Our Technical Cat’s Day at Cat Camp 2018

This week’s post comes to you from guest blogger Kristen Petrie. If you’d like to know a little more about what Kristen does at the podcast, check out episode 198 of the podcast. 

This past Sunday, at the crack of dawn, I left New Hampshire and headed for New York City and a day at Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp at the Penn Plaza Pavilion. It wasn’t hard to find the venue — there was a large crowd of people wearing cat ears standing outside.

After getting my wristband at check-in, my first stop was the adoptions area. Not that I need to adopt another kitty (I have a house full), but who could resist visiting with the furry, purry reason we’d all gathered together. Rescue groups from all over New York and beyond brought both adoptable kitties and rescue mascots to the event and they were ready to tell you everything you wanted to know about their organizations.

Noodle, the Cat Ambassador for FURRR 911

One group that stood out for me was FURRR 911 and their cat ambassador, Noodle. I got to hear Noodle’s story from FURRR 911’s human ambassador and learned a little more about their organization. They rescue bottle babies and rehome “perfectly imperfect” cats — critically ill or injured, special needs, and feral kittens. Noodle is indeed a perfectly imperfect cat. Used as bait for fighting dogs and left in a garbage can to die, he was luckily discovered and made his way to FURR 911. He was missing his nose, his upper lip and part of his jaw. Obviously, he would have been a candidate for euthanasia, but the ladies from FURRR 911 got him to a vet who treated his injuries and reconstructed his face.

Noodle’s still missing some bits, but he was quite happy to be fawned over by passers-by, including me. The head of the rescue also gave me the name of a person who makes washable cat diapers to fit individual cats, which will come in handy, because I have an extremely small, incontinent cat of my own. I hadn’t even made my way to the main room yet and I already had useful information to take home!

Once I’d gotten in enough cat cuddling to sustain me, I headed up the escalator to the event. I entered a huge space, full of people, cats, and tables upon tables of cat-related merchandise. I know that I’m a cat t-shirt away from “overdoing it” (at least according to my non-feline-rescuing cohorts), so I resisted the urge to take just about all of them home — but if you were looking for gifts for cats or cat lovers, you were in the right place! Handmade cat ears in wild colors, catnip stuffed taco cat toys, books for all ages and cat-tastic art were among the goodies!

Vendor alley was full of unique, fun things that were hard not to take home.

If you have a favorite cat rescue personality, they were likely there too. The humans included past guests The Kitten Lady, Trap King, The Cat Man of West Oakland (who I may have an Instagram cat photography-related crush on — love his work!) and of course Jackson Galaxy. Celebrity cats had a presence as well. Cole & Marmalade and Princess Monster Truck’s caretakers were there and Lil’ Bub even attended the event.

There was also a TON of information available from booths manned by representatives of organizations like Big Cat Rescue (who you simply must follow on Facebook — trust me, their feed is fascinating!), Best Friends, The American Association of Feline Practitioners and the Foundation for Feline Renal Research. (I’m cat mom to two elderly cats and a dog with kidney disease and was glad to learn about their organization.)

I could honestly go on about the sea of tables and the interesting folks behind them but I need to keep this post from become a novella. I encourage you to visit the Cat Camp website, check out a full list of vendors and click on the ones you’re interested in.

A breakout presentation offering insight into cat conflict drew a capacity crowd.

Of course I didn’t come to Cat Camp to shop. (Okay. Maybe I did go home with a few surprises for my kitties.) I was there to learn everything I could from the speakers. I spent most of my time in the Breakout Event area. Unfortunately I missed the “Cat Cafe Owners Unite” event where I was hoping to get a few ideas on how they can be integrated with existing shelters. But I was there for the packed “Peaceable Kingdom: Techniques to Increase the Success of Multi-Cat Households” presentation with Mikel Delgado. She discussed “cat diplomacy,” cat behavior in a feral colony and how those instincts play a role in indoor cat relations, and ultimately, how a household where cats argue and fight might establish calm.

