Elderly community cat given new shop front down the street

Lao Mao is a 16-year-old community cat (a cat living outside, in the community, often a business community). For many years she lived in front of a pawn shop in a cardboard box and she was happy. She was well cared for. I love to see community cat cared for like this. You could say she is a bodega cat of sorts although bodega cats normally inhabit delicatessens in New York as far as I remember.

The owners of the pawnshop were retiring and going back to Thailand and so the shop was going to be shut down. There were plans to renovate the shop and there was no place for an elderly community cat in front of a brand spanking new outlet so husband-and-wife caregiving team, James and Nicole, found a new home for her.

They initially tried to bring her into their home to join their five cats but she didn’t like it so they walked up and down the street where she lived to find another shop where she could set up home. It took a few weeks and then they found success. I’d love to know who the new shopkeeper is because he deserves a big pat on the back.

The video shows Lao Mao being settled into her new position on the parade (line) of shops. Lao Mao appears to have known what was happening. She did go back to visit her old caretakers at the pawnshop but seems to have understood that it was time to move on, so she found her way back to her new spot and settled down.

And you know what? Shoppers love this sort of thing. They say hi and they like to see a community cat at shopping malls and retail parks. I think it promotes business. I’ve never yet once read a story about a community cat who is detrimental to business. It is always the opposite.

We can thank James and Nicole for being Lao Mao’s caregiver and resettling her in a new position on the shopfront.

The story is not “cat news” as was reported in 2016, October 24. It is on Facebook on the Cat Welfare Society webpage.