Judging Cats By Their Color
- Millie Zeiler
- May 21
- 2 min read
The idea that a cat’s color can affect a person’s luck falls apart the moment you examine it logically, scientifically, and morally. Judging cats by their color is not only ludicrous but can lead to dangerous consequences (for people and for cats).
How cats get their color (and why judging them for it is wrong)
Regardless of whether a cat is black, orange, white, or calico, it remains the same creature beneath its fur color. The color of a cat's coat is influenced by genetics (pigments such as eumelanin and pheomelanin) rather than any mystical force. A black cat doesn't have supernatural abilities any more than a black shirt or black car does. The color is a matter of biology, not fate.
Superstitions vs. Logic
Superstitions about black cats mainly grew out of fear and folklore, especially in medieval Europe, where people wrongly associated darkness with evil, witches, and bad omens. In other cultures, the opposite happened: black cats were considered good luck. In parts of Japan and Scotland, black cats have historically symbolized prosperity and protection. That contradiction alone exposes the superstition as cultural storytelling rather than objective truth. If black cats truly caused bad luck, they would supposedly do so everywhere, not only where people were taught to fear them.
Psychology also explains why the myth survives. Humans naturally look for patterns, especially during stressful or random events. If someone sees a black cat and later has a bad day, they may connect the two events emotionally even though they are unrelated. But when nothing bad happens afterward, people usually forget the encounter entirely. This is called confirmation bias — remembering the “hits” while ignoring the countless “misses.”
The superstition becomes harmful because it affects real animals. Black cats are adopted less often and are more likely to be mistreated during certain seasons due to irrational fears. An innocent animal ends up paying the price for myths created centuries ago.
How Luck is Determined
Luck itself is usually a mix of preparation, choices, timing, and random chance — not the fur color of a passing cat. A person’s success or failure comes far more from their actions, character, and circumstances than from encountering an animal walking across a road.
Judging a cat by its color makes as much sense as believing the color of someone’s shoes controls the weather. The superstition survives because stories spread easily, not because evidence supports them.
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