The internet folklore of the Cat Distribution System (CDS) humorously suggests that cats are "assigned" to people rather than intentionally sought. Beyond its playful origins, CDS reflects a culturally resonant way people perceive and engage in adoption, and this user context can guide the redesign and improvement of adoption systems. In the Philippines, where an estimated 13.11 million stray cats and dogs place the country sixth worldwide in overpopulation, this framing offers a novel way to rethink adoption platforms. We developed a prototype application inspired by CDS principles, focusing on features such as algorithmic matchmaking, community reporting, and proximity-based discovery. An initial evaluation with potential users (n=35) indicated that the system was positively received for its ease of use and its alignment with users' intuitive expectations, though participants highlighted areas for improvement in transparency of matchmaking and owner-adopter communication. The findings suggest that culturally embedded metaphors like CDS can shape mental models, making adoption processes feel more serendipitous and less transactional.

翻译："猫咪分配系统"（Cat Distribution System, CDS）这一网络民间传说幽默地暗示，猫咪是"分配"给人们的，而非人们主动寻求的。在其趣味起源之外，CDS反映了一种文化上具有共鸣的、人们感知和参与领养的方式，而这一用户情境可以指导领养系统的重新设计与改进。在菲律宾，据估计有1310万只流浪猫狗，使其成为全球流浪动物数量第六多的国家，这一框架为重新思考领养平台提供了新颖的视角。我们基于CDS原理开发了一个原型应用程序，聚焦于算法匹配、社区报告以及基于邻近性的发现等功能。一项针对潜在用户（n=35）的初步评估表明，该系统因其易用性及与用户直觉预期的契合而受到积极评价，但参与者指出了在匹配过程的透明度以及领养者与领养人沟通方面需要改进的领域。研究结果表明，像CDS这样植根于文化的隐喻可以塑造心理模型，使领养过程感觉更具偶然性，而更少交易性。