A chat with Dan and Whisky from The Tuxedo Cat

by Alice Cat Expert | Jun 21, 2017 | Amazing Cat Stories, Human | 1 comment

Did you know in the UK Black and white cats spend on average ten days longer waiting to be adopted from shelters than cats of different colours?

I learn about this information from this fabulous website the Tuxedo Cat.

I was in shock when I discovered the figure. Can’t say I am surprise though. If you have ever visited any animal shelters in Ireland, situation is very similar, you will see a lot of black and white cats waiting to be adopted while ginger or tabby cats are usually adopted very quickly.

I had an enjoyable chat with the website owner Dan recently and here is our conversation.

A = Alice
D = Dan

A: I can see you have a special passion towards tuxedo cat. Tell us more about them?

D: Here are 5 fun facts about Tuxedo cats taken from the Tuxedo Cat UK website:

Beethoven, Sir Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare all had their own tuxedo cat.
A Tuxedo Cat lived in the Whitehouse during the Clinton era.
Britain’s most famous Tux cat is Palmerston who resides in the Foreign Office. He made headlines in the summer of 2016 when he had a very public fight with Larry the Downing Street Cat.
In Britain 75% of all cat are black and white.
Black and white cats spend on average ten days longer waiting to be adopted from shelters than cats of different colours.

A: Wow! How fascinating! Apart from the Clinton one, I never knew any of the others! How come you come up with the idea of the website?

D: We got our Tuxedo Cat Whisky from Boote Home for Cats in Liverpool back in August 2014. Since then I have visited the rescue home several times and I noticed that there are often a lot of black and white cats in there. This led me to do a bit of research into tuxedo cats, I found out that 75% of all British cats are black and white, consequently they are often overlooked by people looking for a pet as they are considered to be too common. The average tuxedo cat spends ten days longer in cat homes than cats of different colours. I therefore thought that the website would be a great way of championing the Tuxedo Cat cause.

A: I think you are right to bring awareness of this to the public. A lot of cat lovers I spoke to since are as shock as I am about tuxedo cat being overlooked! This is quite sad really as we shouldn’t judge a cat by their colour and tuxedo cats are just like other cats, they are lovely friends and companion to us!

D: Indeed!

A: Hey Dan, this is a cat blog and of course people want to know about your cat! Can you introduce us to your cat?

D: Whisky is the first cat I have ever had, I’ve always considered myself a dog person, however as my wife and I work it was difficult for us to be able to commit to getting a dog as we are out all day, so we instead decided to get a cat as a bit of a compromise. It was one of the best compromises we have made and I have slowly become more of a cat person! Whisky is a cheeky two and a half years old Tux cat. She is an indoor cat as we live close to a fairly busy road so are a bit nervous about letting her out. And here she is…

A: Hi Whisky! So Dan, what can we do to help the cause of tuxedo cat?

D: Encourage anyone you know who is thinking of getting a cat to get one from a rescue centre and to not overlook a tuxedo cat just because they look common. Also please visit our website and share some of the information about Tuxedo cats on there.

A: Thanks for talking to us today, it has been really eye opening.

D: Thanks for having us.

So please check out the Tuxedo Cat website and share the information to speak up for Tuxedo cats!