City Kitties

Peeped-on Tom

2012-02-14T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know this is creepy but I happened to see my neighbor's cat this morning from my window. I had to take a picture. I don't usually take pictures of what is on the other side of my neighbors' windows, I swear!

High Line Graffiti Cat

2012-02-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

My very good friend Jenny visited me from Chicago this weekend. She brought some of the cold Midwest air with her, but we decided to take a walk on the High Line anyway. Luckily, there was this cute graffiti angel cat to make it worth braving the wind!

Heidi's Kitty-Related Smörgåsbord

2012-02-05T13:19:00.001-05:00

My very good friend Heidi sent me an email with a bunch of cat-related pictures the other day. Here the are:

Above is a restaurant she saw in Cuzco, Peru.

And here ^ are pictures of a store and a tin cat that she saw on a trip to Prague this past fall.

Below are two kinds of graffiti that she saw in NYC (and I believe I saw the work of the Gato Loco graffiti artist once in my old neighborhood on Broadway in Williamsburg/Bushwick):

This one was in Gowanus in Brooklyn...

...and this one was in Cobble Hill.
Thank you, Heidi!!

Kitty Litter

2012-01-23T19:30:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I think my friends are psychic. I was in a woman's loft in Tribeca today and she had the cutest grey cat with orange markings, named Feather, but unfortunately my cell phone broke over the weekend so I had no way to take her picture. But to my rescue came my good friend Heidi who sent me this picture of kitty litter (as in trash) that she saw in Park Slope! I'm so glad that I have something to post.

Suzy's Kitty Smörgåsbord

2012-01-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

Suzy is an awesome friend, because she sends me pictures of kitties to post! She sent me one about a week-and-a-half ago, which I forgot to post. Just now I went to my email to find and post it and I found not one but THREE more pictures from her. Thanks, Suzy!

Below is Chloe, a cat you might remember from early last year. She is Suzy's cat.

Doesn't she look so fierce?? Rawr!

Next are two who are the pets of Suzy's clients. The first is named Mitzie and, unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the second one. He's a cutie, though!

Finally, here is a pair of cats playing in the snow. We just got out first snowfall of the winter here in NYC, but it looks like they got a bit more up in Massachusetts/Connecticut.

Neutered Neighbor

2012-01-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

My block sure does have a lot of black cats; they must all be related. Here is another one that I saw this morning. I could tell he was neutered because of the clip in his ear. I guess someone wants the Bensonhurst Black Cat legacy to end.

City Kitty Sticker

2012-01-11T18:32:00.000-05:00

Suzy and I were on Houston Street near Lafayette yesterday and saw this sticker graffiti of a cat that says "City Kitty". I couldn't believe it! Suzy said that this cat should be my logo, but I'm sure that the artist would not approve of my appropriation of his/her artwork without his/her permission. Also, this city kitty is a little hardcore for my taste. I prefer my city kitties a bit more cute and cuddly.

Annoying Neighbor Cat

2012-01-07T15:58:00.000-05:00

About a week ago I started hearing very disturbing noises coming from outside. (The heat is on full-blast in my apartment, so at least one window is always open.) At first it really upset me, thinking that someone was hurting a cat, but then my friend Heidi told me that cats in heat often make horrible noises.

I heard the cat cries again today, looked down from my window and there was the cuprit. I've had plenty of annoying neighbors before, but none of them were cats! I guess there is a first time for everything.

Panther

2011-12-30T15:07:00.000-05:00

I went to a bike shop in my neighborhood to pick up a Presta-to-Schraeder adapter and saw this kitty! His name is Panther, and I think that the somewhat-gruff (although helpful) men who worked there were amused when I asked to take his picture.

Tiger, a.k.a. Skittish Cat

2011-12-23T10:27:00.001-05:00

I'm cat-sitting for my friend Eva this week (you might remember Claudius), and I was waiting for the bus to get to her apartment when this little orange cat sauntered out of it's discount store and hid behind some granny carts. I tried to get its picture and it came out and rubbed on my leg, then ran back into the store. Unfortunately, I only got a picture of its butt.

UPDATE: I went to this store this evening and saw the little cat again. It turns out that her name is Tiger (not Skittish Cat), but she is still skittish as ever.

Kitty Prints

2011-12-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

I know they are hard to see in this picture, but I ran across these prints in the sidewalk last night in Park Slope. Hopefully wet cement didn't stick to the kitty's paws!

