<h3>A health inspector walks into a bodega in the Bronx. There is a cat on the counter. The inspector can do exactly one thing: write a fine for $200 to $350.</h3><p>He cannot ask if the cat has been vaccinated. He cannot require that it be spayed or neutered. He cannot check whether it has food, water, or a clean place to sleep. His job is food safety, not animal welfare. Those are different agencies, different mandates, and neither one has a framework for ensuring these cats are properly cared for. The only rule on the books is that the cat should not be there at all.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Zx0BSsdVeOpw3D_1zvUGOA.png" /></figure><p>That is the system. The sole enforcement mechanism for the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 cats living in New York City bodegas is a fine that punishes the animal’s existence. Not its condition. Not the quality of its care. Just the fact that it is there.</p><p>Legalization is not about letting owners off the hook. It is the only way to put them on one.</p><p>Some bodega owners take excellent care of their cats. I have spent four years visiting stores in every borough, and most of what I have seen looks like that. But not all of it. Some owners do not know how to care for a cat. Some do not prioritize it. Cats get locked in basements. They go without proper food. When they get old or sick, they get ignored. I have heard enough of those stories to know they are not exaggerations.</p><p>The question is what to do about it. Right now, the answer is nothing meaningful. A cat that is not supposed to exist cannot be subject to care requirements. No agency is mandating vet visits for an animal the law says should not be in the building. And while the NYPD handles animal cruelty complaints, that requires someone to call 311, an investigation, and due process. That is a system built for extreme cases. It does not help a cat that just needs a vaccination and a checkup.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*2jVIe49Bo608bE7iRssg7A.png" /></figure><p>Fines do not solve this. A $300 penalty does not get a cat vaccinated. It does not teach an owner what proper nutrition looks like. It does not create a pathway for a rescue organization to intervene when a cat is being neglected. The fine addresses the wrong problem.</p><p>What legalization makes possible is accountability for care. And it makes the answer to the harder question possible too: if an owner will not meet the standards, the cat gets removed. That is what we started the petition for. Not to make it easier for owners to keep cats without consequences. The opposite. To create consequences that are actually tied to the welfare of the animal.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*aO4hLQ-LhGMoab3UOIik-Q.png" /></figure><p>Legalization is not the whole answer. It is the part of the answer that is ready. And it is the part that makes every other answer possible.</p><p>At the state level, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced A08341, which would require the Department of Agriculture and Markets to create official health and safety guidelines for cats in retail food stores. Mandatory vet visits. Spaying or neutering. Proper food and water. Designated rest areas separate from food prep. If an owner does not meet the standards, the cat can be removed through a process that actually has teeth.</p><p>At the city level, Int. 1471 would stop the city from penalizing stores simply for having a cat and establish voluntary vaccination and spay/neuter programs. The city bill is a shield. The state bill is a framework. Together, they would give New York the most comprehensive legal structure for working shop cats in the country.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*dssQk6IcXJbOUMQAKm-XSA.jpeg" /></figure><p>Animal welfare advocates have pushed back on parts of this. Some argue that fines give rescue organizations leverage to gain access to stores. Others argue that public funding should go to low-income families seeking spay and neuter services, not to business owners. Both are fair points.</p><p>But leverage built on a threat only works if the owner engages. And the broader investment in spay/neuter access is completely compatible with legalization. The two are not in competition. One does not cancel the other.</p><p>There is also a harder reality underneath this conversation. Affordable veterinary care in New York City is already stretched past capacity. The ASPCA’s own mobile spay/neuter clinics operate on waitlists only, with capacity they describe as “extremely limited due to ongoing staffing shortages and high demand.” Low-cost options require income qualification. Animal Care Centers of NYC has stopped picking up stray cats due to funding cuts. Cat rescues alone cannot cover the gap. The infrastructure everyone agrees is needed does not exist yet, and building it will take years and serious public investment.</p><p>So the question becomes: do we wait until every piece is in place before we fix the one piece we can fix now? That logic sounds responsible. In practice, it means nothing changes. The cats that need better care today do not benefit from a comprehensive plan that might arrive in five years.</p><p>You cannot set standards for animals the law pretends are not there. You cannot hold owners accountable for care when the only rule is that the cat should not exist. You cannot enforce welfare requirements through a system that only knows how to write a fine for the animal’s presence.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*z4uzEGX9B6ZdxO9N95-jcg.png" /></figure><p>There are thousands of cats in stores across this city. Most of them are doing fine. Some of them are not. The only way to help the ones that need it is to bring all of them into the open.</p><p>That starts with making it legal to acknowledge they are there.</p><p><a href="https://medium.com/p/024a7efe9e39/edit?utm_campaign=bcny_bio&utm_medium=linktree&utm_source=medium">Our book, <em>Bodega Cats of New York,</em> comes out October 2026.</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=024a7efe9e39" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mwo-fb2_SNhX93ENiPUelg.jpeg" /><figcaption><em>Visiting bodega cats with Gulce</em></figcaption></figure><p><em>The woman on the phone from the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare was patient. She listened to the whole pitch. The petition signatures, the media coverage, the idea for a certification program. When I finished, she gave me the answer I had not expected.</em></p><p>“We want to help,” she said. “But legally, there is nothing we can do.”</p><p>The problem was not City Hall. The problem was Albany. Under state law, a cat in a food establishment is a violation. The city cannot officially protect something that state regulations say should not exist. She suggested I find a Council member willing to introduce legislation.</p><p>I hung up that call in March 2025 with a new understanding of how New York actually works.</p><p><strong>The Gray Area</strong></p><p>I had been documenting bodega cats since 2020. Started during COVID, when the city went quiet and the bodegas stayed open. Their cats stayed put, same as always. I grabbed a good Instagram handle and figured I would post a few photos a week. The account grew. Strangers started sending me cats from neighborhoods I had never heard of. I reposted one. Then another. The project stopped being mine and became the city’s.</p><p>By 2025, I had documented hundreds of cats across all five boroughs. I had also learned something uncomfortable: every single one of them was technically illegal.</p><p>NYC Health Code Section 81.25 prohibits animals in food establishments. Fines run $200 to $300. Enforcement is inconsistent. Some inspectors look the way. Others write the citation. Owners have no way of knowing which inspector they will get.</p><p>The math they do is simple. A cat fine costs $200. A rodent citation costs $1,000. The cat stays.</p><p><strong>The Petition</strong></p><p>In January 2025, I started a petition on Change.org asking the city to create a legal category for working cats. Certification, not criminalization. Protection for the owners who care for them.</p><p>I thought if enough people signed, something might shift. The petition hit 5,000 signatures in a few weeks. Then 10,000. People found it without promotion. They signed because bodega cats were already part of their daily routine, and the idea that owners could be fined for keeping them made no sense.</p><p>In April, NPR ran a feature on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Jeff Lunden came to Brooklyn and walked through bodegas with me. At the end of the piece, he disclosed that he had signed the petition himself.</p><p>The coverage kept expanding. The New York Times. The Guardian. Japanese national television. People I had never met started recognizing me at craft markets and asking about the cats.</p><p>The petition crossed 13,000 signatures.</p><p><strong>The Coalition</strong></p><p>That same spring, we formed the Bodega Cat Collective with the largest bodega cat accounts on Instagram: @bodegacatsofinstagram, @shopcatsshow, @bodegacatspirits. Together, we launched a fundraiser for rescue organizations doing the work on the ground. It raised over $7,400 for Bronx Tails Cat Rescue, Catstoria Rescue, Sassee Cats, and Bronx Community Cats.</p><p>Money matters, but coordination mattered more. The accounts started amplifying each other. The message got cleaner: these cats deserve recognition.</p><p><strong>The Bill</strong></p><p>In June, Councilmember Keith Powers reached out. He had seen the coverage. He wanted to help.</p><p>Over the next several months, I worked with his office on the language. What the bill could realistically do. What it could not.</p><p>On November 12, 2025, Powers filed Intro 1471, the first bill in New York City history aimed at protecting working cats in retail food establishments. It had five co-sponsors on day one: Francisco P. Moya, Sandy Nurse, Chi A. Ossé, Frank Morano, and David M. Carr.</p><p>The bill does three things. It stops the city from using its administrative code to prohibit cats in retail food stores. It creates a free vaccination program through the Office of Animal Welfare. And it creates a free spay/neuter program through the same office.</p><p>What it does not do: override state law. Full legalization requires Albany to act. This bill clears the local barrier. The state barrier is next.</p><p><strong>What Happens Now</strong></p><p>Powers is term-limited and left the Council at the end of December 2025. Eleven minutes after I asked who would carry the bill forward, Councilmember Frank Morano volunteered to take over as prime sponsor. A Republican from Staten Island, picking up a bill introduced by a Democrat from Manhattan. That matters.