How to select a home loving cat

Pet Astrology. Photo of dial by Remko van Dokkum

Look to astrology to find a cat who likes to stay at home and not go wandering so much. Cats and dogs that are either Taurus or Cancer are more likely to stay at home according to the UK’s only pet astrologer, Fiona Celeste.

Pets born under the sign of Cancer like their home comforts. Taurean cats are more placid and slower so don’t go missing so much.

Aries cats and dogs are “impulsive and like to assert control”. You want a boss cat? Find an Aries cat.

According to Fiona, Leo cats don’t like to be told off for doing something wrong. Well, I don’t really get that because all cats don’t like being told off because they never do anything wrong. Some people just don’t like some of the things that some cats do.

Gemini cats are more vocal than usual so if you like a good gossip with your cat choose a Gemini.

The tricky part of selecting a cat based on their date of birth (is the time of birth important too?) is that you won’t know the date. You almost certainly won’t know if the cat is a stray, feral or rescue cat.

Also I don’t like the idea of selecting cats this way even if you believe in astrology because it means selecting a cat on your preferences rather than on the cat’s needs. It is far kinder and more humane to select the most vulnerable cat.

Celeste has a business called Celestial Paws. She’ll do a 7,000 word reading for £30 if you provide a photo and date of birth. That is great value but you have to believe in it. Fiona lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

If you believe in astrology – and there is some evidence to say that it has some merit – it may be of some benefit to know your cat’s birth date. Incidentally, if you know your cat’s date of birth it would be nice if we could verify in an informal way Fiona’s predictions on cat and dog character. Please leave a comment.

Here are some dates for the signs referred to on this page:

Aries: March 21 – April 19
Taurus – April 20 – May 20
Gemini – May 21 – June 20
Cancer – June 21 – July 22

This post by Kattaddorra turns the tables and asks what sign is the cat caretaker to see if there are some trends.

Photo: by Remko van Dokkum

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I might have Kobe’s exact birthday. His former owners knew it and my sister might remember it or perhaps his vet (same one Monty uses) might have it on file. Whoever the original owners got him from did know his exact DOB. But we suspect he was taken from his mother too soon, and this might be the cause of his anxiety.

It’s the nature vs. nurture question. Even if the timing of your birth does play some kind of role in determining your basic personality traits, could not those basic traits be altered by traumatic experiences? Like a cat being taken from his mother too soon or a cat spending the first several weeks of his life feral and hungry. Surely these experiences are strong enough to form personality traits different from what would have been had the cat been raised in ideal circumstances for complete domestication.

Cats are enough alike that whatever an astrologist might say will apply at least in part. People tend to disregard what doesn’t fit. I think just looking at astrology in terms of personality traits and seeing if yours fit your sign is fun and harmless. But astrology for humans also claims to predict the future to guide in decision making. Our future’s not set. We make our own destiny. We aren’t supposed to know it. So I avoid horoscopes to avoid becoming dependent on them. Even if it’s accurate, if it’s something God didn’t want me to know ahead of time, how does it benefit me to try to know it? It seems like reading a horoscope would increase anxiety about the future, not alleviate it.

Do these readings for pets include details about their future? Illnesses, accidents, even an untimely end? I would not want to see that about Monty. I prefer to live one precious day at a time with him. I also tend to think where he was born (under my porch) has more to do with who he is than when he was born.

