In this listicle, cats having jobs are more of a joke than a reality. The "Cats With Jobs" subreddit is more about owners dressing up their pets and putting them in certain situations to look like they're employees. However, some felines actually do have jobs. Let's look at some of the kitties who can definitely bring home the bacon.
If you had to guess, which profession would you say suits a cat the best? Aside from looking pretty and adorable, cats are also great at pest control. Granted, they might not really know they're on duty while they catch mice and rats in urban areas. Yet, Chicago is able to control its rat population with the help of the Tree House Humane Society.
In the 2010s, Chicago's rat problem got so bad that the mayor had to create a rodent task force. Among other solutions, the authorities asked for help from Tree House. They came up with the Cats at Work project, which provides colonies of cats to areas that have bad rat infestations. The Community Cats program manager, Liz Houtz, told CNN in 2016 that the process is a bit more complicated than simply dropping off a bunch of cats in a neighborhood.
"The cats would honestly have no reason to stay; they don't know the area," she explained. So, the organization creates the sort of "kitty apartments": they fill big dog crates with litter boxes, toys, scratch pads, and everything else the cats would need to feel "at home." The neighborhood caretakers are responsible for feeding the cats and providing veterinary assistance if needed.
The cat solution didn't seem to work for New York. Research shows that using cats to control the rat population in New York has had no significant effect. However, kitties have been used as exterminators for nearly 1,000 years. Natufians domesticated cats so that they would protect their grains from attracting rodents.
Cats are used for pest control in other places as well. Disneyland, for example, uses a population of around 200 stray cats to get rid of any rats that are roaming the park. They mostly work at night, but sometimes people spot them during the day, too. Truly, exterminators have never looked this cute!
But not all cats work in pest control. Some are stars of the big screen! Throughout the years, there have been numerous cat actors who have become iconic, like the feline that Marlon Brando was petting in The Godfather or the shorthair tabby Orangey from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Even recently, a cat named Tonic was the breakout star in Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing.
"He's a scene stealer," actor Austin Butler praised his feline co-star. "He could stay on a mark for an hour and a half, he's just so focused."
Just like dogs, cats can be therapy animals too. They are great at relieving stress and helping people feel less lonely. Places where cats are used for therapy include schools, prisons, hospitals, care homes, and hospices. If a person is afraid of larger or more excitable animals, such as horses and dogs, cats can be a great option. But cats can even help people relax with their purring. A 2001 study found that the frequency at which cats purr promotes healing of "bone growth/fractures, pain, edema, muscle growth/strain, joint flexibility, dyspnea, and wounds."
There are plenty of jokes on the internet about how cats are becoming our overlords. However, that future seems a tiny bit plausible when we consider that there have been cats who worked in government. The most popular example would be Larry the Cat, or Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office in the UK. Larry was originally a stray cat whom the staff at 10 Downing Street took in. Since then, he's been good at chasing mice, birds, and was even captured chasing off a fox once. Who needs security when you have Larry the Chief Mouser?