Crazy Christmas Cat

2011-12-09T10:58:00.001-05:00

I saw this cat this morning on my block running toward a house that is all decked out for the holidays. It took a very photogenic seat at the base of an oversized nutcracker. This is kind of like a "Where's Waldo." See if you can find the kitty in the picture!

Watson

2011-11-30T22:59:00.000-05:00

Please pardon the bad picture, but Watson is a cat that lives in an old, raw Tribeca loft space (of which there are few remaining) where my boss' acquaintance stores the books that we published last year. He's got a really friendly German Shepherd and a cat, but of the five or six times I'd been there to retrieve books I'd never met the cat until today. I felt weird about taking a picture when he introduced me to him (named for Watts Street, where he found the cat), since I don't know the man that well but when I had a second alone I snapped a picture from the other side of the door.

West Side Whiskers

2011-11-30T22:53:00.001-05:00

My friend Suzy saw this cat near where she works in West Springfield, MA yesterday and sent him along to me. I love the long fur! Very cute :-D This worked out well, too, because on my way home from work last night I saw a cat in the dark, but it ran away before I could get a picture. West Side Whiskers' other name could be Coincidence Cat...

Top Cat

2011-11-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Suzy spotted this cat in my new neighborhood today. He is a local stray, who a neighbor on my street had neutered, hence the clipped ear. He said his name is Top Cat. Notice his cute white stripe on his black tail.

Lucky

2011-11-12T23:56:00.000-05:00

I went to a corner store in my new neighborhood and met this little cat. I asked one of the guys who works there what the cat's name is and he said "Lucky." Lucky was also the name of my first cat, who my parents found in a box on the side of the road before I was born and lived until I was 10. Does that make this cat Lucky 2.0?

New Neighbor Cat

2011-11-07T13:03:00.000-05:00

I unexpectedly had to move from Ridgewood to another neighborhood in NYC at the end of this past month, but luckily every cloud has a silver lining--in this case taking the form of a cat. I saw this cat yesterday morning on my way back from the laundromat and couldn't get a good picture, but later in the day I was on my way to the gym when I saw him again, playing in a bush near my building!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-24T20:55:00.000-04:00

Sure, there's still a full week until Halloween, but I wanted to post this cat now rather than waiting and taking on the risk of forgetting to post it at all. I saw this "cat" in Brooklyn over the weekend in front of a house that was all decked out for the holiday.

Brighton Cat

2011-10-23T22:35:00.000-04:00

My brother sent me this picture of a little cat that he saw near his apartment in Brighton, Massachusetts yesterday!

Julie

2011-10-10T08:27:00.000-04:00

The corner store closest to my apartment just got a kitten!! Her name is Julie and she is the cutest, fiercest little thing. Here she is killing the store clerk's hand:

City Kitties Travels: North End Cat

2011-10-10T08:22:00.000-04:00

My boyfriend and I went to visit my brother and his girlfriend this weekend in Boston. We ended up in the North End to get some pizzelle and cannolis when Nina spotted this crazy little store cat rolling around on the sidewalk in front of her establishment. It was so warm out that I think she was enjoying an autumn sun bath.

Flower Vendor Cat

2011-10-03T08:17:00.000-04:00

I saw so many cats this weekend, but was only able to capture one on camera. This little cat was hanging out at the flower stand outside a corner store on Myrtle Ave. in Ridgewood. It was so small and had a bald patch from where it had torn some of its fur off (probably from stress). When I went to pat it, it licked my hand. I wanted to bring it home so badly!!!!

City Kitties Travels: Sophie

2011-09-11T20:11:00.000-04:00

I saw this little cat named Sophie hanging outside of the store, Munchies, where she lives on South Street in Philadelphia. Both she and her owner were very friendly, and the owner helped her into the tree where she is said to love to hang out.

College Cat

2011-09-02T07:47:00.000-04:00

I was on my way to the class that I teach at Brooklyn College yesterday afternoon when I saw this cat. I've seen him several times before in this area on campus, but never got a good picture of him--not to say this one is great. I was really paranoid that one of my current or former students would see me on campus taking pictures of a cat so I didn't want to make my subject too obvious.

City Kitties Travels: Flo's Hot Dogs Cat

2011-08-27T18:08:00.001-04:00

Flo's is a pretty well known hot dog stand in Cape Neddick, Maine. I haven't been there in years because the line is always way too long (and you can get hot dogs that are just as good and cheaper down Route 1 at Cat 'n' Nine Tails), but my mom, friend Lynn and I were driving back to my mom's cottage from a trip to Mt. Agamenticus when I saw this cat in Flo's window. I made my mom turn the car around to get a picture of the cat. It was still in the window the next day!

