Cats have acted as muses (or should that be mewses?) for postal art since 1887, when Germany issued a particular stamp which featured a feline sporting a fish in his mouth. Possibly the first cat to appear with a pet parent on a stamp, in 1930 the silhouette of a small black kitten named Patsy starred on a stamp from Italy which was meant to honor Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. U.S. cat lovers had to wait until 1972 for a feline to show up on a stamp, according to the book Planet Cat: A Cat-Alog.
Along with the cat and kitten stamps, the upcoming booklet of First-Class Forever postage also includes such popular pets as puppies and dogs, parrots and parakeets, rabbits, horses, fish, mice, gerbils guinea pigs and hamsters, geckos, hermit grabs, corn snakes, iguanas and tortoises.
Pets will be issued as Forever stamps, which are always going to be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.
Photos: courtesy US Postal Service