World Cat Day- International
Cat Saturday,  Cats,  Holidays

World Cat Day, Matilda’s Birthday Bash & How Cats Took Over The Internet Museum Exhibit

August 8, 2015 / 24 Comments
If you love cats, sharing makes us purrrr :-)

Every day should be about celebrating cats, but today, August 8, is officially World Cat Day aka National Cat Day or International Cat Day. Whatever you choose to call it, let’s celebrate everything we love about cats.

World Cat Day- International

  • We all know cats have taken over the Internet and now there is a museum exhibit to prove it or at least celebrate their presence. The Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in Queens, N.Y.’s new exhibit How Cats Took Over The Internet will be catnip for any cat lover. The exhibit is on August 7, 2015–January 31, 2016. It’s the first exhibit of its kind and covers the Internet history of cats, their cultural impact from early chat rooms in 1995 to LOL cats, memes, gifs, videos to multi-media celebrity cats like Grumpy Cat and Instagram cats. There is a cat video reel running in a 30 minute loop curated by Will Braden of Henri Le Chat Noir and Internet Cat Video Festival fame.
  • If you’re in Minneapolis, the 4th annual #catvidfest event is on August 12 and the place to be if you love cats.
  • On Aug. 5, I joined a crowd of cat lovers to celebrate Matilda, the Algonquin Hotel’s resident cat’s birthday with her annual fundraiser. This year, the sold-out event featured “A Feline Salute to NYC’s First Responders” to benefit the Mayor’s Alliance For Animals. A handful of mew-dels posed for the paw-parazzi in their outfits designed by Ada Nieves.

The costumes were not as glam as last year but it was all for a good cause. Every year there is a new theme which takes six months to plan, design and execute the kitty creations.

Zeus cat

 

Awards were given to members of NYPD’s Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad.

NYPD awards animal cruelty

The Algonquin always puts on a lovely event but this year it out did itself with a literary themed buffet. Wine and cocktails flowed and the refreshing signature champagne cocktail “The Matilda” was a hit. A vintage typewriter on the dessert table echoed the hotel’s history as a literary hub for the famous writers “Algonquin Round Table”.

Matilda cat birthday cake

The event is always a fun place to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Being a foodie, I loved chatting with Seen Lippert, the ex-chef of the storied restaurant La Panisse who has six cats. The team from the Mayor’s Alliance worked hard adopting out kittens and cats from their mobile adoption unit parked in front of the hotel. The annual raffle was the usual hoot with a gorgeous grand prize of a large cat tree from Pet Tree Houses

Matilda may have made a brief appearance but I didn’t see her. Cats are not allowed where food is served are were sequestered in a small room off the lobby where the event was held. The cat area was too crowded for me and I spend only a few minutes there.

Aodhan, a show cat used to crowds and dressed as an MTA worker, calmly enjoys his dinner while others are bored. Some cats love getting dressed up while others, not so much.

Ada Nieves cat fashion 2015

The most creative backdrop replete with a fire truck/bed for Zeus, a rescue Persian who played fire chief is owned by Miguel Rodriguez.

My vote for worst costume included every cat’s most hated “accessory”, the Elizabethan collar on a very patient “patient”.

A first-timer to the event and one of the most chill cats I’ve met in ages is a Scottish Fold named Thunder Fold @FoldCats with her cat mom, Kate Arian. Every Matilda birthday event is different and I’m already looking forward to next year.

ThunderFold cats

Tell us how you’re celebrating World Cat Day.

We’re also joining the cat art blog hop at AthenaCatGoddess

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24 Comments

  • Frank Sterle Jr

    August 11, 2018 at 2:34 PM Reply

    In regards to the all-too-fleeting International Cat Day ….

    THAT BLACK CAT SHE INVADED HIS DREAMS … She laid by his bared feet / at the foot of his bed / though in his dream they’d meet / which they did in his head. // For this sleek black feline / she’d been in there before / such she’d never decline / as that cat he’d adore. // A myth it couldn’t be / that her claws touched his toes / as the dreaming did he / was about that she knows. // The dream she boldly caught / that night she did invade / was the dream she had sought / the dream she’d long delayed. // Within she placed her claws / upon his sleep-bound feet / all performed with no flaws / then and there they did meet. // Though not feeling abused / by prickling on his toes / he still looked down confused / at each of five toes, two rows. // Naught of her did he find / in his dream created / though back to wakened mind / he saw her and stated // ‘Mimi, it’s you—you rascal!’ / yet he still adored her / while finding comical / her response a smooth ‘murr’. // From the thick mattress down / she landed without woes / as he said ‘You little clown— / you leave alone my toes.’ // Thought she, ‘Again we’ll meet / as you dream fast asleep / when the toes on your feet / from my paws you cannot keep.’
    __________________

