Speaker 1: It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. What a great idea on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Maria's Mutts and Stuff. And with me is
Speaker 2: Dan Ramata. Now this is really cool because he is
Speaker 2: the founder of Bodega Cats of New York and a
Speaker 2: co founder of Cats about Town, which tours. So it's
Speaker 2: really very cool. Dan. It's great to talk to you
Speaker 2: because you are a true blue New Yorker to the core.
Speaker 1: Absolutely born and race here. Yeah, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: having me, Maria. I'm really really excited to be on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 2: Well absolutely, So here's okay, So let's start with Bodega Cats.
Speaker 2: So am I correct that that this it's been around
Speaker 2: since twenty twenty so it's like five years, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: It's been all for yeah exactly, and then it kind
Speaker 1: of evolved on its own around the pandemic. That's when
Speaker 1: I started to get like a ton of followers and
Speaker 1: people submitting their own photos of bodega cats.
Speaker 3: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, around twenty twenty two is when it really started
Speaker 1: to take off.
Speaker 2: Okay, And basically it's cats that live in bodegas around
Speaker 2: you know, the Tri State area of New York City,
Speaker 2: and I guess for like, do they have bodegas throughout
Speaker 2: the country, Yes, right, And I'm maybe they're just not
Speaker 2: called bodega's exactly.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, like they are forms of bodegas
Speaker 1: more like delis or convenience stores. But here we really
Speaker 1: coined and we kind of adopted the phrase bodega.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right around like the nineteen fifties is when that
Speaker 1: term started to be to be used, when like Puerto
Speaker 1: Rican immigrants started to come over and they started to
Speaker 1: make these bodegas or like you no convenience.
Speaker 2: H yeah, yeah, And I mean and they're great because
Speaker 2: they're usually open twenty four hours and they usually have
Speaker 2: every single thing that you might think that you might need, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, whether any type of grocery or food.
Speaker 3: You know, you need to get milk at midnight for.
Speaker 2: Some reason because you ran out of it, you go
Speaker 2: to a bodega and usually you step into a bodega
Speaker 2: and there's always a cat now exactly for the most part.
Speaker 2: And I would think when cats are somewhere, you don't
Speaker 2: have to worry about mice and rats, right, because they're
Speaker 2: pest control the living pest controls.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and not only that, I mean obviously the cats
Speaker 1: will will go after the rodents. But it's funny because
Speaker 1: the mere presence of a cat, the odor that the
Speaker 1: cat creates, even if in its litter box, that's enough
Speaker 1: to deter rodents. Yeah, so they're fantastic ay keeping rodents
Speaker 1: out of stores? Sure in many ways, sure, totally. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean like it's a living controller.
Speaker 2: You don't need to use pesticides or anything that's bad
Speaker 2: for everyone, you know, when you have a cat. So
Speaker 2: let's talk about because as a result of Bodega cats. Uh,
Speaker 2: you also you started the petition to get bodega cats
Speaker 2: to be legal, So let's talk about that with a
Speaker 2: change dot org petition.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it took on a level. But so I
Speaker 1: did not expect the reaction from people that I got,
Speaker 1: And I'm really I'm thrilled and I'm really grateful for
Speaker 1: the traction this petition has or coming up on about
Speaker 1: ten thousand signatures right now.
Speaker 3: I saw.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we released the petition first week, it got a
Speaker 1: couple of dozen signatures. Change dot org reaches out to
Speaker 1: us and they say, hey, we want to do a
Speaker 1: collab post on our Instagram. So we'll tag you in
Speaker 1: the post about your petition, and I said, okay, great,
Speaker 1: I handed them over like a short voiceover that went
Speaker 1: out there, and then the next day the New York
Speaker 1: Post calls, and then NBC calls, and the New York
Speaker 1: Times is interviewing me. And next thing, I know, this
Speaker 1: thing has fifty five hundred signatures and then eighty five.
Speaker 1: So it really it took off the best way possible.
