3 days ago
Inaugural walking cat tour to come to Vancouver's Mount Pleasant
The community cat tour will start at 10 a.m., Aug. 24, in Mount Pleasant.
Vancouver's first ever cat tour is coming to the streets of Mount Pleasant, and the impressive lineup is set to feature more than your average moggie.
The inaugural Vancouver Cat Tour will kick off Sunday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m., with tickets set to go on sale Aug. 19 at 8 p.m.
Perri Lo, co-organizer of the event alongside friend, researcher and Mount Pleasant Heritage Walks guide Christine Hagemoen, says the idea for a cat tour first struck when she was wandering around her neighbourhood with her own fluffy feline in tow.
'We both live in Mount Pleasant, and I often walk my cat around the block and I noticed there are a lot of cats in our neighborhood, and it would be so cool to showcase them somehow,' she says.
Hagemoen began brainstorming, forwarding on videos of other successful cat tours from across Canada and in the U.S. Ultimately the two based their own iteration off an extremely successful tour in Minneapolis that sees hundreds take to the streets annually to gawk at cats in windows.
Lo, a pianist and vocal coach who works with Vancouver Opera and Ballet BC when she's not ferociously researching feline tours, says she created a 'janky poster' with a QR code leading to a registration form, printed it off and pinned it up in the neighbourhood.
'We had over 80 cats apply,' she says, with a laugh.
'Neither of us really expected to see so much interest in this. I feel like there are more dog people out there than cat people, but to know that there are this many cat lovers in Mount Pleasant is very, very nice to see.
Lo assumed the difficult task of whittling down the list, choosing the top contenders based on location.
'The hardest part was sending all the rejection letters,' she says.
For fear of ruining the surprise, Lo says she won't disclose too much regarding what guests can expect to see on the parade, only that each stop will include some trivia of each feline and that the tour will include a 'few of interesting breeds.'
There will be a Sphinx cat, she divulges, and a Devon Rex - her own.
All the proceeds from each $10 ticket will go towards Catoro, the Studio Ghibli-themed cat cafe and boba shop on East Broadway, and the final stop on the kitty tour.
'Attendees will learn a bit about our cat cafe, the rescue cats who live here, our adoption process, and the animal rescues we partner with,' says Catoro owner Annah van Eeghen. Should they wish, guests can also rest their weary feet in the Cat Forest via a 50-minute session kicking back with the felines.
The funds raised will help pay for upcoming veterinary bills for Liza, a Catoro resident kitty at risk of losing her hearing due to a potential polyp inside her inner ear. The treatment plan proposed includes a CT Scan expected to cost between $2000 and $2500, and surgery of up to $2500.
'Our staff are extremely excited to meet all the cat lovers and show off our lovely adoptable rescue cats,' says van Eeghen.
