Purr-fect Stamp: Feline Postal Stories for International Cat Day

In Terry Pratchett's The Unadulterated Cat, he mentions the independent tuxedo cats that were once a familiar sight in post offices. In his novel Going Postal, the Ankh-Morpork Post Office is home to a stubborn and highly respected tuxedo cat named Mr. Tiddles, who is dramatically rescued from a fire at the story's climax.

As it turns out, this was not merely fiction. For nearly a century, cats officially worked in post offices across the United Kingdom and the United States. Over time, however, their role changed: instead of guarding the mail, they became the stars of postage stamps themselves.

To mark International Cat Day on 8 August, here are some of the most fascinating stories connecting cats and the postal world.

Cats in the Postal Service

In September 1868, the Controller of the London Money Order Office asked the Secretary of the British Post Office for permission to officially employ three cats. Traps had failed, and mice were destroying money orders and postal documents. The request was approved on a six-month trial, although the budget for feeding the cats was reduced. The Secretary added a memorable note:

"Three cats may be allowed on probation. They must undergo a test examination and should, I think, be females. It is important that the cats be not overfed and I cannot allow more than 1/- a week for their support. They must depend on the mice for the remainder of their emoluments...

The following day, the Controller replied with equally British wit:

"These directions have been communicated to Tye who will no doubt find means to inform the cats upon what terms they are to be employed and what is expected of them."

Six months later, the official report concluded that the "Cat System" had worked exceedingly well and that the cats had "done their duty very efficiently."

From then on, cats became familiar residents of British post offices.

The most famous of them was Tibs the Great, who served for fourteen years at the Royal Mail headquarters in London. In his later years he weighed an impressive 10 kilograms (23 pounds), and when he died in 1964, several British newspapers published his obituary.

The United States had its own postal cats as well. Early twentieth-century newspapers even mentioned a "Superintendent of Federal Cats," who hosted a banquet for sixty post office cats, while postal facilities across the country employed their own resident rodent hunters.

The era of postal cats finally came to an end in the 1980s, when traditional cloth mailbags were replaced with rodent-resistant plastic ones. Nevertheless, cats can still occasionally be spotted in Ukrainian post offices today.

The Cat Watching an Airplane Depart

One of the best-known cats in aviation mail history was Patsy, the beloved companion of Charles "Lucky" Lindbergh, the first pilot to complete a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

Patsy lived in the hangar where the Spirit of St. Louis was kept, often sleeping in the aircraft's tail and accompanying Lindbergh on routine flights. However, when he prepared for his historic transatlantic journey, he decided to leave her safely behind.

When journalists asked why Patsy had not joined the flight, Lindbergh simply replied:

"It's too dangerous a journey to risk the cat's life."

Instead, he carried only a small Felix the Cat doll as his lucky mascot.

In 1930, Spain issued an airmail stamp for the Seville Ibero-American Exposition. Alongside Lindbergh's portrait, the Spirit of St. Louis, and the Statue of Liberty, the stamp also features the silhouette of Patsy watching the aircraft depart — widely believed to be the first appearance of a domestic cat on a postage stamp.

Cats on Stamps

Although individual cats had appeared on stamps before, the first major stamp issue entirely devoted to domestic cats was Poland's Koty (Cats) series, released on 30 April 1964.

Designed by renowned illustrator Janusz Grabiański, the ten-stamp set features beautiful watercolour portraits of cats in different colours and breeds, from a white kitten to Siamese and Persian cats. Many thematic collectors consider this issue the beginning of Cats on Stamps philately.

Since then, postal administrations around the world have issued countless cat stamps, celebrating pedigree champions, beloved pets and famous feline characters.

In 2002, for example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a semipostal stamp featuring a shelter kitten named Samantha as part of the Neuter or Spay campaign. The issue promoted responsible pet ownership and raised awareness about homeless animals.

Interestingly, America's first major cat issue, Domestic Cats (1988), focused on pedigree breeds and helped popularise cat breeding and feline genetics. Today, however, we increasingly appreciate cats simply for being cats.

In Japan, cats have long become much more than stamp subjects — they are an integral part of a classic and popular culture. Japan Post has repeatedly issued Hello Kitty stamp collections featuring one of the country's most recognisable characters.

Japan's affection for cats is so significant that it even has its own economic term: nekonomics (from the Japanese neko, "cat," and economics). Coined by economist Katsuhiro Miyamoto, the term describes the enormous economic impact generated by cats—from pet products and souvenirs to cat cafés, tourism, advertising and, naturally, postage stamps.

Ukraine also has its own feline postal issue. In 2024, Ukrposhta released the "Fluffy Battalion" stamp sheet dedicated to the cats and dogs living alongside Ukrainian soldiers and supporting them through the hardships of war.

Venny and Her Own Stamp

Not every cat appears on a postage stamp through a national postal issue. Some become stars of Personalized Stamps.

One such celebrity was the Finnish cat Venny, born in 2003 and named after the Finnish painter Venny Soldan-Brofeldt. Throughout her life, she appeared on four Personalized Stamps: as a ten-week-old kitten, at the ages of ten, fifteen and eighteen. She was also immortalised in a woodcut and an oil painting, while the local newspaper celebrated each of her birthdays.

And Finland is not the only country where this is possible. At Ukrposhta, anyone can create a Personalized Stamp featuring their own pet — even using a paw print. These are genuine postage stamps that can be used to send letters both within Ukraine and abroad.

Let’s care and respect cats and all the animals all year round.

You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.