We know some embrace the “crazy cat lady” term in good fun, but consider this…
When you are passionate about something, anything, it’s easy to devote your time and efforts to make it successful. Child welfare, sports, education, or whatever gives you a sense of involvement and better yet, giving back. At Shadow Cats, it is animal welfare and especially the plight of homeless or injured cats that lights a fire in our hearts.
That said, we have to say it again- we abhor the term “crazy cat lady”. We may be cat ladies (and men), but we’re sure not crazy. We can laugh at ourselves, have a sense of humor and all that but we must also take ourselves and our work seriously if we expect anyone else to.
Shadow Cats has stood before city councils to advocate for change of TNR ordinances, watched the dismantling of a gas chamber because of our activism, worked with county shelters in hoarding situations, stayed with critically ill cats as they clung to life during long nights and helped countless community cats through our advocacy. This is all passionate and meaningful work from the heart.
When you are working toward change, improved ordinances or pivotal animal issues, it matters if you are taken seriously. Society has ingrained the crazy cat lady stereotype into the mainstream perception and the strangest part is that we ourselves have fed into it and perpetuate that perception. What a shame. Read Wikipedia’s definition of a crazy cat lady.
So next time you call yourself or someone else a crazy cat lady, think again. If you are advocating and doing something to improve the welfare of cats, you are not crazy- you have a cause you are committed to. We do a great disservice to all that are passionate about animal welfare when we use frivolous or degrading words to describe our work.
