The Right Way To Pick Up A Cat

When I was a kid, I had a Ginger cat named Tom. Tom let me do everything with him. Dress him up in baby clothes, pick him up upside down and I also held him like a baby. (poor Tom!). Of course,  I was a kid and I didn’t know any better and whenever my mother would see me torture Tom by thinking he was “my baby doll”, she would tell me that Tom did not like that and he was an animal, not a baby. As I got older, with the help of my mother, I was taught the right way to respect any animal that came into our home. 

It would be safe to say that all of us have been in that point of our lives before. Picking up our cats as babies and throwing them over our shoulder, but sometimes I still see people hold a cat incorrectly. I know some of you will say that “My cat loves being held like a baby” or that “They’ve been doing this since Fluffy was a kitten”. Granted, your cat may have gotten used to it, that doesn't necessary mean that Fluffy “enjoys this”. 

The way most of us pick up a cat is by placing one hand in their mid-section area and the other around their armpit, chest area. Now, if you have a big cat like I do, picking them up in this fashion, they will sometimes make a noise of discomfort. You are putting a ton of pressure on their organs! It may be easier for us to do it in this fashion, but it is not fun for Fluffy.

The RIGHT way to pick up a cat is by using their feet as stability. This will allow for all of their body weight to be centered in this area versus putting pressure on their center organs. The easiest way that I find to do this is to break into steps until it becomes natural:

1. Place one hand (I use my right since I am right-handed) around the cats’ armpit area. I like to cup my hand around their chest so that their weight is evenly distributed.
2. Take your other hand and place it right under their feet. Their feet will naturally want to position themselves on your palm since this feels much more natural to them.
3. Using their body weight, lift them up and it’s as if they were standing up!

I hope this information has been helpful and you are ready to do some proper cat picking up in the near future!