    Ode To SIMON’s DRINKING PROBLEM … It’s clear dear cat you’ve had a water drink / For it hangs thick and low from your thin chin / As a large drop through which light rays glisten / Then a flicker of your tongue’s tip quite pink / Comes with a sway of your tail, its kink / So noticed like that water drop again / (And you without a little silk napkin) / Your habit’s one endearingly distinct. // Plus your drinking problem leaves us no stink / Like old food stuff or hard liquor like gin / And into a bad thing you didn’t sink / You’ve committed naught resembling a sin / Habits can still be dropped in an eye’s blink / While having you near’s my mind’s medicine.
    __________________

    THAT YOUNG BLACK CAT—SHE NEEDED SOMETHING … ‘If only I had something new,’ / she thought, ‘something adventurous / to do, like when the fields grew tall, fields from which wild fowl fed and flew’; / she, feline feisty and precious, / needed something or to climb the wall. // She walked over to the window pane / and looked out to the neighbouring homes / to where she hoped to find something / —something new, beyond the back lane, / rocky road, where she’d often roam, / to where her eyes would be wandering. // And when her attention was caught / by the towering shingled roof / sheltering the large corner store, / she at once decided she ought / to climb to its black peak as proof / of her worth to those who did her adore. // Through the yards one by one she went, / glancing around this and that corner, / over then under fences tall / till she stood at the wall she’d meant / to conquer, as a foreigner, / without any fear that she’d fall. // She looked to the two garbage cans / leaning against the wooden shed, / right next to the store that was so pink; / up she jumped, her feet and hands / reached the top by but a thread, / of no better place could she think. // Having achieved her noteworthy climb, / she gazed over to the swaying trees, / unaware that her hostess stood near; / at the bus stop, as passed the time, / the woman looked up, into the breeze, / and saw her pet feline who knew no fear. // Thus the feline had done something new / and not seeing her hostess’s stare, / she returned home fulfilled and content, / for from this day excitement she drew / and she thought again she’d climb and dare / those high places worthy of her scent.

  • maggie

    August 9, 2015 at 1:40 PM Reply

    What a cool event! Thanks for all the interesting links to explore too. I’ll wish you a belated Happy World Cat Day knowing that it doesn’t matter that I’m late. Every day is World Cat Day.

  • Penelope

    August 8, 2015 at 7:22 PM Reply

    Even though mes Gone Fishing, when mes was checking my emails and saw your post, mes just had to stops by and say HAPPY WORLD CAT DAY!
    Merlin, that is a most gorgeous picture of yous!!!
    Kisses
    Nellie

  • Skeeter and Izzy

    August 8, 2015 at 6:15 PM Reply

    Happy World Cat Day? It should be Happy Intergalatic Cats Rule The Universe Day!!!!!, but we are happy with just Happy Cat Day!
    Luv the celebration and the theme for Matilda’s Pawty!!! Happy Belated Birthday Matilda!
    Happy Cat Day to All!!!
    Luvs
    Skeeter and Izzy and the Feral Gang + Twig & Peanut & Romeo >^..^^..^<~

  • Caren Gittleman

    August 8, 2015 at 1:27 PM Reply

    What a fabulous recap!!!!! You are truly blessed to live in the heart of such an exciting part of the country where all of these amazing events take place!
    Loved reading about it!
    Happy International Cat Day!

  • Beverly

    August 8, 2015 at 11:10 AM Reply

    My brood thinks that the fur they were born with is costume enough. World Cat Day is celebrated with extra naps.

    The Algonquin party looked wonderful.

  • Bev Green

    August 8, 2015 at 9:38 AM Reply

    How lovely what a great night and event..a favourite hotel we stay at in North Queensland has a lovely old resident cat called Max..they have no idea how old he is , he turned up as a stray and the hotel has cared for him since then..the day we were leaving last time we went from our balcony back into the room and there he was checking our bags 🙂 the girls here today have just been staying warm by the fire 🙂 hugs Bev xxx

  • Kathryn

    August 8, 2015 at 9:12 AM Reply

    Ched and Mao said, “World Cat Day? See, we told you we dominate everything. The Internet, The Algonquin, The World. Now just feed us so we can go back to sleep.”

    Loved this.

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