Silver Lining Cat

2011-08-27T17:57:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just have a bad day. A week ago I had one such day, which involved, but was not limited to, cutting my toe open and bleeding all over the sidewalk, losing my sunhat, and my underwear breaking on a routine visit to a public restroom. But I saw this cat in Williamsburg, and it was the silver lining to my day's big, huge cloud.

P.S. Do you like my boyfriend's rudimentary photoshopping skills?

Church Neighbor Cat

2011-08-17T21:46:00.000-04:00

I've been lucky in the past two days when it comes to cat sightings (I almost met a cat who lives in an unrenovated Tribeca loft space this morning, but he wasn't hungry for treats, apparently). This evening my boyfriend and I grilled burgers and then made s'mores on our little webber grill in our "backyard." When we were roasting marshmallows Adam noticed this little cat spying on us. At first it was shy, but when it learned that we were nice it rubbed all over the hurricane fencing between us. Its fur was so soft. It also had a flea collar, which makes me think that the church next door (whose property is on the other side of the hurricane fence) takes care of it.

Bonus Cat

2011-08-16T19:59:00.000-04:00

Well, when it rains it pours. After a particularly long dry spell of not finding hardly any cats this summer I happen to run across TWO today (see previous post for the first). I was walking home from the gym this evening when I saw this cute cat in front of a church. It was cautiously friendly until, as I was digging for my phone, a man with loud cowboy boots walked by. The cat ran and hid behind the fence before I could get a closer picture.

Public Relations Cat

2011-08-16T15:58:00.000-04:00

I wandered over to a coffee shop near Wyckoff Hospital today to do some work and on my way home I spotted this little cat in the doorway of a bodega. It came right out onto the sidewalk and started rubbing all over my legs and rolling around on the ground showing its belly. I think it is one of the most friendly cats I've met!

Good Luck Black Cat

2011-07-30T18:54:00.000-04:00

I saw this cat today shortly after I met up with my friend Terrell who had just gotten off a bus in Chinatown. It was relaxing on Delancey Street near the Bowery stop. As I reached for my phone to take a picture the cat started walking away, but it soon stopped and gave me a nice little pose. :-D Cute!!!

Victory Cat!

2011-07-06T19:39:00.000-04:00

This has been a rough month for City Kitties. I've been too wrapped up in my dissertation to even post this wonderful picture of Victory Cat that I took a couple weeks ago. Anyway, who is Victory Cat? Well, Victory Cat is a little cat that lives in a plant store on Walker Street. I walk by the store almost every day on my way to work. Even before City Kitties was born I have wanted a picture of this cat, but s/he is usually hiding somewhere or the owners are around. (I am wary of the owners because they once yelled at me for touching one of their kumquat trees.) But recently I was passing by and happend to have my cell phone in my hand when I saw Victory Cat hanging out in the doorway, so I snapped a quick picture before the mean owners could see. That was certainly a victory for me.

Immigration Group Cat

2011-06-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

The Immigration Working Group that I am a part of got together last night, and Jen spotted this cute cat on the Upper West Side! It looked well fed and was very friendly (you can sort of see Yi petting the cat here). Only its white stripe is visible because it was mostly black and too dark outside to get a good picture, unfortunately.

MTA Cat

2011-05-18T10:25:00.000-04:00

My friend Heidi sent me this picture of a cute little cat at the Fort Hamilton Parkway N stop in Brooklyn the other day. I was very happy to get this picture because a few months ago I was at her apartment and was unable to get a picture of a cat near her building. This one makes up for that :-D

Happy Birthday, Scribble, and Doodle's Vet Visit

2011-05-01T21:06:00.001-04:00

Today was Scribble's 5th birthday! We celebrated with a morning cuddle, some tuna juice, and treats. But unfortunately, for the past few days Doodle has had some problems with his left eye and today we also had to visit a vet. After reading about two Ridgewood clinics, we settled on Antelyes Animal Hospital. We were very happy with our visit. Both the vet tech and the doctor treated all of us with kindness, respect, and fairness. They weren't sure what exactly is wrong with Doodle's eye, but prescribed some medicine, which will hopefully help him heal up.

