It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. What a great idea on iHeartRadio.
Welcome to Maria's Mutts and Stuff. And with me is Dan Ramata. Now this is really cool because he is the founder of Bodega Cats of New York and a co founder of Cats about Town, which tours. So it's really very cool. Dan. It's great to talk to you because you are a true blue New Yorker to the core.
Absolutely born and race here. Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Maria. I'm really really excited to be on the show.
Well absolutely, So here's okay, So let's start with Bodega Cats. So am I correct that that this it's been around since twenty twenty so it's like five years, yeah exactly.
It's been all for yeah exactly, and then it kind of evolved on its own around the pandemic. That's when I started to get like a ton of followers and people submitting their own photos of bodega cats.
Uh huh.
Yeah, around twenty twenty two is when it really started to take off.
Okay, And basically it's cats that live in bodegas around you know, the Tri State area of New York City, and I guess for like, do they have bodegas throughout the country, Yes, right, And I'm maybe they're just not called bodega's exactly.
I was gonna say, like they are forms of bodegas more like delis or convenience stores. But here we really coined and we kind of adopted the phrase bodega.
Sure.
Yeah, right around like the nineteen fifties is when that term started to be to be used, when like Puerto Rican immigrants started to come over and they started to make these bodegas or like you no convenience.
H yeah, yeah, And I mean and they're great because they're usually open twenty four hours and they usually have every single thing that you might think that you might need, uh, you know, whether any type of grocery or food.
You know, you need to get milk at midnight for.
Some reason because you ran out of it, you go to a bodega and usually you step into a bodega and there's always a cat now exactly for the most part. And I would think when cats are somewhere, you don't have to worry about mice and rats, right, because they're pest control the living pest controls.
Yeah, and not only that, I mean obviously the cats will will go after the rodents. But it's funny because the mere presence of a cat, the odor that the cat creates, even if in its litter box, that's enough to deter rodents. Yeah, so they're fantastic ay keeping rodents out of stores? Sure in many ways, sure, totally. Yeah.
I mean like it's a living controller.
You don't need to use pesticides or anything that's bad for everyone, you know, when you have a cat. So let's talk about because as a result of Bodega cats. Uh, you also you started the petition to get bodega cats to be legal, So let's talk about that with a change dot org petition.
Yeah, so it took on a level. But so I did not expect the reaction from people that I got, And I'm really I'm thrilled and I'm really grateful for the traction this petition has or coming up on about ten thousand signatures right now.
I saw.
Yeah, we released the petition first week, it got a couple of dozen signatures. Change dot org reaches out to us and they say, hey, we want to do a collab post on our Instagram. So we'll tag you in the post about your petition, and I said, okay, great, I handed them over like a short voiceover that went out there, and then the next day the New York Post calls, and then NBC calls, and the New York
Times is interviewing me. And next thing, I know, this thing has fifty five hundred signatures and then eighty five. So it really it took off the best way possible.
But you know it also, I think it stirred up some emotions in especially like rescue organizations who who told me that, like this petition is and the idea of certifying bodega cats for these bodega owners so they don't face fines from the city's great in practice, but you're gonna run into a ton of bureaucracy and there's gonna be a ton of red tape to have to cut through. And then I asked a simple question, and I said, well, what's better, like what would be helpful for rescue organizations?
And after learning that these rescue organizations do a lot of this work already, right, the idea with the petition is to take care of these cats, but rescue orgs do that work every single day. And what they told me was, like the problem is that we're just underfunded, like we just don't have the money to take care
of bodega cats. And somebody told me this story that I thought was interesting that she she she built a relationship with a bodega owner who was willing to give the cat to the rescue org to go get it spade, and what she had to do was come out of her own pocket. She took an uber to the bodega, got the cat, took an uber to the vet, and then an uber back to the bodega, costing her like ninety bucks out of her own pocket. Sure.
Yeah, yeah, you know that's a lot. Okay, there's a lot.
Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah, totally for our rescue org. And there's a rescuers out there, of course. So the petition evolved, It evolved a bit to include a funding side, and pretty soon we're going to announce it a completely separate fund for rescue orgs to treat specifically bugega cats.
Oh that's great, but yeah, but the petition at its core, the idea here is as long as you can show paperwork, as long as you have some proof that you are taking care of this cat adequately, adequately, you're giving it, you know, spain and utering, and you're bringing it to the vet. There's annual checkups. You're allowing rescuers to help your cat as long as you can prove this stuff.
The idea here is the city would either you know, eliminate fines altogether, or give more discretion to these health inspectors to look the other way on the cat since it's providing a great service, right, Yeah, for sure.
I don't know why, I guess, and this was my stupidity.
I always assumed that the cats in Baudeigua's were owned by the owners, but I guess they're not always, is that right?