</p><p>The bill is currently with the Committee on Health, chaired by Lynn Schulman. It needs a hearing, a committee vote, a floor vote, and the mayor’s signature.</p><p>Meanwhile, a state bill, A08341, was introduced by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and re-referred to the Agriculture Committee in January 2026. For the first time, there is legislation pending at both the city and state levels.</p><p><strong>What I Learned</strong></p><p>Documentation is not protection. Press coverage is not policy. The only way to change how a system works is to change the rules that govern it.</p><p>I spent four years building an archive. That archive gave me credibility. The credibility gave me access. The access gave me a seat at the table.</p><p>The cats are still technically illegal. The bill has not passed. But the path forward now exists because enough people decided to make it exist.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a><em> </em>comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=c65cd48a1d9d" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>Manny was outside when we got there. Not near the door. At the door. Watching the sidewalk like he was deciding whether to let us in.</p><p>Big cat. Two-tone nose. Clean coat. The kind of presence you notice before you notice the store. He’s been working this East Side market on York Street for three years. People stop in just to say hi. The owner says he has a following.</p><p>We asked about health inspectors.</p><p>“He knows what they look like.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*d4Uyi62FpXUpyOW8__mEnQ.jpeg" /></figure><p>The owner didn’t elaborate much. Manny has areas he patrols and areas he avoids. He never goes near the food. When inspectors show up, he’s gone. The owner has never gotten a ticket.</p><p>“If they saw him?”</p><p>“They would warn. Oh yeah, yeah.”</p><p>NYC Health Code 81.25 prohibits live animals in food service establishments. No exceptions. But inspectors see bodega cats constantly, and most of them make a choice. A store with a cat is usually a store without mice. Mice are the bigger problem.</p><p>Manny doesn’t know any of this. He doesn’t know about the city bill sitting in committee or the owners who got warnings after a newspaper listed their addresses. He knows his territory. He knows when to be seen and when to disappear.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*bXY6ycmax0GzoVngk_la2A.jpeg" /></figure><p>The first thing we noticed was how healthy he looked. That two-tone nose, the weight on him, the way he held the door like it belonged to him. Someone was taking care of this cat.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*brbfjvnhFIZXJACNdExvlg.jpeg" /></figure><p>Sometimes it’s hard to find the right store. You walk a neighborhood for an hour, ask around, come up empty. Not this time. Manny was already outside, doing his job. All we had to do was show up.</p><p>Our book, <a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a><em> comes out October 2026.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=26542f9739ec" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p><em>In a Financial District bodega, the interior design was dictated by the resident mouser.</em></p><p>When the owner of this Financial District shop was preparing to reopen, a contractor asked what color the new floor should be. The owner did not consult a swatch book or a design firm. Instead, he pointed to his cat, Layla.</p><p>“Make it look like Layla,” he said.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*5TKcrsKKyYhVAC1CQpBamg.png" /></figure><p>The result is a soft beige floor that perfectly matches Layla’s cream-colored coat. It was a decision rooted in more than just aesthetics. For the owner, the floor was a form of recognition for the cat who made the business viable again.</p><p>Before he took over the space, the shop had been closed for four years. In that time, the basement had been overtaken by mice. The owner brought Layla in to address the infestation. Within three days, the problem was solved. He has not seen a mouse in the shop since. He credits her presence with keeping them away, noting that once they smell a cat, they do not return.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mbmaqfZwW0TdtllRLC71Zw.png" /></figure><p>Layla has since transitioned from an active hunter to a neighborhood fixture. She spends much of her time perched in a cat tree by the front window, where she watches the sidewalk with pale, translucent eyes. Her presence draws significant foot traffic; the owner observes that she pulls in more people than the inventory of chips and drinks.</p><p>Local residents and commuters have embraced her as a part of their daily routine. Some stop by specifically to see her, often bringing toys or treats. There is now a dedicated shelf in the shop filled with items customers have purchased for her. While she is most active and social during the morning hours — interacting with construction crews and students — she remains a point of continuity for the neighborhood throughout the day.</p><p>The owner, who is from Yemen, chose the name Layla because it is common in his home country, derived from the Arabic word for “night.” He named her well before he realized she would clear out years of mice in a single weekend.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*-jwzwm-ZhgtttEnFqv32-A.png" /></figure><p>Today, the most frequent question from customers remains the same: “Did you pick the cat to match the floor or the floor to match the cat?”</p><p>The owner always provides the same answer: Layla came first.</p><p>For more stories like this, check out our upcoming book: <a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d6e1228d054d" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<h3>The path to legalizing New York’s shop cats didn’t start with a bill. It started with a petition, a “No,” and a lesson in how New York really works.</h3><h3>The Petition</h3><p>I had been documenting bodega cats since 2023. By early 2025, Bodega Cats of New York had tens of thousands of followers, press coverage from NPR to Japanese national television, and a growing archive of the cats that live and work in corner stores across all five boroughs.</p><p>But documentation is not protection. The cats were still technically illegal. Owners were still getting fined. Nothing structural was changing.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Ll43V1qLPV0CXpt-JmOCCA.png" /></figure><p>In January 2025, I started a petition on Change.org. The ask was simple: create a certification program that would give bodega cats legal recognition and protect store owners from fines. I thought if enough people signed, the city would have to pay attention.</p><p>It now has over 13,500 signatures. It keeps climbing without any active promotion. People find it because they care.</p><h3>The Meeting That Changed Everything</h3><p>Last March, I sat down with the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare. I went in with ideas: a certification program, a fund managed by a nonprofit, maybe an official Bodega Cat Day. I wanted to know what the city could do.</p><p>They were generous with their time and honest about the constraints.</p><p>The short version: the city’s hands are legally tied.</p><p>Under current regulations, a cat in a food establishment is a health code violation. The city cannot officially protect, endorse, or celebrate something that state law says shouldn’t exist. The barrier wasn’t City Hall. It was the State Department of Agriculture and Markets, which licenses bodegas statewide.</p><p>I left that meeting with a new understanding. Awareness wasn’t enough. A fund wasn’t enough. The only way to actually protect these cats was to change the law. City level and state level.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*KJ_sloRZUPTHr286C11nAA.png" /></figure><h3>The Rat Math</h3><p>Bodega owners aren’t villains. They’re doing math.</p><p>Any shopkeeper in New York knows the score. The fine for having a cat is roughly $200. The fine for evidence of rats is around $1,000. For decades, small business owners have treated that $200 ticket as a pest control tax. It’s an open secret: owners pay the fine because the cat works.</p><p>The system is broken. The city can’t help because of state law. Owners are stuck paying fines to solve a rat problem the city can’t fix. Inspectors often look the other way because they know the cats are doing a job. But “everyone looks the other way” is not policy. It can change with one aggressive inspector, one bad news cycle, one political shift.</p><p>Legal recognition is the only durable solution.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*rY5wtYjd2hnA9JMSjOZ_rw.png" /></figure><h3>The Fund</h3><p>The rescue community had told me what they actually needed: money. Not a certification program. Not awareness. Cash for vet bills, spay/neuter, emergency care.</p><p>The Mayor’s Office had explained why the city couldn’t run something like that. You can’t officially fund care for animals that aren’t supposed to exist under current law.</p><p>So we did it ourselves.</p><p>In April 2025, we launched the Bodega Cat Fundraiser as a coalition: Bodega Cats of New York, Bodega Cats of Instagram, the Shop Cats Show, and Bodega Cat Spirits. Combined reach of 1.7 million followers. Corporate sponsors signed on: Smalls, Arm & Hammer Cat Litter, Bodega Cat Whiskey, Padhome Pet Services. We built a landing page, ran a coordinated campaign across all four accounts, and asked people to give.</p><p>We raised $7,442 and distributed 100% of it to four rescue organizations doing the actual work: Bronx Tails Cat Rescue, Catstoria Rescue, Sassee Cats, and Bronx Community Cats.</p><p>It wasn’t a structural fix. It was a stopgap. But it proved the community would show up, and it got real money to the people caring for these cats while we waited for the law to catch up.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*lfI-B7RX6KlZTeP9bUQx9Q.png" /></figure><h3>From Moonshot to Movement</h3><p>We pivoted. We stopped just asking for protection, which is legally impossible under current codes, and started advocating for standards.</p><p>If we could get the state to recognize these cats as working animals rather than violations, we could override the health codes that tied the city’s hands.</p><p>Council Member Keith Powers reached out to me on Instagram. I worked with him and his team to refine the idea, and he took it from there.</p><p>Then, right as the bill was gaining traction, our 55,000-follower Instagram account went down. No warning. No recourse. The platform we’d built the entire movement on vanished overnight.