Cute Cats on Pinterest (& Why They Are Emotional Service Animals Too)
- Published on:
- By: Jessica Wright
When it comes to animals on Pinterest, it’s not hard to understand why cute cats tickle our minds and win our hearts. After all, few of us can resist the urge to scroll through pins of cats on Pinterest on a particularly dull Friday afternoon in the office?
Here at American Service Pets, we firmly believe that cats have always been service animals. And that’s because they’ve appeared wrapped in our laps—throughout history, in films, and, of course, in our homes.
In the past and still today, cats have proven they can give us some serious emotional support. We want to celebrate their role by taking a look at some compelling pieces of historical evidence and some adorable kitty pins that prove cats are essential in our lives.
Check out these fascinating cat facts, adorable vintage Pinterest pins, and, right at the end, learn how to get your ESA letter with America Service Pets.
A Tale of Two Kittens on Pinterest
If you’re looking for a place to scroll through hundreds of photos of our feline friends, Pinterest is the social media platform for you. The website boasts thousands of cat lovers, and there are millions—yes, millions—of photos of cute cats on Pinterest.
February is Black History Month in America, so it’s appropriate we open this list of adorable felines and their humans with a photograph of a sweet child holding two equally as lovely kittens.
Since this photo is black and white, it likely dates from sometime in the last quarter of the 19th century. It was common for children to pose with animals in studio photos of the time, so we’ll never know if these were her adorable pets or lived at the photography studio.
Get Your ESA Today
ATTENTION
Due to the new Department of Transportation (DOT) policy, Emotional Support Animals are NO longer allowed to fly in airplane cabins for free. However, Psychiatric Service Dogs are eligible.
A Geisha-in-Training and Her Cat
This photograph was clearly snapped in late 19th or early 20th century Japan.
Intriguingly, the caption on this image suggests there might be more to the story. It states the young girl could be “an Osaka maiko” or an apprentice geisha. Since the possession of cats was considered a luxury in Imperial Japan, it makes sense that geishas, who were trained to entertain the upper classes, would keep them as pets.
And, it seems, the practice of geishas with cute kitties has yet to die out—according to this Reuters article, at least.
This Cat Is Mine!
Someone—perhaps the photographer themselves or maybe a family member—scrawled the year 1903 on this unusually (for the time) candid photograph of a young boy and his cat.
There’s a hand reaching into the frame on the left-hand side, and it almost looks as though the boy is holding the cat away, hoping to keep it with him. What do you think was happening here?
A Dapper Cat and a Bowler Hat
In this late 19th century photograph, a dapper gentleman in a bowler hat cradles a clearly beloved furry friend in the crook of his right arm.
The writing on the image suggests this quirky likeness was captured by none other than John Chester Bushong. He was a pioneering studio and newspaper photographer working in America in the late 1880s and 1890s.
It doesn’t seem like Bushong regularly took photographs of people and their pets, so we’d like to think this man insisted his feline companion be included out of pure affection.
Expert Mice Catchers
What we’re most interested in today are the photos giving us some insight into the lives of the kitties of yore. And it turns out that felines have a long and storied history in Russia.
Much like elsewhere in the world, cats were especially prized by Russian royalty for their ability to rid palaces of mice. There’s even a special breed of cat called Russian Blue—purportedly a favorite of Catherine the Great.
It’s hard to uncover the origins of this heartwarming photograph, but it appears this fluffy Russian cat is as bundled up in its thick layers of fur as the child is in their winter coat.
Lost But Not Forgotten
This expressive black and white photo by Turkish photographer Erdal Yazıcı perfectly captures the essential role cats play in the lives of older generations.
This photo was likely taken in the 1980s, but even today, street cats are everywhere in Istanbul, the capital city of Turkey. People take care to feed them, provide them with shelter and water, and play with them.
Some estimates put the number of stray feline friends at well over 100,000!
Cats and Music
It seems cats have always been getting up in our business when we’re trying to focus on something important. In this sweet photograph, a little Victorian girl sits at the piano, attempting to read a sheet of music. Her pet kitty, it seems, is having none of that.
It seems cats have always gone hand in hand with popular music. Burl Ives sang Johnny Doolan’s Cat in 1891, Jethro Tull gave us Old Black Cat in 1967, and, of course, there’s the classic 1980 Broadway musical, Cats, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Service Cats on Pinterest: Just the Beginning
Whether you’re keen to dive deeper into the fascinating history of the cat-human relationship or just excited to browse more cats on Pinterest, you can rest assured there’s plenty of information out there on the internet to see you through.
Of course, if you’re seeking to get your feline friend or other furry companion certified as an emotional support animal, the research gets a bit more complicated. Don’t leave it up to chance: it’s essential to get the correct advice on the process of designating a pet as an ESA.
Contact American Service Pets today to discuss your emotional support animal certification needs.
The benefits of an Emotional Support Animal certification and a Psychiatric Service Dog certification are drastically different. Fortunately for you, American Service Pets’ network of active board certified doctor or other licensed mental health providers can help you find the right path to certification. To find out whether you need an ESA or PSD letter, take our easy, three-step Pet Owner Survey!
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