled in.
Snow covers the yard and frost gathers along the edges of the windows.
Inside, the cat has found the warmest place in the house.
Perhaps it’s beside the fireplace.
Perhaps it’s stretched across a heated floor.
Or perhaps it’s sitting in the window watching snow fall with absolutely no intention of experiencing it personally.
January is a month for staying home.
Your cat has been preparing for this lifestyle all year.
February — Your Valentine Has Whiskers
There are flowers on the table.
Perhaps chocolates nearby.
Maybe someone has planned a romantic dinner.
The cat would like to be included.
Naturally.
It may inspect the flowers.
It may occupy the chair intended for your date.
It may decide that Valentine’s evening is precisely the right time to sit between two people on the sofa.
Romance comes in many forms.
Sometimes it purrs.
March — The First Bird
Something has changed.
The cat noticed before you did.
There is movement outside the window again.
A bird lands on a branch.
Another appears along the fence.
Suddenly the sleepy animal that spent January stretched beside the fireplace is sitting perfectly upright, eyes enormous, tail twitching.
Spring isn’t officially here yet.
But the cat has received advance notice.
April — Rainy Days and Easter Weekends
April brings rain against the windows, muddy gardens and the first genuinely warm afternoons.
It also brings Easter.
There may be baskets.
There may be decorations.
There may be family coming through the door.
And there may be flowers arriving in the house.
For cat households, Easter also comes with an important reminder: some traditional Easter plants, particularly lilies, can be extremely dangerous to cats.
The season can still be beautiful.
It simply needs to be beautiful with the cat in mind.
May — The World Turns Green Again
The garden has returned.
Windows are open.
Fresh air moves through the house.
And the cat has discovered approximately seventeen new things requiring immediate supervision.
A bee near the window.
Leaves moving outside.
Someone working in the garden.
A neighbour walking past.
For indoor cats, a secure catio, screened porch or favourite window can provide a front-row seat to spring without the risks of roaming freely outdoors.
The television has apparently been cancelled.
Nature is back on.
June — The Open Window
There is something wonderful about the first stretch of the year when the windows can stay open.
Curtains move gently in the breeze.
Birds can be heard outside.
The house smells different.
And somewhere along the windowsill is a cat with its nose pointed toward the screen, taking everything in.
You may think you opened the window for yourself.
The cat knows otherwise.
July — The Search for Somewhere Cool
Summer has arrived.
The beautiful cat bed has been abandoned.
The sofa has been abandoned.
Even the favourite sunny window has temporarily lost its appeal.
Instead, the cat is stretched approximately three feet long across the coolest tile floor in the house.
Cats are very good at finding comfortable places.
In July, comfort simply moves closer to the air conditioner.
August — The Lazy Days
The days are long.
The evenings are warm.
And nobody appears particularly interested in accomplishing very much.
Especially the cat.
It sleeps through the afternoon.
Moves briefly to another chair.
Sleeps there.
Eventually wanders into the kitchen to determine whether dinner might be early.
Summer has a rhythm.
Cats understood it long before we did.
September — Everyone Goes Somewhere
Suddenly the house changes.
Backpacks appear.
Lunches are packed.
Shoes collect near the door.
Children who seemed to be home constantly throughout the summer begin disappearing every morning.
Cats notice changes in routine.
Some investigate the backpacks.
Some sit directly on the homework.
Others simply occupy the newly quiet house until everyone returns.
Then they behave as though they hadn’t noticed anyone was gone.
Obviously.
October — The Cat’s Month
October almost seems designed for cats.
Longer shadows.
Cool evenings.
Pumpkins on porches.
Halloween decorations appearing around the house.
And, of course, National Cat Day.
Black cats become unofficial ambassadors for the entire season, although they’ll probably tell you the position should come with additional treats.
Halloween can also mean open doors, unfamiliar visitors, costumes and candy, so a little planning helps keep the night enjoyable for the animals who actually live there.
But October also gives us a perfect excuse to celebrate them.
Not that cat people particularly needed one.
November — The Cozy Season
The days grow shorter.
The blankets return to the sofa.
The fireplace comes on again.
And suddenly the cat wants to be approximately four inches closer to you than it did in July.
This is the season of curled paws, warm laps and evenings spent indoors.
A cat settles into the blanket beside you.
Outside, the year is winding down.
Inside, everything feels pretty good.
December — Someone Put a Tree in the House
For eleven months, the household has maintained fairly understandable rules.
Then December arrives.
A tree is brought indoors.
Lights are wrapped around it.
Shiny objects are deliberately hung from the branches.
Boxes covered in paper and ribbon are placed underneath.
And somehow the cat is expected to behave normally.
This seems unreasonable.
Christmas with a cat may involve ornaments mysteriously migrating across the floor.
It may involve someone sleeping beneath the tree.
It may involve considerably more interest in the empty gift boxes than the gifts themselves.
And years later, those are often the photographs everyone remembers.
And Then We Do It All Again
Eventually the decorations come down.
The house becomes quiet.
January returns.
And somewhere nearby, the cat finds its favourite warm spot and goes back to sleep.
Another year begins.
The cat doesn’t know that, of course.
To them, there was no Valentine’s Day.
No Easter.
No summer vacation.
No Back to School.
No Halloween.
No Christmas.
There were simply mornings at the window.
Afternoons asleep in the sun.
People leaving.
People coming home.
Meals.
Boxes.
Warm laps.
And thousands of ordinary moments spent in the same house with the same people.
But perhaps that’s exactly why animals become such an important part of our lives.
We measure our years by calendars.
Sometimes we measure them by bigger things — birthdays, holidays, vacations and milestones.
But when we look back, the memories that stay with us are often much smaller.
A cat watching the first snowfall.
A paw appearing beneath a bathroom door.
A warm body settling beside us on a cold November evening.
A ridiculous photograph beneath the Christmas tree.
Another year together.
And if we’re lucky, when January comes around again, they’ll still be there for the next one.
