CatCon 2022: It's paw-some to be back

This past Sunday, October 2nd, my husband Ryan (yes we got meow-ied) whiskered me away to Paw-sadena for CatCon 2022. It was the purrfect comeback after two years of Covid cancellations.

Well, I guess there was ‘CatCon From Your Couch’—Catcon’s stay-at-home stand-in. But, c’mon, you’ve got to be kitten me! That’s every night at our place with Fritter the Snowshoe, Beignet the Seal Point and us in our paw-jamas on the couch. We were getting a bit cat-ankerous.

It’s always CatCon at our house with Beignet & Fritter the Snowshoe. Photo: Carnage.

Paw-don me? Are you following our cat @FritterTheSnowshoe ?

Now that lockdowns are hiss-tory (what a cat-astrophe), it was time to prowl. When Ryan suggested we go, I was immediately, like, “Meow you’re talking!”

I love hanging out where every superstar has a claw-sic Medieval-sounding name, like, “Leo the Adventure Cat” or “Bowie the Siberian” or “Merlin the Ragdoll” (1.4 million TikTok followers—purrty cool!).

Then there’s the hoomans. Dressed as cats. Looking fur-reaky. I gave up smoking the Meowie Wowie a long time ago—nowadays I find that being in the right mental catitude is all I need to be feline psychedelic on the convention floor.

Are dog conventions this fun? Is there even such things as a dog convention? The thought freaks meow-t. Litterly. All that barking and peeing… clawful. Such a faux paw.

Cat caretakers are a breed apart, you see.

When you’ve devoted your life to being a butler for an apex predator that sleeps 20.5 hours purr day, you begin to appreciate that life is pretty hiss-terical. Fur-real.

If there’s one thing I learned at CatCon it’s that pandemics happen, but you can’t keep your tail between your legs. You gotta stay pawsitive. You have to live. And furgive.

In short: Don’t worry—be tabby.

Ryan Cameron, Adventure Cat Leo & his hooman, Jo. All photos: Sean Carnage.

Ryan and I love Leo! He’s no scaredy cat. He goes everywhere, like a dog. The carrier is just for the show.

Merlin, Ryan & me. Photo: Carnage.

Now that Grumpy Cat has left the building (RIP), Merlin has taken her place as the scowliest cat on the web. He even has ‘resting scowl face.’ I can relate. We love Merlin!

Where’s the fire? The Aussies know good pussy. Photo: Carnage.

Meow-za! It’s the Australian Firefighter Calendar firefighters. I thought it was cool these rough ‘n tumble studs wanted some cuddle time with Merlin.

There’s a starcat waiting in the sky. He’d like to come and meet us… Er, actually, he’s ambivalent about that. Typical. Photo: Carnage.

It’s Bowie! We had just seen Moonage Daydream the night before so I was, like, David, are you in there? If so he’s no longer the ‘Thin White Duke.’ More like ‘Fluffy Cat Puke.’ Okay okay… I’ll let myself out the catdoor.

Homocats’ artist, J Morrison. Photo: Carnage.

Homocats!? Now we’re talking! I instantly fell in love with Brooklyn artist J Morrison’s aesthetic.

Homocats designs. Photo: Carnage.

Homocats kind of reminded me of our old pal Danimal, but for cat fans. Like me. Purrfect!

Photo: Carnage.

Homocats: making the pawsonal pawlitical.

Did I go too far there?

Photo: Carnage.

Trippy stuff like this is happening all-around at CatCon. I think we made a new fur-riend

Ryan makes a new friend. Photo: Carnage.

Isn’t my hubby the cutest?

Photo: Carnage.

There was a veritable meowtain of merch of all kinds.

Photo: Carnage.

I don’t know what real-world connection exits between Nicolas Cage and cats. But on the Internet, they are equally meme-able. So, a Nic Cage / cat art show? Clawsome!

Photo: Carnage.

Look at this haul! This is everything that was handed to us in just 90 minutes at Catcon. Score!

Photo: Carnage.

Beignet knew these presents were for him. Fritter couldn’t be bothered.

Photo: Carnage.

I’d be remiss if we didn’t mention seeing Amber from EatDrinkCat—we love here so much! Here’s a post she made at CatCon. Amber took time out to talk to us like hoomans. Very furreindly! We originally met her at ace photographer Danielle Spires’ CatPartyPetPortraits studio in DTLA one day before pandemic lockdown started in March 2020 and the world took a giant catnap!