Update: Doodle's eye was healed with his medicine within a week or so. Thanks, Antelys!

Garden State Cats

2011-04-23T13:51:00.000-04:00

I was on my way to my friend Shana's house in Jersey City yesterday when I ran across these two cats. I thought it was so cute when the calico one moved to look like it was smelling a flower just as I went to take her picture. She is a true Garden State cat, I guess.

But the best thing about seeing these two cats is that I didn't realize that there were actually THREE; just by coincidence, the hidden third ended up in all of the pictures. I didn't realize this until I got home and uploaded the pictures onto my computer! See if you can find it.

Finally, here is a group shot:

Cat-sitting Week

2011-04-15T18:39:00.000-04:00

This week I am a cat-sitter for the first time ever. But what makes this most exciting is that I am sitting for two cats who each live in two separate Brooklyn locations:

Claudius

and Clyde.

Scribble's plan to take over the world

2011-04-11T08:19:00.000-04:00

Adam and I were planning a bike trip in Western Mass and had the map out on the floor when Scribble decided it was a great place to hang out.

Dot

2011-04-03T18:40:00.000-04:00

This cat is really hard to see because he wouldn't let me get too close, but I saw him when I was in Dorchester, Mass. yesterday with my boyfriend while visiting his family.

Cat Hat

2011-03-22T19:18:00.000-04:00

This is probably the most exciting City Kitty I have ever taken a picture of!!! I blogged about seeing this cat before although I failed to take a picture. But this afternoon I was on my way back into the building where I work when I saw this man (whose name now escapes me) and his cat (Nick... I think) again. He let me take a picture for a dollar. It was totally worth it.

Gato Loco

2011-03-18T18:06:00.000-04:00

It's not a cat, but I saw this while walking through my old neighborhood in Brooklyn (an undefined area where Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy meet). It was one of my first times back since I moved, so I had to post this!

"Little Italian Cat"

2011-03-05T20:49:00.000-05:00

Today boyfriend and I rode our tandem bike up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx (Doodle's home borough) and we saw this cute little cat in the window of an Italian tchotchke shop.

City Kitties Travels: Gato Sanjuanero

2011-03-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

I took a brief vacation with my friends Eva and Helena in San Juan, Puerto Rico this past week and we met this cute cat on our way back to our hotel from a delicious lunch at Bebo's.

Doodle in his new bed

2011-02-28T18:23:00.000-05:00

My boss gave me this nice Taiwanese woven bowl a couple of months ago. I've been wanting to use it for a sophisticated purpose, but I never have any fruit in the house. The other day I thought I would try repurposing the bowl and placed my cats' pet bed in the bowl. Scribble checked it out and quickly lost interest, but Doodle loved it. He hopped right in and when I got up in the morning he was still there!

City Kitties Travels: Philly Kitties

2011-02-27T19:43:00.000-05:00

I had to go to Philadelphia this weekend to attend and present a paper at a conference. Luckily, I had time to explore and it turned out that Philly has lots of cute cats!

Below is a store cat who was basking in the sun in his storefront on South Street:

Shortly after, I saw this little cat running by:

Earlier today we took a walk down 9th Street to the famous cheesesteak corner with Pat's and Gino's (we didn't eat any cheesesteak this time, though). As we were walking back, we saw this cat hanging out in his window at home:

Then we saw this cute cat sign for what looked like an animal shelter... or just the home of someone who is obsessed with adopting animals:

Chloe

2011-02-14T18:40:00.002-05:00

My good friend Suzy sent me a picture of her little cat Chloe, pretty in pink just for Valentine's Day ;-*

P.S. Suzy, your carpeting is just like mine!

Yet Another Graffiti Cat

2011-02-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

I by no means condone the defacement of property, but these graffiti cats are always a nice surprise when I'm walking around the city. This one I saw on East 12th St. this afternoon.

Pseudo Doodle

2011-02-12T22:47:00.000-05:00

My boyfriend, Adam, saw this cat earlier today in Ridgewood when he was on his way over to Manhattan to meet up with me after I completed some ethnographic research (!!). He said that this little cat was digging through someone's trash in their Ridgewood-style "yard." Because s/he is orange and trashpicking, it made me think of Doodle and what his pre-adoption life was like. (Doodle is still traumatized, I think, from having to scrounge for every meal for the first year of his life.) Adopt your pets!

