We hear the term “dog friendly” all the time. It’s used to describe public parks and beaches. A recent trend in the professional world are dog-friendly companies. Even giants like Google and Amazon allow employees to bring their dogs to work. While it may seem strange to some people, a workspace that isn’t dog friendly may be a deal breaker for a dog owner.
The term “pet friendly” is pretty common as well. This usually applies to housing and accommodations. When people with animal companions are looking to rent a home or apartment, or if they are traveling and want to stay in a hotel, they’ll look for places that are designated as pet friendly.
But what about “cat friendly”? You don’t here that phrase very often. While cats are more popular than dogs in this country, it still seems like dogs are taken into consideration more. Why is that?
Perhaps it’s because dogs are more obedient, domesticated, tame and trainable than cats are. If you have a well-mannered dog who will sit at your feet for hours at a time, then what’s the harm in taking it to your office? Your dog won’t bug anybody if it sits still and stares at you longingly from across the room, or takes a nap at your feet.
But cats are different. They’re wild. Despite how hard we’ve tried over the centuries to domesticate them, they are still beholden to no one. If they decide they want to take off, explore, hop up on something, or run away to be on their own for a while, nothing’s going to stop them.
The image of an office floor overrun by cats is admittedly creepy. A bunch of dogs hanging out at the office? that seems OK, provided they behave.
So is there such thing as a cat-friendly company? Obviously there are companies that are devoted to cats and cat owners—food manufactures, etc. But how do you know if your organization is cat friendly? If you can’t take your cat to work, does that automatically make them cat unfriendly?
Consider Melaleuca. While they don’t allow cats in the office, they do make wellness products that are safe for people, pets, and the environment. So, in a way, the things they manufacture are cat friendly. Maybe people who are looking to work for a cat-friendly company don;t need to confine their job searches to places they can bring their cat to work. Instead, maybe they should just ask themselves, “Will I hurt my cat and other cats by working here?”