</p><p>The petition kept climbing anyway. The bills kept moving. It turned out the idea had already traveled far enough that it didn’t need the account anymore.</p><p>Powers introduced Int. 1471, tackling the enforcement side. The bill stops the city from penalizing stores for having cats and creates voluntary vaccination and spay/neuter programs. It now has six sponsors and bipartisan support. It’s sitting with the Committee on Health, waiting for a hearing.</p><p>At the state level, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced A08341 in May 2025. I found out about it from a friend. Rosenthal’s office didn’t reach out. I didn’t lobby Albany. The bill just appeared.</p><p>That was the moment I realized the conversation had expanded beyond anything I could coordinate. The petition had done what petitions are supposed to do: it made the issue visible enough that people with actual legislative power decided to act.</p><p>Rosenthal has a long record on animal welfare. She championed the ban on cat declawing and the law against selling dogs and cats from puppy mills. If anyone in Albany was going to introduce a bodega cat bill, it was going to be her.</p><p>Her bill requires the State Department of Agriculture and Markets to create official health and safety guidelines for cats in retail food stores. Statewide. Every county. The proposed standards include regular vet check-ups, mandatory spaying or neutering, proper nutrition, and designated “cat zones” separate from food prep and storage.</p><p>On January 7, 2026, the bill was re-referred to the Assembly Agriculture Committee for the new legislative session.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mlNOh2rous9WCDRsj69I9Q.png" /></figure><h3>Two Bills, One Goal</h3><p>The city bill is a shield. It stops punishment.</p><p>The state bill is authorization. It changes the rule.</p><p>Protection without standards leaves quality of care up to individual owners. Standards without protection still expose owners to fines. The two bills are complementary. If both pass, New York would have the most comprehensive legal framework for working shop cats in the country.</p><h3>What I Learned</h3><p>A petition is a starting point, not an endpoint. Signatures show demand. They don’t change law.</p><p>Talk to the people who will tell you why your idea won’t work. The Mayor’s Office told me what the city couldn’t do. That conversation made the strategy sharper.</p><p>The system is layered. City and state. Health codes and licensing. Enforcement and legislation. You have to understand where the blockers actually are before you can move them.</p><p>Gray areas are not protection. Legal recognition is.</p><p>You don’t have to control everything. You have to start something worth picking up. I didn’t know about the state bill until a friend told me. That’s not a failure. That’s proof the idea traveled.</p><p>Don’t build on rented land. We lost our 55,000-follower Instagram account at a critical moment. The movement survived because it had already spread beyond one platform. But it was a lesson: if your entire operation depends on a platform you don’t control, you’re one algorithmic decision away from losing everything.</p><h3>What We Need Now</h3><p>The state bill is the key. It creates the care standards that make these cats legal workers rather than violations.</p><p>But to pass a state law, we need a partner in the Senate. We have Assembly Member Rosenthal. We do not yet have a Senate sponsor.</p><p>If you live in New York, now is the time to call your State Senator. Tell them there’s a bill in the Assembly that solves the bodega cat problem once and for all, and it needs a champion in the Senate.</p><p>You can track both bills yourself:</p><ul><li>City: Int. <a href="https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7732285&GUID=F2420981-8792-4A2A-88F3-26E1F754B23C">1471–2025</a></li><li>State: <a href="https://legiscan.com/NY/bill/A08341/2025">A08341</a></li></ul><p>Thirteen months ago, there was a petition. Now there are two bills. We proved a moonshot could move City Hall. Now let’s see if we can move Albany.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York, the book, comes out October 2026.</em></a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=8d45e6aea2f3" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p><em>A Hell’s Kitchen anchor so consistent she has her own history on Google Street View.</em></p><p>Pancha works the flower stand. The bodega is Clinton Fruit Market, on the corner of 47th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. The flower stand out front is Pascal’s Flowers. It spills onto the sidewalk with buckets of roses and lilies. Pancha sits right there among them. Same spot. Every day.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*LFAcTmDyxBg0mYL2qGn3wA.png" /><figcaption>Photo from the book: Bodega Cats of New York</figcaption></figure><p>She came with the shop. She was already there when the current owner arrived.</p><p>She is 16 now. A calico. Spayed.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*IW46h-M6D0pIyMnoDUXIJA.png" /><figcaption>Photo from the book: Bodega Cats of New York</figcaption></figure><p>While most bodega cats stay inside behind the counter or near the registers, Pancha spends her time out front. The avenue never gets quiet. Cabs. Trucks. Tourists walking toward Times Square. She does not move.</p><p>She is so consistent that <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7616904,-73.9904861,3a,74.2y,242.08h,60.83t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sKIjwKAGHhYzZCXGDA2lQYw!2e0!5s20240901T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D29.171588066934483%26panoid%3DKIjwKAGHhYzZCXGDA2lQYw%26yaw%3D242.07912716193175!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDExMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">Google Street View has caught her multiple times</a>. In one capture, a stranger stopped in the middle of the sidewalk just to pet her. Google’s car photographed the whole thing. Our followers told us she shows up on Street View four different times (we could only find two, can you spot the others?).</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*cZz4BHY8JlIzqILaRw6wcA.png" /></figure><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*wXitEAyXNt8u7zCDLoGT6w.png" /><figcaption>Google Street View</figcaption></figure><p>The West 47th Street Block Association nominated her for Best Bodega Cat in the city. She did not win. But her neighbors know what she is.</p><p>When she is not in her usual spot, they text each other. They check. They ask if anyone has seen her.</p><p>That is what happens when a cat stays in one place long enough. She stops being a cat and starts being a landmark. Something the block orients itself around. Something people expect to see when they walk by.</p><p>Pancha is still there. Same corner. Same flowers. Same spot she has claimed for years.</p><p><em>For more stories like this, visit </em><a href="http://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book</em></a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=04c08c37eda0" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>Omish was our first shoot.</p><p>We did not know if this project was going to work. We had an idea, a camera, and a list of locations people had sent us. But we had never actually done it. We had never walked into a bodega, asked permission, and tried to photograph a cat who had no obligation to cooperate.</p><p>Omish changed that.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/640/1*KISqq_UgchjriyzuqxbB8Q.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, from the book “Bodega Cats of New York”</figcaption></figure><p>He is an orange tabby in Park Slope. He has grown into the role over four years. When we arrived, he was on the counter, watching us the way bodega cats watch everyone: calm, skeptical, waiting to see what we wanted.</p><p>The neighborhood guys were already there. Regulars. They stood around watching us work, waiting to see if the cat would actually pose.</p><p>He did.</p><p>Omish sat on the counter, completely unbothered by the chaos. Gulce moved around him, adjusting angles, getting close, pulling back. He did not flinch. He did not leave. He sat there like he understood exactly what was happening and had decided to allow it.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*4cGFdo9tauOcItUgo36zyA.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, from the book “Bodega Cats of New York”</figcaption></figure><p>That was the moment I knew this project was going to work.</p><p>Not because Omish was special, though he is. Because he proved something. Bodega cats are not performing for anyone. They are not trained. They do not care about cameras or books or Instagram accounts. But if you approach them right, if you move slow and keep your energy calm, they will let you document them.</p><p>Omish let us.</p><p>The regulars watched the whole thing. A few of them commented. A few laughed. One guy asked what we were doing and nodded when we explained. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s Omish.”</p><p>That is how it works in these stores. The cat is known. The cat has a name. The cat is part of the texture of the place, and the people who come in every day treat him like furniture that happens to breathe.</p><p>We got the shots. We thanked the owner. We left.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*y29_dfOcJhO80fYd9Y4XRA.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, from the book “Bodega Cats of New York”</figcaption></figure><p>Walking out, I remember thinking: this is going to take years. Every store is different. Every owner has a different level of trust. Every cat has a different tolerance for strangers with cameras. Some will cooperate. Some will hide. Some will swat. But Omish cooperated, and that meant at least some of them would.</p><p>Four years later, we have photographed over 150 bodega cats across all five boroughs. We have been turned away, chased out, and politely declined more times than I can count. But we have also been welcomed, offered tea, shown baby pictures of cats, and told stories that would never fit in a caption.</p><p>It started with Omish.</p><p>He is still there. Still on that counter. Still unbothered. The neighborhood still knows him. The regulars still greet him. He has not changed. The only thing that changed is us. We walked in unsure if this would work. We walked out knowing it would.</p><p>Every project has a first moment. The moment where the idea stops being theoretical and starts being real. For us, that moment was an orange tabby in Park Slope who sat still long enough for Gulce to get the shot.</p><p>Omish did not know he was launching anything. He was just being a bodega cat. That turned out to be enough.