Marcel

2011-02-12T22:40:00.001-05:00

My friend Heidi took these pictures of Marcel, a cat that lives at NY Studio on the Lower East Side. He was definitely hamming it up for the camera. ;-D So cute!!

Chatty Cathy

2011-02-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

I was walking home from the gym this morning, lost in thought about doing taxes, when I saw this little cat laying by a stoop. She kept rolling around on the ground and made a lot of chortling noises, so I was a little worried that she might be rabid, have fleas or be unable to walk. Well, the last concern was quelled when the corner store guy came out and threw a snowball at her and she ran away... I thought that was pretty mean!

City Kitties Travels: Gatos Españoles

2011-01-23T12:12:00.000-05:00

For the past week I was in Spain with my good friend Heidi. Among other things, we were in search of Spanish kitties. Unfortunately, most that we saw were either in carrying cases or ran away before we could take a picture. Below is one that we saw on a finca on Mount Naranco in Oviedo, were I spent a semester in college.

And here is a flyer to encourage people to adopt cats that we saw in Bilbao:

Travel Cats from the Archives...

2011-01-14T08:57:00.000-05:00

My mom gave me a really nice digital picture frame for Christmas and yesterday I finally got around to going through my pictures on my computer to find nice ones to load to the frame. In the process I found some cats that I took pictures of but never got around to posting on City Kitties.

Below is a cat that I saw when I went to visit my friend Jenny while she was living in St. Louis. We saw this cat when we were walking to the Budweiser brewery in this really nice, but seeminly almost abandoned, neighborhood.

We saw this cat two years ago when my boyfriend, Tash, Andy and I went to El Yunque, the rainforest in Puerto Rico.

And last, but not least, here is a cat (with no head, apparently) that I saw when I did a bike tour of Berlin in June, 2009.

Harp

2011-01-13T10:19:00.001-05:00

This is Harp. His name is Harp because my friend Abby found him outside her apartment building in Amherst (MA, not NY) while she was enjoying a Harp beer. He looks so cute on this blanket. And I never realized until now how much he looks like Scribble!

Charlie

2011-01-06T21:39:00.000-05:00

I had been a little sad about the dry spell I've been going through in terms of finding/getting pictures of city kitties lately. Two nights ago I was unable to take a picture of a cat near Food Bazaar on Wyckoff Ave. and the next morning couldn't snap a picture of a cat in time on my way home from the gym. But then along came Charlie! (Or, rather, an email from my good friend Jenny with pictures of Charlie attached.) Charlie is one of Jenny's friend's cats and he is a Maine Coon. He is so cute, especially with the sweater!! I would love to have a Maine Coon, but my boyfriend is allergic to cats, especially those with long hair which is why both of our cats are short-haired.

Bun Bun

2010-12-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

Ok, Bun Bun is obviously not a cat but he is so cute that I just had to post him. He is my brother's girlfriend Nina's bunny. Bun Bun is really small even though he is full grown and he is litter trained!

Mistoffelees, a.k.a. Missy

2010-12-28T09:50:00.001-05:00

Here is Mistoffelees (or Missy), my mom's cat who was found in my friend's dad's yard. She loves to sit in laps and gets so relaxed that she drools everywhere.

Claudius

2010-12-19T17:06:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to a party at my friend Eva's new apartment in Kensington. Her cute cat, Claudius, managed to look after (and sit on) the coats in the bedroom while also taking the time to mingle with the guests :)

Candy Cat

2010-12-18T19:00:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to meet this cat for months. He lives at Economy Candy on the Lower East Side. I go to this store pretty regularly to satisfy my sweet tooth (and need for obscure/old-fashioned/imported candies) and was once told by an employee that a cat lives there. The problem is, the store is so packed with yummy stuff that it is hard to find the cat! But today I was lucky enough to have my first sighting when Candy Cat sashayed through the crowd. (He looks like he's been enjoying a bit of candy, too, doesn't he?)

Dunn

2010-12-18T18:55:00.000-05:00

I met Dunn a few years ago when my boyfriend's friend Dan adopted him. He lives with Dan, Katie and Hank in Crown Heights. Dunn's eye is sick, but he's seen a vet and a cat optometrist (wow!) and they said it should be better soon.

Hank

2010-12-18T18:51:00.000-05:00

This is Hank. He lives in Crown Heights with Dan and Katie. He is very big, as you can see in the picture above (with the beer bottle providing some scale), and has very pretty markings, as shown below.

