Help need apostrophe advice

[peoplepleaser1]

I'm proofing something I've written and need to send before midnight.

I thought I was clear about the correct use of apostrophes but I'm not sure about wether an apostrophise is needed in the 'its' in the following sentence:

A cat's nap is often the highlight of its day.

I want to put it's because the nap belongs to 'it' but then it looks a bit like I'm incorrectly putting in an omission apostrophe for 'it is'.

Can anyone help please?

No apostrophe needed!

It's only has one when it's a contraction of "it is".

I'd put it in because as you say, the nap belongs to the cat.

@WorraLiberty that's true with nouns but pronouns have different rules - there's no apostrophe in "hers", for example.

No apostrophe.

No apostrophe needed there.

No apostrophe.

No apostrophe required.

You only need the apostrophe when it’s a contraction, as itssquidstella says. Never for belonging in this case.

Apostrophe in cat's is correct. No apostrophe in its is correct here.

Definitely no apostrophe

No apostrophe. As pp stated clearly it’s = it is.

Its nap = the nap of ( the cat) 🐱

A cat's nap is often the highlight of its day

This is correct- both the apostrophe for “cat’s” and the lack of one for “its”

@peoplepleaser1 - I am with @itssquidstella - no apostrophe I note

Its doesn't adhere to the normal rules of possessives - so it's is "it is" , its is e.g. its characteristics are etc www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_13.htm

I am clearly slow at typing !

Per pp, no apostrophe. Only required for it when you are shortening 'It is' otherwise exempt

Ask us one on sport OP ( at which point I would be out of the game )

Hope you meet your deadline and then can relax

@BasiliskStare haha I don't think you can have apostrophes in user names, or I'd have one!

Wow thank you all for the swift responses. I think it's clear that there should be no apostrophe in the its in this case.

I'm not quite clear as to why, but I'll read the thread more thoroughly and check out the links once I've finished my work and hopefully things will become clearer.

Thank you all again.

I'd put it in because as you say, the nap belongs to the cat

That doesn’t happen with its/hers/his.

So, you wouldn’t have-
“This cost is her’s”

“It’s” is only used for “it is”.

If you can substitute its with his or hers, then it's its.

If it's short for it is then it's it's.

@worraliberty is on the money. This is a possessive apostrophe, rather than a contracture. Its (belonging to it) is an exception, and it's (it is) does need an apostrophe.

The BBC even has an example with the cat's tail! How to use a possessive apostrophe

"The cat's tail was fluffy.
Cat is a singular noun so you need to add an apostrophe and "s" to show that the tail belongs to the cat."

Slightly horrified at how many people seem unaware of this basic rule of punctuation!

I am far too heavily invested in this thread but DH catching up with a long running Netflix series

So how in my own mind I think of it is EG

A cat with white paws

The cat's paws are white ( apostrophe )
The Cat. Its paws are white ( No apostrophe )
The Cat . It's a proud owner of white paws. ( apostrophe)

I am sure there will be English teachers far and wide putting their heads in their hands at that silly example , but DS is dyslexic ( not to do with OP - separate point ) just had to find a way of explaining it to him. Autocorrect doesn't always do it.

The apostrophe has two jobs. Firstly, it stands for a missing letter. So you write ”it’s” when you mean “it is”. The apostrophe is representing the missing i. It fills the same role in don’t, can’t, wouldn’t, etc, where it stands for the missing o in not.

The second job of the apostrophe is to denote possession. Hence the cat’s whiskers means the whiskers of the cat.
When it’s used for a plural, it goes after the s. So the elephant’s graveyard would mean the graveyard of one specific elephant. The elephants’ graveyard would mean the grave of multiple elephants.
When you use a possessive pronoun, you already know it’s possessive, so you don’t need an apostrophe to tell you that - it would be redundant. Therefore his, her, its, their and our do not have apostrophes.
Hope that clarifies it, OP! We used to be taught this stuff at primary school back in the Dark Ages, but I think there are now two generations of people who grew up with trendy free expression, and grammar and punctuation were ignored.

Lostinthecolonies, when 'its' is possessive, it doesn't have an apostrophe. See the link posted further up.

Lost, you’ve contradicted yourself.

No apostrophe (and cancel the cheque ).