Speaker 1: But you know it also, I think it stirred up
Speaker 1: some emotions in especially like rescue organizations who who told
Speaker 1: me that, like this petition is and the idea of
Speaker 1: certifying bodega cats for these bodega owners so they don't
Speaker 1: face fines from the city's great in practice, but you're
Speaker 1: gonna run into a ton of bureaucracy and there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a ton of red tape to have to cut through.
Speaker 1: And then I asked a simple question, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: what's better, like what would be helpful for rescue organizations?
Speaker 1: And after learning that these rescue organizations do a lot
Speaker 1: of this work already, right, the idea with the petition
Speaker 1: is to take care of these cats, but rescue orgs
Speaker 1: do that work every single day. And what they told
Speaker 1: me was, like the problem is that we're just underfunded,
Speaker 1: like we just don't have the money to take care
Speaker 1: of bodega cats. And somebody told me this story that
Speaker 1: I thought was interesting that she she she built a
Speaker 1: relationship with a bodega owner who was willing to give
Speaker 1: the cat to the rescue org to go get it spade,
Speaker 1: and what she had to do was come out of
Speaker 1: her own pocket. She took an uber to the bodega,
Speaker 1: got the cat, took an uber to the vet, and
Speaker 1: then an uber back to the bodega, costing her like
Speaker 1: ninety bucks out of her own pocket. Sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know that's a lot. Okay, there's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah, totally for our rescue org.
Speaker 1: And there's a rescuers out there, of course. So the
Speaker 1: petition evolved, It evolved a bit to include a funding side,
Speaker 1: and pretty soon we're going to announce it a completely
Speaker 1: separate fund for rescue orgs to treat specifically bugega cats.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, but yeah, but the petition at its core,
Speaker 1: the idea here is as long as you can show paperwork,
Speaker 1: as long as you have some proof that you are
Speaker 1: taking care of this cat adequately, adequately, you're giving it,
Speaker 1: you know, spain and utering, and you're bringing it to
Speaker 1: the vet. There's annual checkups. You're allowing rescuers to help
Speaker 1: your cat as long as you can prove this stuff.
Speaker 1: The idea here is the city would either you know,
Speaker 1: eliminate fines altogether, or give more discretion to these health
Speaker 1: inspectors to look the other way on the cat since
Speaker 1: it's providing a great service, right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: I don't know why, I guess, and this was my stupidity.
Speaker 2: I always assumed that the cats in Baudeigua's were owned
Speaker 2: by the owners, but I guess they're not always, is
Speaker 2: that right?
Speaker 1: Well, I guess yeah. Ownership is kind of a funny term, beinse.
Speaker 1: I know these are working term, working cats, right, so
Speaker 1: they have a job at the bodega. I guess you
Speaker 1: could say, like the bodega owner does own the cat.
Speaker 1: They have a responsibility for the cat.
Speaker 3: Right, but not necessarily. It's a funny word.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like I when I say owns, I
Speaker 2: mean it's like if you have your dog at home
Speaker 2: and you bring your dog to work. I always and
Speaker 2: this was stupid, I guess on my part. I always
Speaker 2: thought when I saw a cat in a bodega, it
Speaker 2: went home with the not went home with, but it
Speaker 2: was that person, that person's cat, like they took their
Speaker 2: cat to work, you know.
Speaker 3: But I realized that that's not that's not correct.
Speaker 1: Well you know what I mean. So you're not totally wrong.
Speaker 1: So in some instances that is the case. So there's
Speaker 1: two examples that I can tell you about. So Boca,
Speaker 1: who was a very famous bodega Cata was famous because
Speaker 1: he had actually gotten kidnapped from a few years ago
Speaker 1: and then eventually got returned to the bodega. And then
Speaker 1: well I think it was like after that happened, the
Speaker 1: bodega owner started taking home the cat when when the
Speaker 1: shop would close. And then eventually the cat retired and
Speaker 1: became the bodega owners. You know, pet is an actual cat,
Speaker 1: so now it's it's living no great life. And then
Speaker 1: there's another story about Tiger, the bodega cat. He's a
Speaker 1: Scottish fold bodega cat, which is not a very common
Speaker 1: breed for for bodega cats. Uh. The owner there at
Speaker 1: Metropolitan Organic on Metropolitan av And Williamsburg, he does take
Speaker 1: Tiger home most most times, and he's actually like a
Speaker 1: shining example of what a bodega owner really should be doing.