Surprise Cat

2010-12-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

To balance off my last post that featured a homeless cat which made me feel so sad, here is a cat with a home. I saw this cat in Bed-Stuy also on my way home from seeing the Dyker Heights lights. We stopped because my boyfriend saw a cat run under a car. I looked and looked for the cat, but couldn't find it. Just as we were about to continue on our bike ride home, I looked up and saw this cat watching us from it's window!

Change-of-Heart Kitten

2010-12-12T18:50:00.001-05:00

Last night, my boyfriend and I rode our tandem bike to Dyker Heights to see the Christmas lights. On our way home, we passed through Bushwick where we saw this little kitten. It was frightened at first and hid under a car, but I lured it out to get a (poor quality) picture. I guess the kitten decided that we were nice people because as I went to get back on the bike, the kitten ran in front of us and meowed profusely. That made me so sad!!! I think it wanted to go home with us.

It is cold, so adopt a shelter cat (or dog)!

Sidewalk Drawing Cat

2010-12-04T20:08:00.003-05:00

I've always wanted to see a freshly-poured paver of sidewalk cement... I don't think I would have the guts to write anything in it, but it would be nice to have the chance. When this paver on Houston St. was poured, instead of writing his/her name this person drew a cute little cat face :)

City Pige-y

2010-11-19T21:55:00.003-05:00

True, these aren't cat prints in the sidewalk but they are so funny I just had to post them. When I saw these pigeon prints on Duane Street all I could think about was some silly pigeon walking around in the wet cement.

How to Giftwrap a Cat

2010-11-18T18:59:00.004-05:00

I know what you're thinking: It's not even Thanksgiving yet! True, but giftwrapped kitties are cute all year round!

P.S. Don't know why the video is cut off on the right-hand side... my blogging skills = fail.

Morning Commute Distraction Cat

2010-11-18T18:44:00.002-05:00

Ever since the MTA changed the M train route and schedule in June I have had a hard time getting to the train on time; usually as I am walking about a block away from the station I see the train pulling away, leaving me to wait ten minutes for the next one. Very annoying. However, I've recently figured out about what time I need to leave the house to get to the station in time. This morning I was on my way to work and I saw this cute little cat. I went to take a picture of him (yes, I am VERY sure it was a "him"), but my phone's picture memory was full. I rushed to delete an unwanted picture, took his picture, patted his head, and ran up the stairs as I heard the train rumbling down the tracks. Luckily I caught the train and got to work on time.

City Kitties Travels: Utah's Own Moaky

2010-11-16T17:33:00.004-05:00

I went to Las Vegas this past weekend with a friend and we took a day trip to Zion National Park (which is beautiful, by the way) in Utah. As we left the park, we stopped in Springdale where we went to a rock and gem store and met this little cat, Moaky!

Saber-Toothed Cat

2010-11-12T15:48:00.002-05:00

Not quite like the cats that usually make it into this blog, but it is still a cat! This saber-toothed cat was on display at the Newark Museum and, at one point in time, lived in the New York/New Jersey area.

Maître D’ Cat

2010-11-11T09:34:00.002-05:00

I saw this cat last night (as is clearly apparent by the poor photo quality) in Park Slope. It was sitting in front of a restaurant greeting all of the passersby by running up to them and meowing. I almost didn't take it's picture because there was a large crowd of people that had just gotten off the subway when I saw it and I didn't want to look like a crazy person, but I couldn't resist. After I got to the end of the block, I turned back to take it's picture and pet it. I think it is a kitten because it is so small, but it looked well-fed. Hopefully it is the restaurant's cat!

Camera-shy Cat

2010-10-25T21:41:00.003-04:00

You may not be able to see her (yes, I am assuming the cat's sex by it's size) very well, but this is a cute grey cat that I saw on my way to the gym last week. It did not want to make friends with me, apparently.

Neglected Cat

2010-10-19T16:05:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago there was a cute, fluffy, orange cat frantically meowing in the hallway of my apartment building. I figured it belonged to my new neighbors (the ones who now live in the apartment once occupied by my terrible neighbors who made their cats, Nosy Neighbor and Spy, use their litterbox on the fire escape), since I knew they had a cat. My boyfriend and I knocked and knocked and knocked on their door. Finally they answered and Neglected Cat returned home.

