According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, working cats that control rodents in various places, from barns and stables to warehouses, aren’t the same as ‘regular’ pet cats.
“Working cats are different. They’re cats who have lived outdoors and come to us as strays,” Angela Speed from the Wisconsin Humane Society said about their ‘Working Cat Program’ for adoptions.
“The cats who qualify for working cats are not your house pets. They’re not lap cats. They’re under-socialized. They are not just fearful of people. They really don’t like you.”
Speed, from the Wisconsin Humane Society, explained to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that mousers are reclusive and get stressed when they’re confined.
Animal care technician Charlotte Coenen adds that working cats are “kind of interesting” and have their own personalities, but they’re the animals that they “interact the least with.”
“They want to be outside. That’s what they do. That’s where they thrive. So handling them isn’t something they enjoy. Respecting their boundaries while really providing good care is super important for all of us.”
Cats, including working felines, are a popular topic on social media, and ‘Cats With Jobs’ is one of the most popular projects focused on this niche that you’ll find anywhere.
Originally created on X (formerly Twitter) in November 2020, ‘Cats With Jobs’ boasts a whopping 2 million followers on the social network. Meanwhile, its Facebook page, founded a year later in September 2021, boasts 185k followers.
During a previous interview with Bored Panda, the creator of ‘Cats With Jobs’ opened up about the project, the inspiration behind it, and their thoughts about working felines in general. According to them, they started the account on X during the first major lockdown of the pandemic. It took a few tries and refinements to get the niche just right.
“I was looking for a side-project to work on, and a friend gave me the idea of starting a ‘gimmick page.’ I started with Translated Cats—which is still going strong. On it, I post pictures of cats with Machine/AI translated captions,” the founder opened up.
“Eventually, I started up a second page, called ‘Socially Distanced Cats,’ but it got no real traction.”
It was then that the founder got the brilliant idea to transform their ‘Socially Distanced Cats’ page into one all about working cats. They told Bored Panda that the success of the project was nearly instantaneous.
“Almost immediately, it went through the roof in terms of popularity,” they said.
Though it feels a bit bizarre to say it, cats actually do have jobs… of sorts. Bored Panda previously asked the creator of the account for their thoughts about the kinds of positions that felines would be great at.
"Aside from the obvious role of mousers, I've found cats are best at being themselves—at just chilling and providing comfort to surrounding humans by their very presence," they told us during the earlier interview.