</p><p><em>All photography by Gulce Kilkis</em></p><p><strong><em>I’m putting together a book on these cats. Sixty stores, all five boroughs. Updates at </em></strong><a href="http://www.bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><strong><em>www.bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book</em></strong></a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=046190ac5b30" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*fa_btMU4CUvWIFO-B61h0Q.jpeg" /><figcaption>NYS Assemble 2025</figcaption></figure><p>A state bill for bodega cats landed in the New York State Assembly Agriculture Committee this week. Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced A08341 last May. On January 7, it was re-referred to the committee for the new legislative session.</p><p>This is not Int. 1471. That bill is pending before the New York City Council, aimed at stopping city agencies from penalizing stores that keep cats. The Albany bill does something different. It would require the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to create official health and safety guidelines for cats living in retail food stores. Statewide. Every county.</p><p>The bill’s language is specific. It calls for “responsible care standards” that include regular veterinary check-ups and vaccinations, mandatory spaying or neutering, guidelines for proper nutrition, and requirements for what it terms “cat zones,” designated areas within a store, separate from food prep and storage, where a cat can rest and retreat.</p><p>This is the first time Albany has proposed anything like this.</p><p>Here is why that matters. Int. 1471, the city bill, explicitly does not override state regulations. The text says so. City-level action can stop local enforcement, but it cannot change the broader legal framework that governs food establishments in New York. Full legalization requires Albany to act. That was always the case. Now Albany is considering whether to act.</p><p>Linda Rosenthal represents the Upper West Side. She has a long record on animal welfare legislation in New York. She championed the ban on cat declawing, the law against selling dogs and cats from puppy mills in pet stores, and multiple bills protecting animals from abuse. If anyone in Albany was going to introduce a bodega cat bill, it was going to be her.</p><p>The bill’s approach differs from the city proposal in important ways. Int. 1471 focuses on protection: stopping fines, creating voluntary vaccination programs, recognizing that the cats serve a purpose. A08341 focuses on standards: what care looks like, what stores must provide, how the state defines humane treatment for a working cat in a food establishment.</p><p>Both approaches matter. Protection without standards leaves quality of care up to individual owners. Standards without protection still expose owners to fines. The two bills are complementary, not competing. If both pass, New York would have the most comprehensive legal framework for working shop cats in the country.</p><p>There is no guarantee either will pass. Int. 1471 is in committee with the New York City Council. A08341 is in committee with the state Assembly. Neither has had a hearing yet. Both face the same political question: is there enough will to move forward on something the city and state have ignored for decades?</p><p>The petition for bodega cat protection has over 13,500 signatures. That number kept climbing through 2025 despite no active promotion. People find it and sign it because they care. Media coverage from NPR to Japanese national television has established that this is not a fringe issue. The cats are part of how New York works. The question is whether New York is ready to say so officially.</p><p>I have been following bodega cat legislation since the petition launched in January 2025. I worked with Councilmember Keith Powers’ office on Int. 1471. This state bill was not something I expected, at least not this soon. It suggests the conversation has expanded beyond the city. It suggests Albany is paying attention.</p><p>What happens next depends on committee hearings, sponsor support, and whether the bills can attract co-sponsors willing to move them forward. Int. 1471 has six sponsors in the city council. A08341 has none listed yet in the Assembly.</p><p>You can track both bills yourself. The city legislation is Int. 1471–2025, filed November 12, 2025. The state bill is A08341, introduced May 13, 2025, re-referred January 7, 2026. Both are public record.</p><p>This is how things start. A petition. A city bill. A state bill. Thousands of signatures. News coverage that reaches Tokyo. None of it happened overnight. None of it is guaranteed to succeed. But the path to legal recognition now runs through both City Hall and Albany. That is new.</p><p><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em> comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=51b391c6eefd" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>There is a specific folklore among New York regulars. Seeing a bodega cat provides good luck. But the headbutt is the blessing. It is the difference between being a spectator and being chosen.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*tEgIjHFNcYGZohmFUy1E9g.jpeg" /></figure><p>The morning transaction at a New York bodega is usually built on speed. You get the coffee, you get the roll, you pay, and you leave. It is efficient and impersonal.</p><p>But in the shops with working cats, the rhythm is different.</p><p>There is a superstition that has taken hold in neighborhoods from Astoria to Crown Heights. It distinguishes between two types of interaction. The first is sight: seeing a bodega cat is generally considered good luck. It signals a well-kept shop and a barrier against pests. It is a passive benefit.</p><p>The second interaction is active, and it is viewed as a blessing. This is the headbutt.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*W_QxaMAL4rt__50TrZ--dg.png" /></figure><p>Biologically, the headbutt — or bunting — is how a cat deposits scent from glands on its cheeks and forehead. It is a territorial claim. In the wild, this marks ownership. In the context of a bodega, it marks acceptance.</p><p>A regular at a shop on Franklin Avenue explained the distinction this way: “Anyone can see the cat. The cat sleeps on the bread rack, everyone sees him. But he doesn’t come down for everyone. When he comes down and hits your leg, that’s different. You’re part of the inventory now.”</p><p>The headbutt cannot be forced. We have seen tourists try to coax cats out from behind ATM machines with no success. The working cat operates on its own schedule. It assesses the room. When it decides to engage, it creates a momentary breach in the customer-clerk dynamic.</p><p>For that second, the customer is no longer just a source of revenue. They are a vetted element of the shop’s ecosystem.</p><p>This folklore persists because it assigns value to a random variable. You cannot buy the blessing. You cannot schedule it. You have to wait for the cat to decide you are worth marking.</p><p><strong>Bodega Cats of New York</strong> documents these working relationships across the five boroughs. <a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">The book publishes in October 2026 through Epic Ink.</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=94444ea5294d" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>A store owner can be fined $300 for keeping a cat. The same store owner can be fined $600 or more for rodent evidence. In severe cases, rat violations escalate to $2,000.</p><p>The city charges more for the problem than for the solution.</p><p>That’s the fine paradox.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*jsU79eTwcPTsEDpMvaop2A.jpeg" /><figcaption><em>From the book “</em><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a><em>”, Photography by Gulce Kilkis</em></figcaption></figure><h3>How the Fines Work</h3><p>Under NYC Health Code, violation code 04O covers “live animals other than fish in shell or tank.” That’s the cat violation. First offense runs $200 to $300.</p><p>Violation codes 04K and 04L cover rodent activity. “Evidence of mice or live mice” and “evidence of live rats” carry base fines of $300 to $600. But here’s where it gets worse: repeat violations escalate. Under §7–05 of the NYC Administrative Code, rodent violations can double and triple for chronic offenders. A store that can’t control its rat problem can face fines over $2,000.</p><p>Cat fines don’t escalate the same way.</p><p>So the math looks like this: You can pay $300 once for the cat. Or you can pay $600, then $1,200, then $2,000 for the rats you couldn’t stop without the cat.</p><h3>The Choice Nobody Should Have to Make</h3><p>This puts store owners in an impossible position. Keep the cat, pay the fine, hope the inspector looks the other way next time. Or remove the cat, lose the best rodent control available, and pay more when the rats come back.</p><p>Many choose the cat fine because it’s cheaper than the alternative.</p><p>Since 2019, roughly 500 cat violations have been issued across the five boroughs. That’s 500 store owners who made a rational economic decision: pay less for the solution than for the problem.</p><p>But they shouldn’t have to make that choice.</p><h3>What the City Is Really Saying</h3><p>Read the fine structure and you get a clear message: the city treats rats as twice as serious as cats.</p><p>But cats prevent rats. A single cat can clear a rodent infestation in weeks. Traps and poison take longer. Exterminators cost more. And none of them provide the 24/7 passive deterrence of a cat that lives on the premises.</p><p>This isn’t just bad policy. It’s self-defeating enforcement.</p><p>The irony is especially sharp right now. In 2023, Mayor Adams declared a “war on rats” and hired the city’s first-ever Rat Czar. The administration has spent millions on new trash bins, expanded extermination programs, and public awareness campaigns.</p><p>Meanwhile, the same city fines store owners for deploying the oldest, cheapest, most effective rodent deterrent known to retail: a cat.</p><h3>What Would Fix This</h3><p>Int. 1471, the first bodega cat bill in NYC history, would end the paradox at the city level.</p><p>The bill does three things. First, it prevents the city’s administrative code from being used to prohibit cats in retail food stores. That means no more 04O violations.</p><p>Second, it creates a free vaccination program for cats in retail food stores, run through the Office of Animal Welfare.</p><p>Third, it creates a free spay/neuter program through the same office.</p><p>Int. 1471 doesn’t override state law — the New York State Department of Agriculture still prohibits live animals in retail food establishments. But it removes the local penalty. Store owners would no longer face fines for having a cat.