Speaker 1: Sure he has vet paperwork. He told me he got
Speaker 1: really emotional and upset when the cat got sick. He
Speaker 1: took it to the vet, and you know, he really
Speaker 1: treats that cat like an actual member of his family
Speaker 1: across between like cat living in the store and him
Speaker 1: bringing it home. So that's a great example of like, yeah,
Speaker 1: not all cats are mistreated, not all bodega cats are mistreated, right, right,
Speaker 1: but the ones that could use better treatment, that's what
Speaker 1: the petition.
Speaker 3: That's what the petition.
Speaker 2: And it's funny because a friend of mine and rescue
Speaker 2: had even mentioned that to me about when I because
Speaker 2: I guess I reposted the article and said that she
Speaker 2: just remembered cat Rescue that sometimes some of the boat
Speaker 2: and this is years ago, but a bodega owner who
Speaker 2: kind of starved the cat so that it's prey to
Speaker 2: go after mice and rats would be bigger.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, that's awful.
Speaker 2: But even though then I was thinking about it, and
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like, well, their prey is probably
Speaker 2: always there, whether you you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 2: a cat. It's like a dog with a squirrel, you know.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but yeah, but I think that was more
Speaker 2: of an exception than the rule, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Totally right, Yeah, it's an extreme example exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Know, probably over one hundred, one hundred and fifty bothas
Speaker 1: and in the course of having the Instagram account, I
Speaker 1: have found that, like, most of the cats that I
Speaker 1: visited are actually pretty well treated. Sure, the owners will
Speaker 1: even show me where they sleep and they make a
Speaker 1: little bed. A cat named Zoro in the in the
Speaker 1: I think he's in the East Village. I think he's
Speaker 1: on Avenue A, and he got a little home on
Speaker 1: top of the TV because the TV generates and the
Speaker 1: owner built him a little box. Yeah. I love that
Speaker 1: most of the cats I see are actually pretty well treated,
Speaker 1: and those are the ones that we feature on the Instagram.
Speaker 1: But sure, yeah, the starvation thing, yeah, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of people think that, and I think it's it's not
Speaker 1: as common as I think some people think. I think
Speaker 1: it's right.
Speaker 2: It could be one of those right, or one of
Speaker 2: those examples that say it happened, but it was a
Speaker 2: while ago, and it's it's not it's totally like it's
Speaker 2: the exception, Like you said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not why I think.
Speaker 2: Right, right, So for those who are listening and they're
Speaker 2: not in this area, you can also go to Bodega
Speaker 2: Cats of New York dot com and see the whole
Speaker 2: website because it's really pretty cool. You have a great website,
Speaker 2: and of course follow you as well on Instagram. But
Speaker 2: also let's talk about Okay, so for anyone who's listening
Speaker 2: and they do, they have to just be in the
Speaker 2: New York area to sign the petition.
Speaker 3: No, anyone can sign.
Speaker 1: It, correct, Okay, anyone, anyone at all.
Speaker 2: Okay, So if they go to Bodega Cats of New
Speaker 2: York and why New York that way dot com, they
Speaker 2: can see the petition and they can sign it because
Speaker 2: the more signature is the merrier for you, right, absolutely, yes,
Speaker 2: So now do you have a number or you're just
Speaker 2: going to keep You're just going to wait.
