A CHARITY says black cats at its rescue shelter are rejected due to a misguided superstition that they bring bad luck to owners.

Cats Protection says nearly 50 per cent of the cats in their care are black or black and white. It can take up to five months or more for these unfortunate moggies to be rehomed. At the shelters in Brighton and Chelwood Gate, 139 cats are in its care and 57 of them are black or black and white.

While gingers and tabbies have no trouble getting affection from adopters, black cats are deemed by some to be unattractive.

Social media manager Gemma Croker, said: “It’s a sad fact that more than 40 per cent of cats given up to our centres are black or black and white and they take longer to find new homes than cats of other colours. And there is an ongoing superstition that they are bad luck.

“We think this is because black is a more common colour so we want to highlight just how individual each one is and hopefully find them new homes more quickly.

“They tend to wait 13 per cent longer than other cats, but some can wait for months. The current longest staying cat awaiting a home at is six-year-old Jess who has been in care for 155 days. She loves company and will happily rub around your legs and roll on her back and play.

“The next longest stayer is three-year-old Amy who is finding life at the cattery very scary.

“Despite her timidness, Amy can be very friendly when she trusts somebody and will need an owner who can patiently wait for her to come out of her shell and let her personality shine.”

All cats in the rescue shelter are either abandoned, grew up in the streets, became lost, were unwanted litters or their owners were forced to give them up because a new landlord did not accept pets.

Teresa Dee, coordinator of the Brighton and District branch, said: “How black cats end up in the rescue centre is just like any other cat, and they shouldn’t be treated any differently.

“Black and black and white cats have just as much love and affection to give as any other cats, they shouldn’t have to wait longer than others simply because of the colour of their fur.

“With so many looking for homes, I would appeal to anyone planning to rehome a cat to consider a black or black and white cat as their future feline friend.”

The charity is running a campaign called 50 Shades of Black Cat as part of the National Black Cat Day tomorrow. The campaign aims to highlight the individual qualities of these cats and to quash the ongoing superstition that they are bad luck.