</p><p>The bill is currently with the Committee on Health, chaired by Council Member Lynn Schulman. It needs a hearing. It needs a vote. And it needs to pass.</p><h3>The One-Sentence Version</h3><p>A store owner who keeps a cat to control rats shouldn’t pay more than a store owner who lets the rats win.</p><p>That’s the fine paradox. Int. 1471 fixes it.</p><h3>What You Can Do</h3><p><strong>Sign the petition.</strong> We’re building a public record of support. Every signature matters. <a href="https://bodegacatsofny.com/advocacy">Sign here</a>.</p><p><strong>Contact the Committee on Health.</strong> Council Member Lynn Schulman chairs the committee that will decide whether Int. 1471 gets a hearing. Her office can be reached at <a href="mailto:district32@council.nyc.gov">district32@council.nyc.gov</a>.</p><p><strong>Share this post.</strong> The more people understand the fine paradox, the harder it becomes to defend.</p><p>The policy doesn’t make sense. The bill does. Let’s pass it.</p><p>_</p><p>Our first book will be released October 2026. <a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">Sign up here</a> to receive updates.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=c2a30c84474f" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>Spider-Man has a bodega cat sidekick now. In Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, released in 2020, players can unlock a ginger tabby who rides in Miles’ backpack wearing a tiny mask. The cat attacks enemies during combat. One in five finishing moves triggers what the developers call the “cat finisher,” where Spider-Cat leaps out, swipes at a bad guy, and hops back in.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*a11k26TC7_0eyH2Ogsumhw.jpeg" /></figure><p>The cat belongs to Teo, a Harlem bodega owner. Thieves rob his store and take the cat. Miles rescues him. The reward is a red hoodie costume with a built-in cat compartment. Senior Animator Boola Robello created the attack animation on a whim. Two real cats from Insomniac employees provided the voice work: Kevin meows when Spider-Cat returns to the backpack, Juicy voices the finisher attacks.</p><p>The character proved popular enough to return in Spider-Man 2 and spawn a $300 Hot Toys collectible figure. A different Spider-Cat appears in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a member of the Spider-Society, a white-furred version who shoots webbing from his mouth like hairballs.</p><p>Broad City got there earlier. In Season 3, Episode 4, titled “Rat Pack,” Ilana borrows a bodega cat named Jellicle to hunt a rat in her apartment. The name references the Cats musical. The key line: “Jellicle Cat, I need you to find and kill this ballsack, Rat Bastard.” The cat fails. Ilana responds: “Oh my god, the media, reducing even cats to a stereotype.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*3b2uYw5-Je3NodUEMb9PjQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>Broad City, Comedy Central</figcaption></figure><p>Saturday Night Live gave bodega cats a full musical number in March 2019. John Mulaney hosted. Pete Davidson asks to use the bodega bathroom. Kenan Thompson emerges in a top hat as the Bodega Cat, leading Davidson through parodies of Willy Wonka, Cats, Little Shop of Horrors, and Rent. The sketch was part of Mulaney’s musical trilogy that started with “Diner Lobster.”</p><p>HBO’s animated series Animals dedicated a segment to bodega cats in 2016. AAPRockyandAAP Rocky and A APRockyandAAP Ferg voiced two cats rapping about tuna fish, sleeping in bread aisles, and bagel-eating rats. The Duplass Brothers produced.</p><p>Documentary work started earlier. WNYC launched “Bodega Cats In Their Own Words” in 2014, profiling individual cats through owner-voiced narration. The 2011 mockumentary “Bodega Cats” by Internets Celebrities used National Geographic-style voiceover to follow cats seeking “a cozy box on top of a warm fridge.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*kIzTLGLDJ2r0WzfhNkv4Ew.jpeg" /></figure><p>The latest entry is Shop Cats, a TikTok series launched in September 2024 by Mad Realities TV. A Queens comedian named Michelladonna hosts in bilingual English and Spanish, touring bodegas MTV Cribs style. The first episode hit 6 million views.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*3CIS0qenDSxpxhxyINodeA.jpeg" /></figure><p>Children’s books have followed. Bodega Cat by Louie Chin came out in 2019 from POW!/Random House. Bodega Cats: Picture Purrfect by Hilda Eunice Burgos arrived in 2024 from Henry Holt. Both earned library awards.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*bSufMHgzwNGvhE-BcRih1Q.jpeg" /></figure><p>Video games beyond Spider-Man include Bodega, an upcoming 1990s Brooklyn tycoon simulator on Steam featuring a speaking bodega cat companion, and indie titles like Bodega Cats & Cheese and Bodega Cat Simulator.</p><p>The pattern holds across every medium. Writers, animators, and game developers keep returning to bodega cats because they represent something specific: a working animal in a functional role, doing a job that the city technically does not allow. Every cat in these stories operates in the same gray area as the real ones. That tension makes good material.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">Our first book, Bodega Cats of New York comes out October 2026.</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=8ddf90be96d6" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>The text came in at 4:41 on a Friday: <em>OK so Saturday, I think is going to work for me. I’m just waiting on ONE email to confirm I don’t have an event.</em></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*EoMgbLYB6z8ROtqQhijyvw.jpeg" /></figure><p>This is how you make a book when you have a day job. You wait on one email. You check if Saturday works. You hope the cat shows up.</p><p>Gulce Kilkis is the photographer behind <em>Bodega Cats of New York</em>. She shoots client work during the week. I sell websites for a tech company. We get weekends. Sometimes just Sundays. Sometimes not even that.</p><p>The book needs 53 to 65 cats across all five boroughs. We started shooting in October. Manuscript due in January. A good day, we hit six locations. A great day, eight. But a great day requires the owners to be there, the cats to be awake, and the light to cooperate. Some days we get two.</p><p><strong>What She Sees</strong></p><p>Gulce grew up in Istanbul, where street cats are everywhere. She did not photograph them then. They were just there, like pigeons, like traffic. She started shooting animals in 2023, after she had been away long enough to see them differently.</p><p>At a bodega in Bushwick, we met an owner named Omar who has eight cats. He heard Gulce say three words and guessed she was Turkish. Not just Turkish. He guessed she came to the U.S. at 25. He was right. He said he could place any accent from any of 194 countries. Then he showed us photos of Juicy, his first cat, now 18 years old and retired to his apartment. <em>I never loved anybody more than Juicy in my life</em>, he said.</p><p>That is what Gulce gets that I do not. The owners see her and something opens up.</p><p><strong>The Spreadsheet</strong></p><p>I keep a spreadsheet color-coded by borough. Red means we still need to shoot. Green means done. In early December, there was a lot of red.</p><p>Gulce texted: <em>ok, yeah we can do more days the second half of December to get as many cats in</em></p><p>Then: <em>Yeah we’ll need to do a mad dash lol we’ll get it done we’re in good shape</em></p><p>The Bronx requires a full day. The stores are spread out. You cannot subway-hop the way you can in Brooklyn. We planned to start at 9 AM, drive from Astoria, and work south until we lost the light.</p><p>The morning of, it snowed. I texted asking if she still wanted to go. She did. The roads were bad. The owners were surprised anyone showed up. We got seven cats.</p><p><strong>The Cats Who Hide</strong></p><p>There is a bodega in Lower Manhattan we have tried three times. Every visit, the cat is somewhere else. Behind the freezer. In the basement. The owner shrugs. Another store has eight cats, and we still need the release signed. One of these days keeps sliding because there are only so many days.</p><p>The spreadsheet is almost green.</p><p><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em> arrives October 2026. Join the waitlist at <a href="http://www.bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">www.bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a2d3375e7af6" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>It started with Juicy. A calico who walked into his juice bar years ago and sat on top of a produce box. Omer says she brought him luck. He was able to expand the store. Then expand again. Then open an adoption center three doors down.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*WeET8iQe6BwHoDJuth2TBg.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, From the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’</figcaption></figure><p>Juicy is retired now. Eighteen years old, living upstairs, no longer working the counter. But she changed how Omer sees animals. Before her, he treated them like objects. After her, he saw that they feel pain. That they have emotions. That recognition became a kind of obligation.</p><p>Luna came next. Another rescue who stayed until she couldn’t. When she got sick, Omer paid for her treatment. When she died, he buried her under a cherry tree behind the building.</p><p>“She’s still here,” he said, standing near the tree. Literally.</p><p>Senor arrived during COVID. His previous owner lost a job and planned to surrender him to a shelter. Omer took him instead. Now Senor has his own “summer house” with a warming pad. He follows Omer to the bathroom. He naps on his legs during slow hours. He bites visitors when he wants Omer’s attention back.</p><p>“Whenever they come for the inspection,” Omer told us, “I say, give me the ticket. I’ll pay for it.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*fv7tDeHNWHaVb9WzNUng3Q.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, From the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’</figcaption></figure><p>Kids press their faces to the adoption room windows. Regulars ask about specific cats by name. His mother brings cookies and helps with the feeding schedule. The economics don’t work. He does it anyway.</p><p>“In Turkey, everyone has cats,” he said. “It’s normal. Here people look at me like I’m crazy. But what am I supposed to do?”</p><p>Outside, he pointed to the feeders he leaves for raccoons and squirrels.</p><p>“Why?” I asked.</p><p>He shrugged. “Because they’re hungry.”