Nosy Neighbor II

Since I've finally introduced you to Nosy Neighbor, here is Nosy Neighbor II, one of my psychotic neighbor's three cats, who made a public appearance for the first time yesterday morning.

I walked into the kitchen, as we know by now has the window that leads to the fire escape, and there was a chubster orange cat sitting in the window. At first I was shocked and wondered how Doodle could have possibly gotten outside, but as I got closer I noticed that Doodle was laying on the floor in the kitchen staring at this imposter cat. I opened the screen to say "hi" and I think I frightened him because he hissed and ran back to his own window. But then he came out slowly, but was sure to scent-mark all the crap on his side of the fire escape to show me that is his territory.

Whatever! You can keep all those crazy people's garbage!

Shopping Cat

I saw this cat when I was walking through Tribeca on Friday. I call it Shopping Cat because it was in a pet store on West Broadway. Maybe it was picking up some fun things like treats, nips, or little mouse toys with feathers sticking out of the butt. Either way, I thought it was cute. It looks like Scribble a little bit. Maybe it's her long-lost brother!

Shoe-wearing Cats

Ok, so these cats don't wear shoes but they do live in a veggie (no animal products, like leather) shoe store on Orchard Street. Two of them were chillin' on the store check-out counter while one was sleeping in a cubby hole below the register (you can see him on the green thing). I think the super fuzzy/dirty-looking one was my favorite even though the store clerk said he is a grouch.

Nosy Neighbor

So one Saturday night a few months ago my boyfriend and I were watching SNL on the couch and he turned around and looked in the kitchen and noticed a little cat spying on us in the kitchen window! At first I was surprised and wondered how it got in the window (we live on the second floor), but it turns out our (psychotic) neighbors make their three cats go onto the fire escape to use the litter box (as is apparent in the picture below... for the record, all that crap on the fire escape is THEIRS, not mine. My side is clean.).

After our first meeting with Nosy Neighbor, she started coming by a couple times a week. At first we joked that she was Doodles new girlfriend because he would go to the window, stand on his hind legs, and put his paws on the window when she came by, but then one day we opened the glass part of the window so there was only a screen between them and he hissed at her. Maybe they broke up?

Regardless, Nosy Neighbor still comes by and peeks in our apartment now and then. I definitely prefer to see the cat playing out on the fire escape than our neighbor's three kids who also enjoy spying in our apartment...

Window Meower

Window Meower surprised me Thursday night when I was on my way home. He was sitting in a wide-open window in an apartment on the corner of my block. Usually there are little kids in that window, watching the world go by, so it was fun to see a cat. It was crouching, but when I greeted it, it sat up and meowed at me. After I took a couple of pictures, it decided enough was enough and headed behind the curtain.

City Kitties Travels: Die Katze

So it isn't a real cat, but isn't this the cutest graffiti you've ever seen? This was near where I was staying in Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany last June.

Chinatown 貓

Ok, I have no idea what the title for this post actually says, but I googled a Chinese translation for "cat" and this was one of the first things that came up. Anyway, I saw this cat in October of 2008... a long time ago, I realize, but at least I'm finally getting around to writing about him! I think I saw him somewhere on Bowery because I had just met one of my friends coming from Baltimore on one of the Chinatown buses and we were walking toward the subway to go to my apartment. He was just chillin on the sidewalk next to an abandoned lot.

And just for giggles, here is another character I found for "cat:"

City Kitties Travels: The Nyack Napper

Yesterday afternoon my boyfriend and I rode our bikes up to Nyack, New York in Rockland County. On top of being a really quaint and beautiful town with lots of restaurants, shops, and nice views of the Hudson, Nyack also has adorable cats. Here is one, the Nyack Napper, who we saw sleeping on some books in the window of a bookstore. She is calico, so I can confidently state that she is, indeed female. I just make up the sex for most of the other cats on this blog...

City Kitties Travels: Gatitos Puertoriqueños

There is a strong Puerto Rican connection to New York, so I felt it is only appropriate that I share some of the pictures of the cats I've met on my trips to Puerto Rico.

As much as I LOVE kitties and other cute animals, it is important to remember that a lot of the cats featured here are strays. Like New York, Puerto Rico has a huge homeless animal population. The first time I went, I was very surprised at how many skinny dogs wandered on the beach, in the streets, and generally just followed me around. This is why it is important to adopt! There are too many cats and dogs that need a home to buy your pet in a store.

I was Sunset in Aguadilla this past January. My boyfriend and I decided to stop at a little rest area with a look out over the ocean off the highway to watch the sun go down and apparently Sunset had the same idea! She mostly kept to herself and didn't seem too thrilled when I tried to take a picture, so I left her alone.

We spent a night in Old San Juan and saw a lot of cats there, especially in one plaza where there weren't a whole lot of people. They were more friendly than Sunset, though the picture I got of one of them makes it look a little intimidating.

On our first trip to Puerto Rico, we stopped by Rincon because my boyfriend, a seasonal surfer, wanted to rent a board and check out the area's infamous surf. We didn't end up renting a board (long story!), but I did get a shot of the cute cat that lived at the rental shop.

And finally, here is a cat who lives at a shell shop in a boat in La Parguera. The owner of the shop is a diver who finds her shells around La Pared. She makes souvenir-like trinkets and jewelry out of them. Her cat tends the front of the boatstore while she smokes cigarettes (... why a diver would do that, I do not know...) and watches television in the back.

I can't wrap up a post about the Puerto Rican cats and the importance of adopting from shelters without a picture of quite possibly the cutest dog I have ever encountered. We were sitting on some random beach south of Aguadilla on the last night of our stay this year and this little dog just desperately wanted to be our friend. It sat with us the whole time. I would have taken it home with me if I could! And, for your enjoyment, the pic also includes my knee, grossly distorted in size by the camera. I guess it gives some scale in the picture so you can see how little the dog was.

Security Cat

This cat lives at the same pet store that Pet Store Kitties were, only Security Cat isn't for sale. He mostly sits in or around the doorway, watching people go to and fro on the street.

I always wonder how people get their store cats from running away through an open door. Scribble and Doodle have an obnoxious habit of running out of the apartment when I open the door and running up and down the stairs inside the building...