Cats Protections Luton, Dunstable & District Branch is holding its annual National Black Cat Day on Thursday 31st October to encourage more people to adopt unwanted black moggies.

Following the success of last year’s black cat campaign, the charity aims to raise awareness of the plight of black cats which tend to lose out on homes to more colourful varieties.

The UK’s leading feline welfare charity currently has around 1,300 black cats nationally in its care and says that homes are far less easy to find for black cats than other felines.

“People seem to be more taken with torties, tabbies and other colours - perhaps due to a perception that variety adds spice, Although it’s lovely to see these cats finding their forever homes, it’s sad to see black cats left waiting in the wings. They make up about 23 per cent of all the cats in Cats Protection’s care and each one waits around a month longer to be rehomed than the average cat.”

To raise awareness the charity is encouraging people to upload pictures and stories of their own black cats, and to change their social media avatars to a specially designed black cat version.

Supporters will also be encouraged to share photos of themselves transformed into black cats on the Cats Protection’s social media sites. This is a call to get creative by dressing up, using face paints or wearing the downloadable black cat mask – and then get snapping!

To find out more about black cats looking for homes, please call Luton, Dunstable & District Cats Protection on 0845 371 2746