</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=64bd75aa3801" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>Williamsburg. Siblings, probably. Carlos thinks so but isn’t certain. They came from somewhere else before he started working there.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*zXSf0y9K2FoNrusfiLgDQQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, From the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’</figcaption></figure><p>Papelito got his name first. “Little piece of paper.” When they found him, he was so small that picking him up felt like lifting nothing at all.</p><p>Masha never accepted that kind of handling. Carlos tried to bring her upstairs for photos and warned us: “She doesn’t like too many people.” He’s protective of her boundaries in a way that suggests years of learning them.</p><p>The basement is where they live. One percent lighting, tight space, not somewhere most owners would invite strangers. Carlos took us down anyway. On a busy day. With the counter packed. The coworkers behind the register had no idea Masha was famous on Instagram until we told them. Carlos just shrugged. He already knew.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*KPACxQqY_7CUezr2hiLu7Q.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photography by Gulce Kilkis, From the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’</figcaption></figure><p>“Those cats look very happy,” I said when we came back up.</p><p>He nodded. “People think of them too much as pets. These are working cats.”</p><p>When Carlos goes on vacation, a neighbor named Marietta feeds them.</p><p>The book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’ comes out October 2026. Join the waitlist for book announcements <a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book">here</a>.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=2271e57a5d74" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p><em>Keith Powers filed Int. 1471 on November 12, 2025. By December 31, he will be out of office. Zohran Mamdani takes over as mayor on January 1, 2026. The legislative clock resets the same day.</em></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*qOwibNzZOyH_pu3kndPK8A.jpeg" /></figure><p>This is the situation facing the first bodega cat bill in New York City history.</p><p>Int. 1471 does three things: it stops city agencies from citing stores for having cats, it creates free vaccination and spay/neuter programs through the Office of Animal Welfare, and it requires multilingual outreach so store owners know these services exist. It has bipartisan co-sponsors. It has over 13,000 petition signatures behind it. It costs almost nothing.</p><p>The bill is currently with the Committee on Health. It has not had a hearing. It has not had a vote. When the Council session ends on January 1, any bill that has not passed expires. It has to be reintroduced.</p><p>That is how city legislation works. A new Council session means starting over. New intro number. New committee assignment. New process.</p><p>Frank Morano, a Republican councilmember from Staten Island, has volunteered to take over as lead sponsor in 2026. That matters. Without an active champion, a bill stalls. Morano reached out eleven minutes after we posted that Powers was leaving. He said he would carry it forward.</p><p>The original co-sponsors included Democrats and Republicans. Francisco Moya, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Chi Ossé, Kristy Marmorato, David Carr. Some are returning. Some are not. The coalition will need to be rebuilt.</p><p>Mamdani’s position is unclear. During the campaign, he appeared on Shop Cats, a viral TikTok series about bodega cats. He said he loves them. That was good politics. But saying you love bodega cats on TikTok is not the same as committing to sign a bill that protects them.</p><p>His transition team has not taken a public position on Int. 1471. His stated priorities are rent freezes, free buses, city-run grocery stores, and public safety reform. Bodega cats are not on the list.</p><p>That does not mean he will oppose it. The bill aligns with his support for small businesses. It costs the city almost nothing. It has bipartisan backing. There is no obvious reason for him to veto it. The question is whether anyone will push it to his desk.</p><p>A bill without momentum dies quietly. Someone has to request hearings. Someone has to work with committee chairs. Someone has to keep the issue visible. Powers did that work to get Int. 1471 introduced. With him gone, Morano will have to start over.</p><p>Here is what we know: the petition collected 13,000 signatures. The bill was drafted and filed. The groundwork exists. What bodega cats need now is a councilmember willing to reintroduce the legislation in January, a committee willing to hold hearings, and a mayor willing to sign it.</p><p>Mamdani benefited from the cat vote. Cats4Zohran had 11,000 followers. Shop Cats has millions of views. Thousands of New Yorkers who care about bodega cats helped build the energy that carried him to City Hall.</p><p>He said he loves bodega cats. This is how he proves it.</p><p><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em> comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a8f7b238eafd" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>On November 12, 2025, Councilmember Keith Powers filed Int. 1471, the first bill in New York City history aimed at protecting cats in retail food establishments. It stops city agencies from citing stores for keeping them. It creates free vaccination and spay/neuter programs through the Office of Animal Welfare. It gives bodega cats something they have never had before: collective protection.</p><p>Call it Union 444.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*kPN_1j00uYaPv7VnzqZlyg.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photo from the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’, photo by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>The number came from the internet, mostly. People who pay attention to that sort of thing say 444 means protection. Stability. Someone watching over you. Bodega cats have been doing exactly that for 130 years. They watch the door. They protect the inventory. They show up for the same shift every day without being asked. The number fit. So it stuck.</p><p>For over a century, these cats have worked alone. No formal recognition. No legal standing. No acknowledgment that what they do matters. They show up. They patrol. They keep rats out of stores where traps and poison fail. And in return, they get a warm spot by the register and the constant risk that an inspector will write a citation.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*rghv_RRczSm8oHkp1gqFFg.jpeg" /><figcaption>Zorro, Photo from the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’, photo by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>Under current NYC health code, a cat in a food establishment is a violation. Fines run $200 to $300. Enforcement is inconsistent. Some inspectors look the other way. Others do not. Owners operate in a gray area where the penalty for keeping a cat is clear but the cost of a rat infestation is worse.</p><p>Int. 1471 changes the math. The bill does not override state regulations, so full legalization would require Albany to act. But it is the first time the city has officially acknowledged that bodega cats serve a purpose. That they are workers, not violations.</p><p>The public response has been immediate. The Change.org petition backing the bill has crossed 13,500 signatures. The Bodega Cat Collective fundraiser raised over $7,400 for rescue partners earlier this year. Press coverage has spread from local outlets to NPR, the Associated Press, and national evening news in Japan.</p><p>New Yorkers want this. They have been clear about it.</p><p>The cats, of course, know nothing about any of this. They do not know they are technically illegal. They do not know about health codes or City Council hearings. They know their spot by the radiator. They know the sound of the gate opening at 6 a.m. They know which customers stop to say hello and which ones walk past.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*4nt6vo7nDZO1HwHAM6frbw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Photo from the book ‘Bodega Cats of New York’, photo by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>They have been doing the same job since 1893, when strays wandered into the Brooklyn Navy Yard and solved a rat problem the government could not fix. They have outlasted administrations, recessions, and whole eras of the city. They just never had anyone advocating for them at City Hall.</p><p>Now they do. Five co-sponsors. A bill in committee. And 13,500 people who signed their names to say the cats should stay.</p><p>Union 444 is open for membership. All you have to do is care.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a> is scheduled for release in October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a49a39dfa190" width="1" height="1" alt="">

Documenting the working cats of NYC bodegas. Stories, photography, advocacy. Book coming October 2026 from Quarto Publishing.