I regretted that I didn't take a picture of Neglected (who also was in desperate need of a brushing), but I was so worried about him that I didn't think of it until after the whole ordeal. Well, I got my chance today when Neglected was once again in the hallway. This time his apartment door was ajar. I thought of telling my neighbors that their cat likes to go on extra-apartment adventures when they leave the door open, but at this point if they don't realize that I don't think I can help them all that much. I expect to see Neglected again sometime in the near future.

City Kitties Travels: Peekskill Peeper

2010-10-17T14:32:00.003-04:00

My boyfriend and I took a trip up to Peekskill, NY to leaf peep in the Hudson Valley. Unfortunately, we arrived a few weeks before decent foliage did but we did see this cute cat who was hanging out in his yard.

Roller Cat

2010-10-14T22:21:00.003-04:00

I saw this kitty this afternoon while walking to the City Hall R stop. As in the case of Telepathic Cat, I was thinking about how I hadn't seen many kitties around lately when I noticed this cat in a mesh roller backpack rolling down the sidewalk in front of me! (It is black and white, so you can really only see it's white patch of fur.) It didn't seem to mind being out and about in a backpack and, in a way, it sort of reminded me of the times that my boyfriend and I used to take Scribble and Doodle for bike rides on our tandem with each in her/his own backpack.

Stray Miami Kitty

2010-10-12T11:24:00.004-04:00

This kitty is stray for two reasons: 1) it is a stray and 2) I didn't realize that I left it out of my Travels: South Beach post. So here it is! We saw this kitty our first night in Miami and it was eating something in a paper bag.

Rude-y Kittianis

2010-10-06T17:41:00.003-04:00

Whenever Scribble or Doodle are doing something bad, I call them Rude-y Kittianis (get it?). Well yesterday I was walking around the East Village yesterday and saw this mural of kitties doing very rude things! Much more rude than the things Scribble and Doodle ever do. Although I do not condone the use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco by kitties, I still had to take a picture.

City Kitties Travels: South Beach Cats

2010-10-06T17:22:00.009-04:00

I went to South Beach (Miami, not Staten Island!) on an impromptu mini-vacation this past weekend and was delighted (or saddened?) to find that Miami has a lot of cats.

Below is the first cat we saw. It greeted us right near the boardwalk:

We met the rest of the cats while we were meandering down Jefferson St. searching for art deco buildings (and later found that the good stuff is on Ocean Dr.). Unlike the boardwalk sentry, who seemed like it was homeless, I think these were pets:

Entrepreneur Cat

2010-10-06T17:11:00.003-04:00

I met this cat at a corner store a couple of blocks from my apartment. I wanted a snack, but instead found this cat who was very friendly and welcomed me to his store with a "meow." This cat was a much better store manager than the actual person working there... mostly because I didn't see any people working there. Needless to say, since cats aren't tall enough to reach the cash register, I couldn't buy anything and went snackless. But the cat walked me to the door as I left :)

Doorman Cat

2010-09-10T14:03:00.002-04:00

I was just coming home from the post office and was about to open the door to my apartment building when this cute little cat in my downstairs neighbor's window surprised me. It is so cute and little and, what is even more adorable, it got in the window by squeezing through the blinds! Scribble has been known to do that, too.

This cat is much better than our old neighbor cats who would go onto the fire escape and spy in our kitchen window. That is just too invasive. This cat just spends it's day keeping an eye on who goes in and out of the building.

More Graffiti Cats!

2010-09-06T17:11:00.005-04:00

I was in Hell's Kitchen on my way to Amy's Bread to get some delicious Kitchen Sink and Cornmeal Lime cookies with Heidi when we saw some new graffiti cats! This first one was in the same spot as the black one I snapped a shot of a while back, but this time it was green. It also had a very inappropriate sticker right above it, which is why the picture is taken at an angle (thanks, Heidi).

These other cats were on the corner and there were three of them, one each on three of the four sides of the base of the post. I wanted to get a picture of all three at once, but clearly that is impossible.

Dewey came home!

2010-09-04T20:38:00.002-04:00

Dewey must have gone on a great kitty adventure because my mom reported that he came home today. After 27 hours out in the wild backyard, I'm sure Dewey is ready for some rest and relaxation.

Dewey, you will be missed

2010-09-03T22:39:00.002-04:00

My mom's cat was very sick last week with a blocked urethra. The vet helped him, but after he went out to play this afternoon he never came home. He was a good cat and liked sitting in boxes. I will miss him.