I also caught a presentation called “Animal Care Centers: NYC’s Progressive Shelter System” with Jessica Vaccaro. She discussed what her organization did to improve their adoption process, making it more accessible and accommodating for potential adopters to produce more successful outcomes for the animals in their care. My favorite part of the discussion was hearing Jessica speak about having empathy for people who were surrendering animals and that encouraging staff and volunteers to be more welcoming and less judgmental has helped them become a better, more trusted resource for the community.

In the main presentation room, I was able to do some professional skill building. My main role here at Community Cats Podcast central is Technical Cat, but I wear a Marketing Mouser hat in other venues and there were several scheduled speakers I was sure I could learn a thing or two from.

Having a smart, consistent social media presence is of course always a goal, so I figured, why not hear what Hannah Shaw (The Kitten Lady) and Chris Poole (Cole & Marmalade) had to say about it. In their afternoon panel discussion, “Using Social Media to Help Feline Welfare,” these two social media powerhouses shared many tips and tricks for fine tuning your feeds to encourage engagement.

Andrew Marttila and Will Zweigart demonstrating how to capture cats on film.

The next presentation was “Telling Your Cat’s Story: Actionable tips for upping your cat photo + video skills” with Andrew Marttila of I Am the Cat Photographer and Will Zweigart of Flatbush Cats. This was Andrew’s first presentation and it went swimmingly. He gave tips on equipment, how to light your cat photos and how to get your easily distracted subjects to look at your lens. It turns out that while making noises that cats haven’t heard before might sound a little crazy, they get a cat’s attention far better than the kissing sounds we usually make to call our feline friends! The presentation was then turned over to Will. A self-taught video maker, Will made some great technical suggestions about how to record video and edit it, explaining for example, why you’d use time-lapse video or jump cuts to cut out any “boring stuff” so as to hold the attention of social media users. He also shared stories about the cats who are the subjects of his videos and his journey from bystander to a passionate TNR advocate and cat rescuer.

If I had any suggestions as organizers plan next years event, it would be that much of the more academic information was, I felt, overshadowed by more fandom-related happenings. The academic speakers gave education-rich presentations for those that were interested, however. Plus, the opportunity to get some communication tips from the folks whose fans were there to support them is more than priceless. It was difficult to focus, however, due to noise from crowds not involved in the speaker’s presentations as it carried through the curtains that divided the cavernous pavilion. The roaring air conditioning system also made it difficult to hear. Really, those are small issues that would be easy to overcome with a change of venue or a tweak to the arrangement of the space, however.

Foster kittens don’t care if you’re at Cat Camp, they still have to pee.

Overall, Cat Camp 2018 was a fantastic event. The day was packed with education, fun, networking opportunities with fellow cat people and, of course, cats! Cat Camp grew substantially compared to last year and I imagine that trend will continue. I can’t wait to see what they do and who they bring to future conventions!

A quick addendum…

I want to share one of my favorite experiences of the day. I went to get my car out of the garage a few blocks away. It was one of those deals where they park a lot of cars in tight and you need an attendant to retrieve it for you. As I was settling up, the gentleman in charge noticed my Community Cats Podcast shirt (it had been a conversation starter all day!) and said he thought there was a “cat thing” happening and asked if I’d been there. I said I had and he proceeded to tell me how much he loved his cat. He was beaming as he told me about the kitty he and his girlfriend got from the shelter and how he carries his cat around like a baby. He brought up a video on his phone as proof his cat liked being picked up and so I could see how cute she was. And she was, in fact, very cute.

There are cat rescuers everywhere. Their weekends may not revolve around cat conventions, volunteer shifts or spay/neuter clinics, but they’ve touched the lives of cats who needed homes and caretakers and improved their situations. In turn, grateful cats have made them proud cat parents — some of whom carry them around like babies. I’m glad that they’re part of “team cat.”

Kristen Petrie is the Technical Cat at The Community Cats Podcast, Creative Director at Mellarium Creative, and part of the marketing team at The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society. Since 2005, she’s filled a variety of roles while volunteering in animal welfare and was part of the MRFRS board of directors for the better part of a decade. Kristen currently fosters cats who need time and patience to overcome behavioral issues or recover from trauma.