Well, I guess yeah. Ownership is kind of a funny term, beinse. I know these are working term, working cats, right, so they have a job at the bodega. I guess you could say, like the bodega owner does own the cat. They have a responsibility for the cat.
Right, but not necessarily. It's a funny word.
Yeah, I mean, like I when I say owns, I mean it's like if you have your dog at home and you bring your dog to work. I always and this was stupid, I guess on my part. I always thought when I saw a cat in a bodega, it went home with the not went home with, but it was that person, that person's cat, like they took their cat to work, you know.
But I realized that that's not that's not correct.
Well you know what I mean. So you're not totally wrong. So in some instances that is the case. So there's two examples that I can tell you about. So Boca, who was a very famous bodega Cata was famous because he had actually gotten kidnapped from a few years ago and then eventually got returned to the bodega. And then well I think it was like after that happened, the bodega owner started taking home the cat when when the shop would close. And then eventually the cat retired and
became the bodega owners. You know, pet is an actual cat, so now it's it's living no great life. And then there's another story about Tiger, the bodega cat. He's a Scottish fold bodega cat, which is not a very common breed for for bodega cats. Uh. The owner there at Metropolitan Organic on Metropolitan av And Williamsburg, he does take Tiger home most most times, and he's actually like a shining example of what a bodega owner really should be doing. Sure he has vet paperwork. He told me he got
really emotional and upset when the cat got sick. He took it to the vet, and you know, he really treats that cat like an actual member of his family across between like cat living in the store and him bringing it home. So that's a great example of like, yeah, not all cats are mistreated, not all bodega cats are mistreated, right, right, but the ones that could use better treatment, that's what the petition.
That's what the petition.
And it's funny because a friend of mine and rescue had even mentioned that to me about when I because I guess I reposted the article and said that she just remembered cat Rescue that sometimes some of the boat and this is years ago, but a bodega owner who kind of starved the cat so that it's prey to go after mice and rats would be bigger.
And I'm like, oh, that's awful.
But even though then I was thinking about it, and I kind of feel like, well, their prey is probably always there, whether you you know what I mean. It's a cat. It's like a dog with a squirrel, you know. But yeah, but yeah, but I think that was more of an exception than the rule, if that makes sense.
Totally right, Yeah, it's an extreme example exactly.
Yeah, yeah, you.
Know, probably over one hundred, one hundred and fifty bothas and in the course of having the Instagram account, I have found that, like, most of the cats that I visited are actually pretty well treated. Sure, the owners will even show me where they sleep and they make a little bed. A cat named Zoro in the in the I think he's in the East Village. I think he's on Avenue A, and he got a little home on top of the TV because the TV generates and the
owner built him a little box. Yeah. I love that most of the cats I see are actually pretty well treated, and those are the ones that we feature on the Instagram. But sure, yeah, the starvation thing, yeah, it's a lot of people think that, and I think it's it's not as common as I think some people think. I think it's right.
It could be one of those right, or one of those examples that say it happened, but it was a while ago, and it's it's not it's totally like it's the exception, Like you said.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, that's not why I think.
Right, right, So for those who are listening and they're not in this area, you can also go to Bodega Cats of New York dot com and see the whole website because it's really pretty cool. You have a great website, and of course follow you as well on Instagram. But also let's talk about Okay, so for anyone who's listening and they do, they have to just be in the New York area to sign the petition.
No, anyone can sign.
It, correct, Okay, anyone, anyone at all.
Okay, So if they go to Bodega Cats of New York and why New York that way dot com, they can see the petition and they can sign it because the more signature is the merrier for you, right, absolutely, yes, So now do you have a number or you're just going to keep You're just going to wait.
Till it it's larger and larger of the signatures.
Yeah, you know, it's funny. The original goal was five thousand, and oh you beat it, even thought often a stretch of like five thousand's too crazy, But now we're close to almost ten a week or two away, So ten thousand is the number. Okay, we'll get you there. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you, Maria. I've gotten some attention from the Mayor's office. I actually have a call with them tomorrow.
Nice.
Yeah, and we're going to discuss some ideas. I'm going to get her some advice from them about like the fund that we're about to announce in a couple of weeks. So yeah, I've gotten some great traction so far, but ten thousands of the number that we feel really good about to like, you know, officially reach out to the city council and reach out to the right folks and hopefully we get some advice tomorrow.
That's awesome. Okay.
So for those who are listening to Mario's MutS and stuff, I know you love cats. And also, by the way, Dan, I always say this because I you know, I focus a lot on dogs, and when there's a subject about cats, I try to do it because I've gotten complaints that I focus too much on dogs, and I don't do it on purpose. It's just whoever reaches out to me and has like a rescue or a situation. So you're helping my cat cred. So I appreciate you.
I'm happy to hear.