Produce Cat

2010-08-11T21:38:00.002-04:00

I think this is quite possibly the cutest cat I have ever run into in public in my whole entire life! I was in Chinatown recently for lunch with my good friend Volana when we came across this cat sitting in a box with the rest of the produce in a vegetable stand. I know it isn't the most sanitary thing in the world, but you're supposed to wash vegetables before you eat them anyway (at least after reading this post you will!). Notice how his green eyes match the veggies :-D

Telepathic Cat

2010-08-11T21:31:00.004-04:00

So a couple of days ago I was walking home from the gym and lamenting to myself how I had seen a two different cats in the past two days (while walking to my gym) and hadn't been able to take a picture (the first cat was gardening with it's owner and I didn't want to look creepy by taking a picture of them and I was on the phone during the sighting of the second) when, out of nowhere, appeared this cute little orange stray. He was definitely afraid of me at first and was making his way to a driveway to hide, but I said "hi" to it and it immediately sat down on the sidewalk to hang out. I felt bad, though, because I think it had something wrong with its left eye.

Clyde

2010-08-11T21:22:00.001-04:00

This is Clyde, my good friend Heidi's cat. He is super cute (see how his eyes match the couch cover?) and he licks my nose when I hold him. Allegedly he doesn't love just anyone so the fact that he makes his way off Heidi's bed to say "hi" when I come over makes me feel pretty darn special :)

Oscar

2010-06-24T19:55:00.002-04:00

This is Oscar, Julia's cat. He lives in West Hartford, CT.

Diego

2010-06-24T19:52:00.002-04:00

This is Diego/Diggy, my mom's cat.

Cat Walking Man?

2010-06-03T21:49:00.003-04:00

To be fair, I did not take this picture but I have an interesting story about it. So one afternoon I got out of work and I saw this very man walking up Broadway with this very cat sitting on his head! I thought that was so awesome but for whatever reason didn't get a picture. The VERY NEXT DAY this picture showed up on icanhascheezburger.com, one of my vices. Crazy, huh?

When my boyfriend and I first got Scribble in 2006 we decided we were going to walk her. Needless to say, that didn't pan out so well (and even worse with Doodle. Scribble actually likes to ride bikes with her head sticking out of a backpack that I wear on my front...). I was definitely impressed with this particular cat's bravery.

Now for an important message from the Ad Council

2010-06-03T21:44:00.003-04:00

The same night I saw the white graffiti cat I saw this advertisement on a phone booth near Times Square. The whole message is to not put your cat out on the street if you can't bring him with you when you move. Who would do that?!?!??! I would never move anywhere that Scribble and Doodle couldn't come along and let's say hypothetically I had to I would find a nice person to take care of them.

Always adopt from shelters! Never buy animals in a store!

City Groundhogs?

2010-06-03T21:29:00.004-04:00

This past Monday I was in Fort Tryon Park, my favorite park in the whole city, and I saw a cute furry animal. No, not a kitty; a groundhog!! I have never seen a real groundhog and I never would have guessed that I would have seen my first one in a New York City park. I didn't want to get too close which is why it is so small in the picture (see the brown thing near the tree? I circled it to help you out.). All I could think about was how Mayor Bloomberg was bitten by the Staten Island version of Punxsutawney Phil a couple of Groundhog Days ago... It is best just to let wildlife be.

Graffiti Cats

2010-06-03T21:16:00.004-04:00

Now, I am not an advocate for defacing property but these graffiti cats that I've seen around the city are so CUTE! And on top of that, they are painted on temporary plywood so they aren't doing serious damage to buildings. I saw the white kitty near 9th Ave on one of the West 50s streets... or maybe in the upper 40s. All I know is it was next door to an Ethiopian restaurant that I ate at once. If I could remember the restaurant's name that would make it easier to find exactly where I was. Anyhow, I saw the white graffiti cat a couple of weeks ago and not long after I ran into the black ones farther downtown near my work on Walker Street east of Broadway.

Elite Kitty

2010-06-03T21:12:00.003-04:00

My boyfriend and I were riding our tandem bike back from a trip to Little Neck when we were riding through Forest Hills and saw this little cat just hanging out in front of it's (very large!) house.

Nosy Neighbor II

2010-05-16T10:11:00.009-04:00

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

2010-05-16T10:08:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-16T09:54:00.008-04:00

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

2010-05-16T09:40:00.006-04:00

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

2010-05-08T18:21:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-01T18:44:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-01T18:37:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-01T18:32:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-01T17:43:00.012-04:00

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

2010-05-01T17:21:00.002-04:00

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...