Check Meow-t: Cat Tours Are Putting the Often Elusive Pets in the Spotlight

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

The cats of Lawrenceville are ready for their close-up.

On Nov. 14, local ailurophiles can go on a walking tour of the neighborhood to say “pspsps” to some of the resident felines.

I am not kitten around.

Starting at 11 a.m., people and their pets are invited to gather at Iron City Boulders, an indoor climbing gym at 143 51st St., where vendors will be set up to raise funds for the nonprofit rescue organization Conquer the Colony the Colony. There’s a suggested donation of $5 to attend.

The crawl begins at noon, with stops at 17 homes and three businesses (Lawrenceville Pet Supply, Ivy’s Ice Cream  and Kinship), each marked with an orange cat emoji. Participating sites will have their fur babies stationed in windows and on front porches.

The idea’s a simple one — gather together to gawk at kitties — but it generates a lot of joy.

Ross Greenberg, communications and membership manager for Lawrenceville Together, the community group organizing the event, says it was inspired by a similar outing held in Brighton Heights.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

More than 400 people, some accompanied by cats on leashes and in carriers, pounced on the Pittsburgh Cat Walk on Aug. 22. They congregated in Legion Memorial Park for mingling, meowing and music before hightailing it through the neighborhood, pausing at 18 homes to experience whiskered whimsy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

You’d think handling such a large crowd would be like, well, herding cats, but co-organizers Carlin Christy and Heather Costello say the day went purrfectly and raised $8,000 for three animal rescue organizations: Frankie’s Friends, The Pittsburgh Paw Project and Save Our Strays.

“It was literally one of the best moments of my life,” Costello says. “Of course, it’s amazing to help animals and the people who help animals — that was at the heart of the endeavor — but it was also about bringing people together in real life.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

Christy and Costello, cat owners who live on the same block in Brighton Heights, wanted to meet more of their neighbors — and their neighbors’ cats. While dogs are always out and about on walks and in their own designated parks, bars and ice cream parlors, the majority of felines are homebodies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

The friends modeled their event after the Wedge Live Cat Tour in Minneapolis, which was founded in 2017. They asked Carnegie Mellon University student Lilianna Gutierre to create original artwork for their social media pages and the fliers they distributed throughout town.

Legion Park was filled with food trucks, vendors, raffles, cat-themed crafts and activities, a “catio” featuring adoptable furballs, books on cat care supplied by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and large, wearable cat puppets made by artist Cheryl Capezzuti.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

There were 35 cats to see along the 2.5-mile route, which was lined with safety officials and volunteers. Each family did something different to showcase their BFFs. Some displayed biographical posters, passed out cat-shaped stickers and cookies and hoisted their tiny companions in the air for all to see. One stop served Meow-garitas to the thirsty lot.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH CAT WALK

Judging by the enthusiastic turnout, it seems the cat tour concept has nine lives. Christy and Costello plan to make the Pittsburgh Cat Walk an annual affair, with a litter of smaller events in between.

“It was like trick-or-treating, but about cats,” Christy says. “It was a really fun, beautiful day celebrating our furry friends.”