On the eve of Father’s Day or Cat Dad Day, let’s talk about a full circle moment. In June, 2011, I wrote the first caption declaring that real men love cats.
The inspiration came from a random encounter in a parking lot where I saw this man dressed in a suit, bending over to pet a stray cat. I loved the juxtaposition of the man dressed in black-and-white and the Tuxedo cat matching him.
He wasn’t aware that I was photographing him which made the moment even sweeter And I thought real men really do love cats.
Long before it became book titles, merchandise, or mainstream hashtags, we were celebrating cat dads right here. I’m not saying I started a movement. I’m just saying I was there first.
Looking back at that original 2011 post it’s amazing to see how far the cat dad has come, from punchline to cultural icon.
My husband has been a cat man long before he met me. Seen here with Merlin and Domino in 2011.
Cat dad used to be a punchline. The bachelor with too many cats, the sensitive guy who preferred staying in, the man who somehow ended up with a rescue tabby and never quite explained how.
Not anymore.
Something shifted, quietly and then all at once. A whole generation of cat dads is completely unapologetic now.
They put their cats on dating profiles. They call themselves cat dads without irony. They cancel plans if the cat seems off. They know their cat’s moods, preferences, and opinions about Steinbeck. (Ha ha. New captions of mine).
We’ve always known cat men existed. They just used to hide it. Now they don’t have to.
There’s the husband who insists the cat is really his wife’s and then spends forty minutes every evening with said cat arranged across his lap like a small furry monarch.
There’s the single guy whose cat has strong opinions about everything.
There’s the dad of three cats who knows perfectly well that each one believes they are the favorite.
And there’s the universal standoff, experienced by cat dads across all demographics and time zones, where both man and cat desperately need to pee but neither one is willing to disturb the other.
We see you all. And celebrate you.
My own father was a stoic Finnish man who had no particular interest in cats. Then I asked my parents to foster a kitten for the cat rescue I founded, when he was already in his sixties. He never made a fuss about it. He just quietly became completely devoted to that cat, the way Finnish men do things. Without announcement, without explanation, just fully.
He died in 1995. The cat stayed on with my mother for many years after, loved and cared for until the end of a long life. That little foster kitten converted a stoic Finnish man in his sixties so it’s never too late to become a cat dad.
And because I believe books, cats and men are a happy trio, all the images today are of men reading with their cats.
And you don’t need to share DNA to be a real parent. Whether they have two legs or four, loving something that depends on you, showing up for them every day, rearranging your entire lap situation so they can sleep undisturbed, that’s parenthood.
The beauty of the modern cat dad is that this bond knows absolutely no boundaries. These men span every race, religion, political affiliation, socioeconomic status, and sexual identity.
From blue-collar workers to corporate CEOs, a cat doesn’t care about a man’s bank account, lifestyle, or orientation, they only care about the love and respect he provides
