Shop Cats

Have you ever been into a gift shop or any other kind of shop where they have a kitty living in the shop? I think this is a great idea! Recently I was in a gift shop in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. They had 2 resident kitties that they had recently rescued from an abusive situation. The owner said that they were nursing them back to health and that the shop is thier permanent home now! It was so cool to shop and have a kitty following me around the store The shop had a big pet section with unusual pet gifts and gifts for people who liked cats. They had donation cups out to help the Cats of the Keys group, and they were sponsoring a Keys yard sale to benefit cats! How cool is that!!!
I wish I owned a shop just so I could have cats in it

Here is the shop info if anyone is interested :

They have a website : http://www.latitude25clothingco.com/

Latitude 25 Clothing Co.
Street Address:
82748 Overseas Hwy.
Islamorada, FL 33036.
Local Phone: (305) 664-4421

Years ago I worked at a flooring store (we put carpet/vinyl in new homes). We had a shop cat and a shop dog. The dog was a huge german shepard that had been horrifically abused. He was so scared...even the cat frightened him. The cat was a beautiful white shorthair who hung out in the warehouse climbing and sleeping on the many stacks of carpet, though he occasionally would visit the offices and sit on our desks. It was great!

The website for the shop is not very good. They don't have any of the pet products on there! POO!

My vet has a big orange cat that lives in the lobby He is a sweetheart!

I have a store and I take my cat to work with me, which is easy because I live in the apartment above the store. He comes downstairs and meows at the door when he wants to come to work. That is, on the days when my business partner doesn't bring his dog to work.

People love the greeter pets. It gives them something to talk about, and doesn't make them feel like we are going to give them the "hard sell".

Yep- the video store I used to run we had a cat. The poor cat was found in a car engine with major injuries after a trip was taken in the wintertime. He was the coolest kitty but after so many stories were written about him in the paper, someone stole him from the store.

Awe hissy, that's terrible. People can be so mean. I hope they took good care of him after they took him

That IS neat, shop cats (and dogs). Our vet has a resident cat, too, who likes to sleep on the computer monitor. Nice and warm, I guess.

Our vet has a resident cat also..he is huge!!! They have him on a diet now! I think "shop cats" is a cool idea!!!

I would like to start a group that takes cats from the shelter and matches them with shop owners. Wouldn't that be cool if all shops had cats The world would be a much nicer place to shop in

There's an electrical supply store in our town that has two shop cats. The owners live above the store, and the cats can wander around at will. They love to sun themselves in the windows, so people who are window shopping are often surprised to see two huge tabbies among the small appliances.
Until he died, my boss brought her Lab, Freeman, to school every day for fourteen years. He loved it.

There is a store in the riverfront area of Wilmington, NC that has a huge gray tabby that sleeps on the counter right by the door. He ignores everyone as they come in the door.

I love shop cats! Before I went into business, my first job after choosing to no longer work as an RN after I got married, was in a cat collectibles store, which had a huge handsome, full of attitude himalayan named Gandolf. Part of one's duties were being a good handmaiden to him <G>.

There is a neat herb farm and store about an hour from me that has several shop cats, one finds them snoozing in a bed by the cash register, or wandering through the store.

Though it's not exactly the same, Alix *is* the whole inspiration behind my company

There is a website somewhere that lists all the shop and library cats in the United States and also shows photographs. I thought it was listed on Meowhoo- but I can't find it- I have been looking because as I recall, it was quite unique

I have that address Hissy...it's Shopcat.com and if you folks go to WA state, and to the listing for Kent, you'll see a wonderful photo of Gandalf <RB>.

OMG, I just went to that site, and found a cat who lives at the Bodhi Tree, which is right next door to where I work. I had no idea they had a cat living in there. To see her, check for cats in California/Los Angeles. Her name is Little Girl, and she's a doll.

Originally posted by Pat & Alix
I have that address Hissy...it's Shopcat.com and if you folks go to WA state, and to the listing for Kent, you'll see a wonderful photo of Gandalf <RB>.

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Awww... you beat me to it. I love shopcat.com. It's interesting to read how cats with different personalities adapt themselves to each place and it seems like most of them live happy lives where they are. I think it's a sweet idea to get homeless cats into more shops.

There use to be a place in town called "The Best Little Cathouse In Tennessee." It is closed now, but they had cat everywhere. They sold any kind cat trinket or cat toy that you could ever have wanted. The first time I went I did not know there were live cat everywhere and I was looking at this cat dish when the cat, which I thought was stuffed, raised its head up to look me. Kinda startled me at first, but then I got to looking around and a lot of those stuffed cats were moving around. Very Cool.

My vet's office has a little disabled dog who lives in the office. He's the cutest thing and has to check out everything that's going on.

The first year I worked for the school system, at the school where I worked, one first grade teacher brought her cat to the classroom every single day. He was the class pet.

I know of a couple of shop cats around here.One is in the next town over from me and she is in a sporting goods store.I have been in there several times and she is either laying on the clothes in the bins or laying on the shelves with the glass stuff.Her fur is sooooo soft,I love to go in there and just pet the kitty.LOL.
Another one I know of is in my town.These people have a really nice store with very expensive things in it.Well,the cats favorite bed is an expensive footstool.I went in there and was talking to the owners and they said they have to clean the cat hair off of the footstool all the time.They said that was probably the most expensive cat bed they had ever seen because now noone will probably buy it.LOL.They rescued this cat from a busy highway.She holds her paw up all the time and she has part of an ear gone and has some scars.They took her to the vet when they first found her and the vet told them that it looked like she was up under someone's hood and when they started their vehicle the fan got ahold of her.He said he would leave the leg unless she started dragging it.They said that people come in all the time not with the intentions to buy anything,they just come to see the kitty.LOL.She is a sweetie though and was very lucky to have found such wonderful people to care for her.

Also one of the vet's here has a big fat cat that wanders the office.I went in there one day for something and was talking to the receptionist and petting the cat and the vet came up front and I said something about how fat she was and asked if she was pregnant and he was like,"No,that's what everyone thinks,but she is spayed and that's why she is so fat." I just kinda giggled cause this cat was FAT,not just a little meaty cause she was spayed.LOL.Guess he knew she was fat,but didn't wanna make himself look bad for having an overweight cat.LOL.

I love going into a business and seeing a "shop cat" or "shop dog".

I agree, shop cats and dogs are fun to have around. When I went to the Humane Society in Tampa to adopt Simba, they had a resident cat there wandering about inside the 'welcoming area/rooms'. He was so friendly and acted like the puuurrrfecct 'host', what a lovely big fella' he was!!