<p>Fat Choy has been running from us for a month.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*Ztv6rFVRMEyLCwUh5hyWTg.jpeg" /><figcaption>Fat Choy from the book, Bodega Cats of New York 2026, Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>Every time Gulce and I show up at her Chinatown spot, she vanishes. Into the back. Behind the shelves. Once we waited twenty minutes while the owner’s mom rang up customers and we paced the aisles pretending to browse. Fat Choy never came out. The owner texted her daughter to bring the cat. Still nothing.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*Sck6cq4aSkFFYGfD6xJWNg.jpeg" /><figcaption>From the book, Bodega Cats of New York 2026, Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>Weeks of this. Owners too slammed to talk. Cats who sprint the moment they see a camera.</p><p>The logistics sound simple: walk in, explain the project, take photos, get a signature on a property release so the publisher can use the images. The reality is messier. A property release is a piece of paper that says we have permission to photograph on private property. Most owners have never seen one. When you hand someone a form in their own store, the mood shifts.</p><p>Suliman runs a Bronx bodega with a mixed Himalayan named Tony. Tony likes to climb into the refrigerator when customers open the door and nap there for an hour during summer. Suliman was friendly, showed us Tony, talked about how long he had owned him. Then I handed over the release.</p><p>He read it carefully. Asked a few questions. Signed it.</p><p>Afterward, in the car, I told Gulce I had been nervous. That would have been a loss. Tony sleeping in a fridge is exactly the kind of detail that belongs in the book.</p><p>Owners hesitate for good reason. They could be signing away their bodega to us, for all they know. They run small businesses. They do not have time for surprises. One owner, after a New York Times piece mentioned bodega cats, told me he got a warning from the health department. Somebody read the article and called it in.</p><p>Some days the manager is not there. At one Hell’s Kitchen deli, the worker told me he could not sign anything. He only works Sundays. The managers come on Monday. We left without a release. That cat, Tommy, has two different colored eyes. He would have been a good one.</p><p>Other days, owners light up. Cookie’s owner Mike signed immediately. When I explained the release, he said, “That’s it? No money or nothing?” He thought there would be a catch. There was not. We left him stickers and told him we would mail a copy of the book when it comes out.</p><p>When the book comes out, I will send you a copy. Gratis. I have said that line dozens of times in English and Spanish. It moves people from suspicious to willing. We are not disappearing with their image. We are coming back.</p><p>Coca, a cat in the Bronx, met the mayor. Her owner told us that within thirty seconds of walking in. She is less than a year old. The owner signed the release before we finished explaining it. Por supuesto, todo lo que quieras.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/960/1*sFdBMxnZKGAHS8d0mpq87A.jpeg" /><figcaption>Coca, from the book, Bodega Cats of New York 2026, Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>Pantera’s owner was slammed. Could not talk. But when I asked about the cat, he still had pride in his voice. Pantera, like a panther. That was all he said.</p><p>Fat Choy, still uncaptured. Tiger, who I got one photo of, sprinting away. Cats who hide downstairs or in the back, owners who say maybe later, stores where the timing never lines up.</p><p>Then Suliman showing us Tony in the fridge. Mike asking if that was really it. The owner who said her cat brought her luck. The workers who asked where to put the stickers we left behind.</p><p>Four years of this. Hundreds of visits.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a> comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=f4c3acfe82dc" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*3pZu9_DUN15ZnqqJ" /></figure><p>The Japanese term for bodega cat is 看板ネコ, pronounced <em>kan-ban ne-ko</em>. It translates to “signboard cat” or “mascot cat.” I learned this last week from Diego Velasco, a TV news producer for Fuji TV, after their segment on Int. 1471 aired on national evening news in Japan.</p><p>Diego reached out in November. Fuji TV was planning a segment on the bodega cat legislation pending before the NYC Council. They wanted an on-site interview, footage of a working cat, and an explanation of why this matters to New Yorkers.</p><p>We met in Williamsburg on a Monday evening. I walked Diego and his crew through a few locations, introduced them to some owners I have good rapport with, and answered questions about the legal gray area these cats occupy. They also interviewed Councilmember Keith Powers, who introduced the bill.</p><p>The segment aired December 14 on FNN Prime Online, Fuji TV’s nationally broadcast evening news program. It explains the situation clearly: approximately 14,000 bodegas in New York City, many with cats. Originally kept for rodent control, now cultural fixtures that connect stores to their neighborhoods. Technically illegal under city health code. Fines up to $300. No active enforcement, but owners still face risk.</p><p>Diego included a detail I had not considered. Store owners sometimes avoid taking their cats to the vet because they fear it will draw attention to the violation. That is exactly why Int. 1471 matters. The bill would not just decriminalize bodega cats. It would give them access to free vaccinations and spay/neuter programs through the city. Legal recognition means better care.</p><p>Japan has its own shop cat tradition. Station cats, store cats, shrine cats. There is cultural resonance there that made the story land differently than it might in other countries. The segment treated bodega cats as working animals with a purpose, not as a quirky novelty.</p><p>International coverage like this validates something I have believed since I started documenting bodega cats in 2020: this story is not just local. Eighty-four percent of my Etsy customers are from outside New York City. People in Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles buy bodega cat prints because the idea resonates. A cat in a corner store, doing a job, anchoring a neighborhood. That is not exclusively a New York thing. It is a human thing.</p><p>Diego mentioned he will be tracking the bill as it moves through the legislative process for future segments. Int. 1471 is currently with the Committee on Health, awaiting a public hearing. If it passes, the cats get to stay, the owners get peace of mind, and everyone is happier. That is the goal.</p><p>You can watch the full segment on <a href="https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/809789">Fuji TV’s website</a>. It is in Japanese, but the footage speaks for itself.</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/book"><em>Bodega Cats of New York</em></a> comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=83dea7aca02f" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p><em>How a New Yorker cover captured what we’ve been documenting for years</em></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/659/1*gYlOhfu1nW5a4BeIV0-tCQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>Bodega Cat by R Kikuo Johnson</figcaption></figure><p>In September 2023, a black cat appeared on the cover of The New Yorker. One eye open. Lounging on the counter next to scratch-off tickets and snack displays. A customer’s hands visible at the edge of the frame, coin in hand, working a lottery ticket while the cat watched. The image, painted by R. Kikuo Johnson, was titled “Bodega Cat.”</p><p>It was the first time the magazine had put a bodega cat on the cover.</p><p>Johnson has been illustrating New Yorker covers since 2016. He grew up on Maui, studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and moved to Brooklyn in 2003. That same year, he found his first bodega.</p><p>In an interview with the magazine’s art editor, Françoise Mouly, Johnson described arriving in East Williamsburg when the neighborhood was in the middle of massive changes. His apartment building had been a sweatshop only months before. New construction was going up on every corner. But the bodega on his block stayed the same.</p><p>After a few regular visits, the owner handed him a small notepad and a pencil and asked him to write down anything he wanted stocked in the store. Johnson looked around. He was twenty-two and barely making rent. He grabbed his usual order: a Colt 45 and a Choco Taco, each priced at a dollar.</p><p>“I handed the owner back his notepad and said, ‘You have everything I need.’”</p><p>That story is everything I recognize about this city. The owner who knows his regulars. The store that stocks what the neighborhood actually needs. The trust built through repeated visits and small exchanges. The cat is part of that ecosystem. Not the center of attention, just present. Watching the lottery player scratch away. Waiting for the next person to walk through the door.</p><p><strong>What the painting gets right.<br></strong>Johnson painted a black cat with one eye open. That detail matters. Bodega cats are not asleep. They are resting and alert at the same time. They know when someone walks in. They know when a delivery arrives. They know the difference between a regular and a stranger. The single open eye captures that awareness without making it dramatic.</p><p>The lottery ticket is right too. I have photographed dozens of cats stationed near lottery displays. The scratch-off counter is prime real estate. Warm from the equipment. High visibility. Central to the action. Customers linger there. They have conversations while they play. The cat hears all of it.<br>The snacks crowding the background are exactly what they should be. No artful minimalism. Just the practical chaos of a working store. Takis. Chips. Energy drinks. A bodega is not curated. It is stocked.</p><p>Johnson told Mouly he visits hardware stores and bike-repair shops as much for the cats as for the inventory. That tracks. Once you start noticing, you see them everywhere. Not because you are looking. Because they are there. Always have been.</p><p><strong>A cat person by accident</strong><br>Johnson admitted in the interview that he was not always a cat person. About ten years ago, his partner adopted a cat named Blua when they moved to Cape Cod. He was not excited about it. He tolerated Blua hopping onto his desk while he drew, sitting on his keyboard while he typed. After a year, he started to enjoy having her in his lap. He still did not understand how anyone could become emotionally attached to an animal.</p><p>Then one day, contractors left doors open while doing work on their rental. Johnson came home to find multiple doors ajar. No sign of Blua.</p><p>For an hour, he searched the woods, imagining the worst. Back inside, slumped on the couch, trying to find the words to text his partner, he heard a small sound. Blua peeked out from behind a wardrobe.</p><p>“I was surprised by my own tears,” Johnson said. “I was in love with a cat.”<br>Blua is gone now. Her photo is still the wallpaper on his phone.</p><p>That conversion story is familiar. I hear versions of it from bodega owners all the time. The cat was not their idea. It came with the lease. It was handed over by a previous tenant. It wandered in and would not leave. They did not want it. Then one day, they noticed it was part of the routine. Part of the store. Part of their life.</p><p><strong>Recognition</strong><br>The cover went viral in a way New Yorker covers rarely do. People shared it. Reposted it. Bought prints. The New York Public Library shop turned it into a puzzle that became one of their bestsellers.</p><p>The response confirmed something I already knew. People care about bodega cats. Not as novelty. Not as content. As a real part of New York life that rarely gets formal recognition.</p><p>Johnson has won multiple awards for his New Yorker covers, including gold medals from the Society of Illustrators and an American Society of Magazine Editors Best Cover award. In 2023, he became the first graphic novelist to receive the Whiting Award for fiction. His work appears in the Library of Congress.</p><p>“Bodega Cat” is not his most decorated piece. But it might be his most New York.