Speaker 3: Till it it's larger and larger of the signatures.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's funny. The original goal was five thousand,
Speaker 1: and oh you beat it, even thought often a stretch
Speaker 1: of like five thousand's too crazy, But now we're close
Speaker 1: to almost ten a week or two away, So ten
Speaker 1: thousand is the number. Okay, we'll get you there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you, Maria. I've gotten some attention
Speaker 1: from the Mayor's office. I actually have a call with
Speaker 1: them tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're going to discuss some ideas. I'm going
Speaker 1: to get her some advice from them about like the
Speaker 1: fund that we're about to announce in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I've gotten some great traction so far, but
Speaker 1: ten thousands of the number that we feel really good
Speaker 1: about to like, you know, officially reach out to the
Speaker 1: city council and reach out to the right folks and
Speaker 1: hopefully we get some advice tomorrow.
Speaker 3: That's awesome. Okay.
Speaker 2: So for those who are listening to Mario's MutS and stuff,
Speaker 2: I know you love cats. And also, by the way, Dan,
Speaker 2: I always say this because I you know, I focus
Speaker 2: a lot on dogs, and when there's a subject about cats,
Speaker 2: I try to do it because I've gotten complaints that
Speaker 2: I focus too much on dogs, and I don't do
Speaker 2: it on purpose. It's just whoever reaches out to me
Speaker 2: and has like a rescue or a situation. So you're
Speaker 2: helping my cat cred. So I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to hear.
Speaker 2: So for those who are listening, if you want to
Speaker 2: sign the petition, please do. It's at Bodega catsof ny
Speaker 2: dot com. But now let's talk about the other thing
Speaker 2: you have going on, because that's pretty cool is the
Speaker 2: Cats About Town tours?
Speaker 3: So how did that start? Yeah? Tell us about that?
Speaker 3: How did that all start?
Speaker 1: All right? I will try to avoid long winded versions. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a fun story. So last year, I
Speaker 1: think it was around the beginning of last year News
Speaker 1: twelve News twelve Brooklyn, they reached out to me and
Speaker 1: they wanted to do a story on Bodega Cats, and
Speaker 1: I said absolutely, I'd be happy to come and do
Speaker 1: an interview with you guys. And then it turns out
Speaker 1: to that, you know, the Bodega cat piece was part
Speaker 1: of a bigger story, and the story was about working
Speaker 1: cats in New York City, cast with jobs across New
Speaker 1: York and one of the people that were interviewed for
Speaker 1: this segment, there was about six of us. I think
Speaker 1: one of the people was Peggy Gavon, who later became
Speaker 1: my co founder for Casts About Town. He was in
Speaker 1: the beginning of the segment. I was towards the end
Speaker 1: of the segment, and I didn't I actually didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to see the entire segment after it came out.
Speaker 1: I only really saw my piece. That's just my danity,
Speaker 1: I guess. So I always have this idea of like
Speaker 1: a walking tour for cat lovers, and I did extensive research,
Speaker 1: and I realized, wow, there's never been a walking tour
Speaker 1: for animal lovers, dog lovers, cat lovers in New York City.
Speaker 1: To my acknowledge, has never been one. So I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: there's kind of an opportunity here. So I started training
Speaker 1: myself on cat history across New York City. I started
Speaker 1: planning out my own route. I was going to get
Speaker 1: my license to be a licensed tour guide. And then
Speaker 1: I got exhausted and I said, I've been reading Peggy's
Speaker 1: blog for the last few weeks. Let me reach out
Speaker 1: to her and maybe she has some ideas for me.
Speaker 1: Maybe she's thinking about this herself. So I reached out
Speaker 1: and I said, hey, Peggy, I love your blog. I've
Speaker 1: been reading a lot. I'm trying to do a walking tour.