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Comments

How to select a home loving cat — 9 Comments

Ruth aka Kattaddorra on October 18, 2013 at 3:21 pm said:
Walter was born 25th July 2001 so he’s a Leo and Jozef was born 26th August 2001 which makes him a Virgo
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Ruth (Monty's Mom) on October 18, 2013 at 10:03 am said:
Astrology works because people are more alike than we realize. We think we are such unique individuals, but we are not as unique as we think we are. I heard a teacher at school this week telling the kids how special they are because there is no one else exactly like them. Seemed like a silly thing to say, because I remembered seeing a picture of my great grandmother as a young adult. She looked EXACTLY like my mother. Look in the same gene pool and we aren’t very different at all. Perhaps astrology was just what we had before we knew about genetics. I would rather know about Monty’s genes than about his horoscope.
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Ruth (Monty's Mom) on October 18, 2013 at 6:05 am said:
What about a cat born in August? My sister’s cat was born in August. He’s very vocal, but highly anxious and easily frightened. He is highly territorial also.
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- Michael on October 18, 2013 at 7:51 am said:
  Good question! 😉 I don’t know – is the answer. We will have to email Fiona Celeste and get a reading from her. That is the only thing I can suggest. I would be nice, but it won’t happen, if we could test the concept of pet astrology.
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  - Ruth (Monty's Mom) on October 18, 2013 at 9:52 am said:
    I might have Kobe’s exact birthday. His former owners knew it and my sister might remember it or perhaps his vet (same one Monty uses) might have it on file. Whoever the original owners got him from did know his exact DOB. But we suspect he was taken from his mother too soon, and this might be the cause of his anxiety.
    It’s the nature vs. nurture question. Even if the timing of your birth does play some kind of role in determining your basic personality traits, could not those basic traits be altered by traumatic experiences? Like a cat being taken from his mother too soon or a cat spending the first several weeks of his life feral and hungry. Surely these experiences are strong enough to form personality traits different from what would have been had the cat been raised in ideal circumstances for complete domestication.
    Cats are enough alike that whatever an astrologist might say will apply at least in part. People tend to disregard what doesn’t fit. I think just looking at astrology in terms of personality traits and seeing if yours fit your sign is fun and harmless. But astrology for humans also claims to predict the future to guide in decision making. Our future’s not set. We make our own destiny. We aren’t supposed to know it. So I avoid horoscopes to avoid becoming dependent on them. Even if it’s accurate, if it’s something God didn’t want me to know ahead of time, how does it benefit me to try to know it? It seems like reading a horoscope would increase anxiety about the future, not alleviate it.
    Do these readings for pets include details about their future? Illnesses, accidents, even an untimely end? I would not want to see that about Monty. I prefer to live one precious day at a time with him. I also tend to think where he was born (under my porch) has more to do with who he is than when he was born.
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Rudolph.A.Furtado on October 18, 2013 at 5:02 am said:
My tomcat Matata is “Aries(29-3-2009)” and true to his astrological sign likes to show that he is the “Boss of the house”.He is a very loving cat and is more “GDog like” in behaviour than the average cat.
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Ruth (Monty's Mom) on October 18, 2013 at 12:53 am said:
Monty could be Taurus or Gemini. Animal Control estimated his DOB to be May 22nd. It has to be in May, but shelters aren’t always great at determining the age of cats, so who knows?
Monty is super vocal. But he wasn’t at first. I talk all the time and the more I talk with him the more he answers back. I don’t think that is a trait from birth, but a learned behavior. He is a home body and stays right in his own yard. That seems to be an unborn trait. A friend said her cat would be right over our fences, but Monty stays inside them.
He is also quite bossy, not a trait for Gemini or Taurus.
I enjoyed trying to figure out if astrology is right about Monty. I avoid it concerning my own life since I don’t want to place trust there which should be placed in God alone. But concerning Monty’s personality? Seems like harmless fun to me. I think astrology could be valid, but the I’m not sure if this pet astrology is right. It was only partly correct.
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Dan in Tempe on October 17, 2013 at 10:17 pm said:
I think it’s important to pick a cat that is compatible with you. I walk in and see which kitties come to me. Which ones cry for me out of the corner of their cage. Others that attract me are those that just sit there and look aloof until pet them, where they purr, meow or put their heads into it. I need to know there will be a connection.
I think it’s important to get more than one cat. Three is about right for most homes. One passes on, replace them. It’s the right thing to do. This is for your normal non-activist cat lover. For us, we take in however many life gives us. Or the landlord allows. 🙂
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- Ruth (Monty's Mom) on October 18, 2013 at 9:56 am said:
  I have never lived with more than one cat at a time. I was always told as a child that cats are solitary animals and prefer to be the only cat. It seems that is a myth, judging by the number of people who do have more than one cat and say they get along just fine.
  Would it be better to have cats all born under the same sign? Are there certain signs who don’t get along?
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