There’s something for every kind of animal in this world, and for this whiskered, whacked, and wonderful Wednesday, we are here to tell you about CatConLA, an expo + symposium for everything CAT!
(Image Courtesy: CatConLA Facebook)
The CatCon, in it’s second year running now, takes place in the month of June, in Los Angeles – and this year, it took place at The Reef in Downtown LA. While it is a convention for cats, kittens, kitty-cats, puddycats, and other miscellaneous names of the feline – cats are not allowed inside the venue (for safety and security of course; and because honestly – which cat wants to go out of the house to make friends?)
It is a celebration of the cat, with events, talks, seminars, merchandisers, and an endless list of all things necessary to make your experience at the convention a fun filled, informative, and cultivating one, with people around you that are just as enthusiastic! Here’s what we think was the coolest cat-shit-crazy stuff at CatCon 2015:
1. The Zoomer KittysΒ
(Image Courtesy: CatConLA Facebook)
These bad boys/girls/whatever you feel sense your motions and gestures and act accordingly – using something known as ‘True Vision Technology’, which you can read up about on their webpage!
2. Cat fashionΒ
(All Images Courtesy: Maya Sugarman via SCPR)
Some ladies and gentlemen decided to up their clothing ante at the CatConLA, by well, dressing up to their fullest, and most devout states as ‘Cat People’, there’s a new trend coming, and it’s going to take the world one purr at a time.
3. Lil Bub & PusheenΒ
(Image Courtesy: CatConLA Facebook)
Anyone that knows anything about the cat-world online, knows that Lil Bub is only the cutest thing on this planet! She made a celebrity appearance at CatConLA, with Mike (her human person), and both of them did meet & greets with all their fans that came flocking along to the convention this year! While Lil Bub was raving at the convention/festival, Pusheen fans got the chance to buy Pusheen merch, that basically spanned every retail item any cat lover would want to have to themselves.
4. The adoption centreΒ
(Image Courtesy: The Hindu)
The Best Friends Animal SocietyΒ created an adoption space at CatConLA 2015, in association with Rachel Ray’s Nurtrish (luxury cat food) to make sure that every attendee got their fair share of cuddles, happiness, and grump.
(Image Courtesy: CatConLA Facebook)
5. Caticatures & Caticures
(All Images Courtesy: Maya Sugarman via SCPR)
Before you read this, we would like to make it very clear that we know how to spellΒ these words in the right way – here’s proofΒ caricatures & manicures. For this year’s edition of the CatConLA, artists and nail artists were going all out by creating silhouettes of cats with their human companions, caricatures of cats, and giving people’s nails some intense cat-art that could only point more towards how much they actually worship and love their cats.
6. Home dΓ©cor for cats
(Image Courtesy:Β [1] The CatNip TimesΒ [2] DailyMailΒ [3]Β Sam Stryker via Buzzfeed)
Not only did they restrict their cat-loving merchandise to stuffed toys, pillows, and other lifestyle items – but at CatConLA, there were shops which sold some modern-looking, contemporary-esque furniture for the cats, including scratch posts, futuristic litter boxes, fancy/posh litter, lots of feline art, and a wide range of bedding + play items that will decorate your house, and make your cat a happier, better, and livelier individual. Apart from just dΓ©cor, at CatConLA, merchandisers went the extra mile and sold exercise equipment for the cat in your life too, in case he/she, is just a tad bit lazier than the rest of those active ones out there!
7. Seminars & moreΒ
Apart from all the hustle in the shopping arenas and the meet & greet sections, CatConLA was host to some of the cat-world’s most famous personalities who gave seminars and talks on issues that both interested, and furthered any interest at all. CEO of “I Can Has Cheezburger” Ben Huh spoke to attendees about the rising importance and the takeover of the internet by cats; creators of “Cats of Instagram” were present along with Mike Bridavasky to talk about how they’ve dealt with the fame that came from their cat being an internet rage! Apart from that, the meet and greets allowed every fan to come over and take pictures, speak to them, and even interview them (we mean the cats).
8. Cat marijuana
(Image Courtesy: Racked)
Yes, you read that right. At CatConLA 2015, since of course it was in California, the most ‘raving’ retail item was the marijuana for the cats. It was marketed as ‘purrvana‘, and hopefully, will make your cat, a higher being of sentience.
In addition to having, what any normal convention would; CatCon LA was a “celebration of groundbreaking products and ideas in art/design, pop culture, and attitude…for cat people.” The weekend of the 6th of June saw numerous cat lovers, and enthusiasts flock together to engage with like-minded people and enjoy their cat-free-but-not-really weekend.
The CatConLA lived up to everything it wanted to be, and even more – meet and greets with Lil Bub, talks about how cats are taking over the internet and much much more! With the world getting a little crazier everyday, we just hope that there’s going to be place left for us!
There’s our teaspoon of whack for your Wednesday’s tea – come back next week for more!