So for those who are listening, if you want to sign the petition, please do. It's at Bodega catsof ny dot com. But now let's talk about the other thing you have going on, because that's pretty cool is the Cats About Town tours?
So how did that start? Yeah? Tell us about that? How did that all start?
All right? I will try to avoid long winded versions. Okay, okay, it's kind of a fun story. So last year, I think it was around the beginning of last year News twelve News twelve Brooklyn, they reached out to me and they wanted to do a story on Bodega Cats, and I said absolutely, I'd be happy to come and do
an interview with you guys. And then it turns out to that, you know, the Bodega cat piece was part of a bigger story, and the story was about working cats in New York City, cast with jobs across New York and one of the people that were interviewed for this segment, there was about six of us. I think one of the people was Peggy Gavon, who later became my co founder for Casts About Town. He was in
the beginning of the segment. I was towards the end of the segment, and I didn't I actually didn't get a chance to see the entire segment after it came out. I only really saw my piece. That's just my danity, I guess. So I always have this idea of like a walking tour for cat lovers, and I did extensive research, and I realized, wow, there's never been a walking tour for animal lovers, dog lovers, cat lovers in New York City. To my acknowledge, has never been one. So I said, Okay,
there's kind of an opportunity here. So I started training myself on cat history across New York City. I started planning out my own route. I was going to get my license to be a licensed tour guide. And then I got exhausted and I said, I've been reading Peggy's blog for the last few weeks. Let me reach out to her and maybe she has some ideas for me. Maybe she's thinking about this herself. So I reached out and I said, hey, Peggy, I love your blog. I've
been reading a lot. I'm trying to do a walking tour. I wonder if you have some tips for me. Maybe there's some stories, I said, you know, I should highlight and then, as luck would have it, she had the exact same idea. Wow. She also wanted to do a walking tour. And not only that, I mean she's a cat historian, the published author on the history of cats and dogs in New York City. Might be a good guest for you to have on Yes, yeah, dog for the dog Crat. So she had the same idea. And
she's a licensed tour guide. Wow, amazing. She not super tech savvy, so she said to me, look, let's work together on this. You do the tech stuff, I will do the walking tours. I'll do the history. She's a great storyteller. So it was just the perfect partnership at the perfect time. So I'm more behind the scenes. Peggy's leading the tours. Our first year we sold out completely. We had about twelve tours. Wow. Last year h August to December, we had a three hundred person waiting list
and we had no rooms. So we hired two guides for this season and we're going to be launching in April. And essentially what the tour is is it's the history of cats in New York City. So eighteen hundreds, nineteen hundreds you'll hear a lot of fun stories about cats, like Jerry Fox who saved the Borough Hall from burning down. You'll hear about Ned of the Bridge, He's the first cat to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow, have a lot of fun stories. They're told by license to our guys.
And it's all been curiated by Peggy, who's still still doing tours. She's still you love it.
I love it, and it's you're still like in your beginning stages, which is really cool.
The fact that it's sold out, Yeah, that's great. That's really cool. Yeah, No, that's very cool, super fun. Yeah, it sounds like it's super fun.
And I know I definitely want to do the tour at some point, and now that you're really doing it in April, definitely so. And I thought it was kind of cool too because on your website, cats about towntours dot Com that you also give private tours and that might be a really good idea because I always feel like people, especially I don't know what they're called, but
when people are when oh what is it called? When women and when people get married and then they have the brides that go out with their friends and they go at drinking, well, a bachelorette Thank you. I don't know why I just brain farted on that, but like, that would be kind of fun to do for the cat lover who is also getting married for the bachelorette party, Like, come to New York and do the cats about town tours. I think that would be kind of fun. And they
can do a private one. Because I see that you said you stop at a cat cafe. I love cat cafes. I got to tell you that.
Yeah, it's you know, the Brooklyn Heights Tour. It ends at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe.
Uh huh.
I think it's on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, h huh. And yeah, so we do the tour. It's an hour and a half. It's about a mile and a half tour, and we end at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe. So you're hearing about cat history all day long and with you playing with cats.
That is so cool. I love it.
Okay, So for those who want to either if you're here in New York listening in the Tri state area, or you want to come to New York City, this is a great idea if you're looking for stuff to do that's different but fun, cool cats about towntours dot com. And if you want to help out the Bodega Cats and get you know, get help and and also make a donation and help it out, you can also go
to Bodega Cats of NY dot com. So, Dan Ramada, thank you, thank you for all that you've been doing and that you do and for all your information, because it's really fascinating. But it's also very cool, you know, because I'm sure there are people listening right now who are like, I.
Had no idea. This stuff is so cool. Absolutely, I love it so much.
For them, Maria, Yeah, really appreciate the platform. Thanks for the time.
No, thank you,