</p><p>The image does what the best bodega cat documentation does: it shows the animal in context. Not posed. Not cute. Just present. Part of the daily machinery of a city that pretends it does not exist.</p><p>Every cat in Bodega Cats of New York is technically illegal. So is the one on that cover. That is what makes the recognition feel like it matters.</p><p>Our book, “Bodega Cats of New York” comes out October 2026.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=1ed1444728d1" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>I heard about Zorro before I met her. Ruben told us the story while we stood at the counter trying to get a clean shot of the tortie stretched out on a cardboard bed over the radiator.</p><figure><img alt="Zorro, From the book “Bodega Cats of New York”, Photography by Gulce Kilkis" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*rghv_RRczSm8oHkp1gqFFg.jpeg" /></figure><p>“You know about the health inspector?” he said.</p><p>We did not.</p><p>The inspector had come through for a routine check. Looked over the counters, the prep area, the storage. Everything spotless. A-grade clean.</p><p>As the inspector headed toward the door, he walked past Zorro. She reached up from her radiator perch, swatted his arm, and drew blood.</p><p>Ruben paused there, letting the image sit: a health inspector bleeding in front of a cat who legally should not be there.</p><p>“What happened?” I asked.</p><p>“He looked at me. Looked at the cat. Nodded. Walked out.”</p><p>No citation. No warning. No note in the report. Nothing.</p><p>“Nothing?” I said.</p><p>“Nothing,” Ruben repeated. “He was annoyed. You could tell. But he didn’t write anything down.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*idjlNe0_ZebMKdQx9EuiZw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Zorro, From the book “Bodega Cats of New York”, Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>While we worked, Zorro barely moved. She blinked slowly, adjusted her position, glanced at us like we were temporary inconveniences in her space. She stayed where she wanted to be.</p><p>Ruben laughed every time he retold the swat. “The cat doesn’t know the rules,” he said. “The cat just knows the door.”</p><p><em>From the book, “</em><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/"><em>Bodega Cats of New York”</em></a><em>, out October 2026.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=ea2004b34d06" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>We were on our way somewhere else when we saw him, a giant orange tabby planted in the doorway like he was on duty.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*bPZ0ivwexlv0pWF4RCcL_Q.jpeg" /><figcaption>Jimmy, of 2nd ave. Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>He walked straight over, sniffed the camera, brushed my leg, then returned to his spot facing the street. Same tile. Same posture. Like he had a shift to finish.</p><p>The owner was behind the counter filling orders. He watched us watching Jimmy.</p><p>“You want to photograph him? Go ahead.”</p><p>I told him we were working on a book. He nodded like that explained everything.</p><p>“He gets me business every day,” he said.</p><p>“How?”</p><p>“People come for him, then they buy something. He sits right there and people follow him inside.”</p><p>While we were there, it kept happening. Someone slowed down at the doorway and smiled before they even looked at the shelves. Another person crouched to say hello like it was part of their routine.</p><p>The owner leaned in and told me he put a tracker on Jimmy.</p><p>“Not because he gets lost,” he said. “Because he’s too friendly. People fall in love with him.”</p><p>A delivery driver walked in and immediately knelt down in front of Jimmy. Not in a hurry. Not passing through. He pulled out his phone and started showing him photos, like Jimmy was the one who needed the update.</p><p>The owner watched this and laughed.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*s3oOmPKYcQYPgpWMoTjmzQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>Jimmy, of 2nd ave. Photography by Gulce Kilkis</figcaption></figure><p>“The reason I love cats,” he said, “is because when I was young, they taught me everything I know about sales.”</p><p>He said it like he was telling me his origin story.</p><p>“You have to go to them,” he continued. “You earn their trust. If you don’t do it right, they leave and find someone else. Then you start over.”</p><p>He paused.</p><p>“That’s sales.”</p><p>I asked about mice.</p><p>He shrugged. “People say we keep a cat for mice. Sure. But really, I catch the mice. Jimmy’s my advertisement.”</p><p><em>From</em> <strong>Bodega Cats of New York</strong> <em>(out October 2026).</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9be66055d049" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*qG2keT5Y0jh7xzywNu5oIg.jpeg" /><figcaption><a href="https://council.nyc.gov/district-51/">District 51 — Frank Morano — New York City Council</a></figcaption></figure><p>When Keith Powers introduced Int. 1471 last year, it was the first time any city in America had proposed legislation recognizing bodega cats as working animals. Your signature helped make that happen.</p><p>Now, Powers is leaving office at the end of December due to term limits. The bill is still with the Committee on Health and hasn’t received a hearing yet.</p><p>So I reached out to the co-sponsors this week to ask who would carry it forward.</p><p>Councilmember Frank Morano responded in 11 minutes. He’s taking over as prime sponsor.</p><p>Morano represents Staten Island’s South Shore. He’s a Republican, which means Int. 1471 now has bipartisan leadership. Earlier this year, he went to bat for Lucy, a 15-year-old pet pig facing removal under city regulations. He understands the gap between how the law treats animals and how communities actually live with them.</p><p>The new Council session begins in January. The next step is getting a hearing scheduled with the Health Committee. I’ll be in touch with Morano’s office in early 2026 to push for a timeline.</p><p>If you want to follow what happens next, Change.org isn’t the best place for updates. I’m moving all bodega cat news to my own newsletter. You can sign up here:</p><p><a href="https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/">https://bodegacatsofnewyork.com/</a></p><p>I’m also finishing a book about the cats and owners I’ve documented over the past four years. More on that soon.</p><p>Thanks for signing. 13,000 people told the city these cats matter. That’s why we have a bill at all.</p><p>Dan Rimada Bodega Cats of New York</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=23e81e0de8bc" width="1" height="1" alt="">

<p>Zohran Mamdani takes office on January 1, 2026. Before the election, social media had his back. Cats4Zohran, an Instagram account with 11,000 followers, rallied support with the tagline “Cats catvassing for Zohran!” Days before the vote, Mamdani appeared on Shop Cats, the viral TikTok show hosted by Michelladonna. He met a bodega cat named Coca in the Bronx, danced bachata, and told the camera: “I love bodega cats.”</p><p>The cat community showed up for him. The question now is whether he will show up for bodega cats.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/700/1*qcAvk_BJr2SByZH-dIO1GQ.jpeg" /></figure><p><strong>The bill on his desk</strong></p><p>Int. 1471 is currently in the City Council’s Committee on Health. If it clears committee and passes a full Council vote, it goes to the mayor for signature. Keith Powers, who introduced the bill, is term-limited and leaves office at the end of December. Mamdani will be the one who signs or vetoes it.</p><p>The bill does three things: it stops NYC agencies from citing stores for having cats, it creates free vaccination and spay/neuter programs through the Office of Animal Welfare, and it requires multilingual outreach so store owners know these services exist.</p><p>It is narrow legislation. It does not cost much. It has bipartisan co-sponsors. It aligns with Mamdani’s stated support for small businesses and affordability. There is no obvious reason for him to oppose it.</p><p>But he has not said whether he supports it.</p><p><strong>What he has said</strong></p><p>During the campaign, Mamdani talked about bodegas in the context of his city-run grocery store proposal. He reassured bodega owners that his plan was not intended to compete with them. “I both recognize and I appreciate the work that they have done,” he told CBS News. “The fact is that they are a critical part of our communities.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*bA8QzpjVUypwDr4kHgz18A.png" /></figure><p>That statement was about grocery competition, not cats. On Int. 1471 specifically, his transition team and campaign have been silent.</p><p>The Shop Cats appearance was good politics. Mamdani understood that bodega cats are part of NYC’s identity, and that appearing on a viral cat show would resonate with younger voters. It worked. But saying “I love bodega cats” on TikTok is not the same as committing to sign a bill that protects them.</p><p><strong>What we do not know</strong></p><p>Mamdani’s priorities for his first months in office are ambitious: rent freezes, free buses, city-run grocery stores, public safety reform. Int. 1471 is unlikely to be near the top of that list. It is a small bill with limited budget implications. It does not require much political capital to pass.</p><p>That could work in the bill’s favor. A popular, low-cost measure with bipartisan support is an easy early win. Signing it signals that Mamdani cares about the small, specific things that make New York feel like New York.</p><p>Or the bill could sit in committee while bigger fights take priority. Without Powers pushing from the Council side, Int. 1471 needs a new champion. Someone has to request a hearing. Someone has to move it forward. If no one does, the bill stalls regardless of who sits in the mayor’s office.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Z5ClTNsY_CezvYhGi8WtZA.jpeg" /></figure><p><strong>The ask</strong></p><p>Mamdani benefited from the cat vote. Cats4Zohran, Shop Cats, and thousands of New Yorkers who care about bodega cats helped build the energy that carried him to City Hall.</p><p>Now he has a chance to return the favor. Int. 1471 is ready. The petition that sparked it collected over 13,000 signatures. The bill has been drafted, introduced, and assigned to committee. The groundwork is done.</p><p>What bodega cats need from Mayor Mamdani is simple: a public statement of support for Int. 1471, and a signature when it reaches his desk.</p><p>He said he loves bodega cats. This is how he proves it.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a8e247c6372c" width="1" height="1" alt="">