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We’re big fans of the Cats With Jobs account here at Bored Panda, so it’s actually not the first time we’ve featured it. And lucky for us, we were previously able to get in touch with the creator of the page, Louie, who had a chat with me about how it all started.
“During the first major COVID lockdown, I was looking for a side-project to work on, and a friend gave me the idea of starting a gimmick page,” the creator shared. “I started with Translated Cats - which is still going strong. On it I post pictures of cats with Machine/AI translated captions. Eventually I started up a second page, called 'Socially Distanced Cats' (this was at the start of COVID after all), but it got no real traction. I then had the idea to transform the page into working cats, and almost immediately, it went through the roof in terms of popularity."
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We also asked Louie if there are any particular jobs that he’s found cats thrive in. “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,” he shared. “I think this is why they work so well as shop pets. If you go into a shop and see a cat, all of a sudden it makes you warm up to the place.”
And where does the creator find these adorable pics? “I used to grab them from anywhere (Google search, Facebook cat pages, etc.) without thinking too much about attribution. These days I try to put the extra bit of effort into working out where the post comes from, so that I can link to the OP,” he noted.
“If the OP is also on X, I'll reach out and ask for permission via DM or replies. I've cultivated some great relationships with the people posting this content up in the first place, and it wouldn't be fair if a larger page like mine came along and stole their thunder,” Louie explained. “Sometimes this means deleting viral posts in order to repost it with attribution, or in the form of a 'Quote Tweet', but I don't really mind.”
Most of the photos on this list featuring employed cats, while adorable, are satirical. Slap a tie on a kitty or prop him up next to a computer, and he certainly looks like a star employee. But did you know that it actually is possible for cats to land jobs? To learn more about working cats, we got in touch with Samantha Bell, M. Ed., cat expert for Best Friends Animal Society.
"Adopting a working cat is a safe, inexpensive way to control the rodent population while providing a home for a cat who cannot be adopted out to an indoor household," Samantha shared. "A working cat is just like any other cat; only their home looks different. Some cats' homes are indoors with people full-time. For community cats, their home is outside. And working cats' homes are usually in businesses or on farms."
"There’s no specific personality that’s required for a cat to be a working cat. Some are friendly with people, some are scared of people, and some are in-between those two extremes," the expert continued. "Simply by housing working cats, rodents will avoid the area. Working cats are also called: barn cats, shop cats, bodega cats, and brewery cats."
Samantha also believes that working cats are very content with their jobs. "The number one most important thing for a cat to feel happy is being able to have choices in their lives. And since a working cat can choose to be around people or not, that’s the ultimate choice for them," she explained.
"If they happen to like people, they can interact with them, but they're not forced to. If they want to take months to warm up to people, they can," she noted. "And if they never want to interact with people, they can live their lives free from human interaction."
We were also lucky enough to get in touch with Scott Wendelberger, Marketing & Community Outreach Manager at NOCO Humane, to find out even more about working cats.
"At NOCO Humane, we classify a 'working cat' as one who is less social with humans, fearful and shy around human interaction, and are better suited for an independent life outdoors," he shared. "Our Behavior & Enrichment Team looks at every individual cat’s known history, as well as any behavioral or medical information gathered while they are being cared for at the shelter to determine the type of home that would best suit their needs."
"We also take great care to consider the needs and safety of the communities we serve, other animals in the community, and environmental health. Some cats that come to NOCO Humane are not well-adjusted to being strictly companion animals and have a successful outdoor history," Scott explained. "These cats are placed in our Working Cat program. 'Working cats' are seeking homes outside of city-limits where leash laws do not apply, and can help keep rodent and pest populations at bay. Typical homes for a working cat are barns, shops, warehouses, etc."