Speaker 1: I wonder if you have some tips for me. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's some stories, I said, you know, I should highlight
Speaker 1: and then, as luck would have it, she had the
Speaker 1: exact same idea. Wow. She also wanted to do a
Speaker 1: walking tour. And not only that, I mean she's a
Speaker 1: cat historian, the published author on the history of cats
Speaker 1: and dogs in New York City. Might be a good
Speaker 1: guest for you to have on Yes, yeah, dog for
Speaker 1: the dog Crat. So she had the same idea. And
Speaker 1: she's a licensed tour guide. Wow, amazing. She not super
Speaker 1: tech savvy, so she said to me, look, let's work
Speaker 1: together on this. You do the tech stuff, I will
Speaker 1: do the walking tours. I'll do the history. She's a
Speaker 1: great storyteller. So it was just the perfect partnership at
Speaker 1: the perfect time. So I'm more behind the scenes. Peggy's
Speaker 1: leading the tours. Our first year we sold out completely.
Speaker 1: We had about twelve tours. Wow. Last year h August
Speaker 1: to December, we had a three hundred person waiting list
Speaker 1: and we had no rooms. So we hired two guides
Speaker 1: for this season and we're going to be launching in April.
Speaker 1: And essentially what the tour is is it's the history
Speaker 1: of cats in New York City. So eighteen hundreds, nineteen
Speaker 1: hundreds you'll hear a lot of fun stories about cats,
Speaker 1: like Jerry Fox who saved the Borough Hall from burning down.
Speaker 1: You'll hear about Ned of the Bridge, He's the first
Speaker 1: cat to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow, have a lot
Speaker 1: of fun stories. They're told by license to our guys.
Speaker 1: And it's all been curiated by Peggy, who's still still
Speaker 1: doing tours. She's still you love it.
Speaker 2: I love it, and it's you're still like in your
Speaker 2: beginning stages, which is really cool.
Speaker 3: The fact that it's sold out, Yeah, that's great. That's
Speaker 3: really cool. Yeah, No, that's very cool, super fun. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it sounds like it's super fun.
Speaker 2: And I know I definitely want to do the tour
Speaker 2: at some point, and now that you're really doing it
Speaker 2: in April, definitely so. And I thought it was kind
Speaker 2: of cool too because on your website, cats about towntours
Speaker 2: dot Com that you also give private tours and that
Speaker 2: might be a really good idea because I always feel
Speaker 2: like people, especially I don't know what they're called, but
Speaker 2: when people are when oh what is it called? When
Speaker 2: women and when people get married and then they have
Speaker 2: the brides that go out with their friends and they
Speaker 2: go at drinking, well, a bachelorette Thank you. I don't
Speaker 2: know why I just brain farted on that, but like,
Speaker 2: that would be kind of fun to do for the
Speaker 2: cat lover who is also getting married for the bachelorette party, Like,
Speaker 2: come to New York and do the cats about town tours.
Speaker 2: I think that would be kind of fun. And they
Speaker 2: can do a private one. Because I see that you
Speaker 2: said you stop at a cat cafe. I love cat cafes.
Speaker 2: I got to tell you that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's you know, the Brooklyn Heights Tour. It ends
Speaker 1: at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe.
Speaker 3: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: I think it's on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, h huh.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so we do the tour. It's an hour
Speaker 1: and a half. It's about a mile and a half tour,
Speaker 1: and we end at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe. So you're
Speaker 1: hearing about cat history all day long and with you
Speaker 1: playing with cats.
Speaker 3: That is so cool. I love it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So for those who want to either if you're
Speaker 2: here in New York listening in the Tri state area,
Speaker 2: or you want to come to New York City, this
Speaker 2: is a great idea if you're looking for stuff to
Speaker 2: do that's different but fun, cool cats about towntours dot com.
Speaker 2: And if you want to help out the Bodega Cats
Speaker 2: and get you know, get help and and also make
Speaker 2: a donation and help it out, you can also go
Speaker 2: to Bodega Cats of NY dot com. So, Dan Ramada,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you for all that you've been doing
Speaker 2: and that you do and for all your information, because
Speaker 2: it's really fascinating. But it's also very cool, you know,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure there are people listening right now who
Speaker 2: are like, I.
Speaker 3: Had no idea. This stuff is so cool. Absolutely, I
Speaker 3: love it so much.
Speaker 1: For them, Maria, Yeah, really appreciate the platform. Thanks for
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 3: No, thank you,