Feline affinity

The Humane Society promotes cat adoptions during a high-birth month

Just maybe, Man's Best Friend doesn't need any new friends. Fido, Rover and Spot - with their wagging tails and puppy-dog eyes - have been welcomed with open arms by American pet owners for decades.

MEOW MADNESS » Place: Hawaiian Humane Society, 2700 Waialae Ave. » Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday » Call: 946-2187

But cats, those misunderstood creatures, have often been a tougher sell.

Kawehi Yim, the Hawaiian Humane Society's community relations director, used a story from a visiting speaker to illustrate why dogs continue to be the No. 1 pet in U.S. households - though cats have gained on dogs in households with multiple pets.

"Dogs are companion animals," said Yim. "They are working animals with a pack mentality. They wait for their owners to come home and turn on the lights, faucets and (drinking) water. They think their owners are a god.

"From a cat's perspective, the owner brings me food. Brings me water. I must be a god. Because cats were revered as gods."

At any rate, Yim and her co-worker, Gina Baurile, community relations coordinator, offer these statistics: In 2007, 3,020 dogs were adopted through the Hawaiian Humane Society, versus 2,488 cats. But of complaints lodged last year, 2,218 were about barking dogs, while only 41 were about cat nuisances.

So, to counter the stigma sometimes assigned to felines, Yim and Baurile came up with the idea of Sunday's "Meow Madness."

"It's really to celebrate cats in our community," said Yim. "We want to boost the profile of cats - and not just think about them as those feral cats who rummage through garbage. Those are different cats - and they've become feral because of the way we've (discarded) them ... we want effective cat ownership throughout the community."

The first "Meow Madness" is appropriately set for June, which is Love-A-Cat Month, but is also a statistically high month for cat births.

"Kittens on up through adult cats are currently available for adoption," said Baurile.

Highlights of the event include 2-for-1 adoptions of cats more than six months old, cat toy-making sessions, positive-reinforcement training demonstrations and a cat costume contest. Pets are invited, as long as they are on leashes or in carriers, and Crazy Shirts has designed a T-shirt for the occasion, featuring the character of Kliban the Cat.

"Every June and October they come up with a design for Adopt-A-Cat and Adopt-A-Dog Month," said Yim of Crazy Shirts.

"Meow Madness" also includes an Aloha Cat Fanciers pet show, and those attending are invited to show off their pets.

"They are one of the biggest cat groups and we contacted them for the show," said Yim of ACF. "But we prefer that pets not be purebred. This is about the favorite cat at home. It doesn't have to be a cat to look at. Celebrating the idiosyncrasies of cats is a big part of the show ... this is about having fun."