The Real Cat Ladies of Minneapolis

JEFFREY BOUSSOLINI: I'm always trying to think about that issue of the crazy cat lady. Because for one thing, I feel like I'm right on the cusp of that myself. VANESSA GADBERRY: So my name is Vanessa and this is Squirrel the kitten. She's deaf. She has to experience the world by running up to things which also makes her very dog-like. She's very curious and just has to get into everything. The hard thing about a deaf cat is you can't call her. If she looks over, there's a chance that she'll respond to the sign language I've been teaching her. But otherwise, if she doesn't look over, you're kind of SOL for getting her attention. We go to a lot of events. We've gone to, pretty much, every animal walk that the Twin Cities has had this year. We went to Pride and walked in Pride. I loved it. It was amazing. Cats and gays, what could be better? And I had decided after much research to dye Squirrel's tail temporarily with some organic food dye. I tried to get everyone that took a picture and give them Squirrel's business card. Because I was like, I'd really love to see the pictures online. We made them because we'd go to events and people would want to like her Facebook. But I think ultimately they just forgot by the time they got home. So we made a little takeaway for them to remember. And the photos have already started being posted to her Facebook fan page. -She was running around at the festival last night? VANESSA GADBERRY: She's doing great. -Could you tell us a little bit about that experience? VANESSA GADBERRY: It was amazing. I've seen all the videos already. I was like, oh, once we start the videos I might be kind of bored. Because I watch cat videos for hours. Like I could-- -Hours? VANESSA GADBERRY: --reanact some of them probably. It was awesome, because there was actually videos I haven't seen before. And it was amazing that YouTube cats celebrities were flown in and traveled, and I wasn't expecting that at all. We got pictures with Squirrel and Lil' Bub together. But we also met the little girl, who is now grown up, who narrated Kittens Inspired by Kittens. And personally, that YouTube video changed my life. -Kittens inspired by kittens. VANESSA GADBERRY: Bub's owner was super chill. -Yeah? VANESSA GADBERRY: He was awesome, yeah. Guys are sexy that like animals and know how to treat animals. I feel like you can't trust someone who doesn't like animals. Who doesn't like animals? -[SINGING] RO: I'm Ro. KAI: I'm Kai. RO: These are our cats. This is Artemis. He's our newest cat. He's about a year old. Artemis is like the brave little boy, and he'll get in all the adventures. KAI: Arlo is this one down here. RO: I didn't introduce Arlo. KAI: He doesn't really care about anything. RO: That's if you hit her but really hard a bunch or like grab her fat on her tummy and go like this. This is Lucian. He's Siamese mix and he's two years old. And he knows how to sit, and he has freckles and the most beautiful eyes. Oh, and Lucian gives kisses. KAI: Eww, it's going to be salty. RO: I think my first favorite one is the one where the kitten's sliding down and the mom goes and gets him. OK, my next favorite is that one with the cat attacking the automatic feeder. Have you seen that? It's so funny. KAI: I really like the one they played last night where she's going behind the wall, and then every time she comes back she sees the cat closer to her. I think that one is really funny. RO: And for Halloween, they're going to be the four different houses from Hogwarts. Lucian's going to be Slytherin because he, kind of, looks like Malfoy. KAI: I don't know Harry Potter very well. I just know the cats. RO: Dimitri. KAI: Oh, no. RO: Oh, no. That's another part of having cats. It's not all fun and games. KAI: Oh, baby. RO: Will you get it? KAI: Yeah. We don't have any paper towels. RO: Oh, there's like, ewww. Oh, God. WHITNEY ROGERS: My name is Whitney Rogers, and I got Pax last August so about a year ago, a little bit over. And I got her from a local breeder in St. Louis Park. -Did you want a Rex? WHITNEY ROGERS: Very specifically. They have a very low shedding, they don't shed very much at all. You can bathe them which will cut down even more. But they're very good for people with allergies. They have a very long life. It's a relatively new breed so they don't have high incidences of any kind of disease or inherent health problems either. And once I got her, I was totally hooked. She is quite possibly the funniest. And I like it because Kittles will pretty much just watch. I try to film her sometimes. We've got a couple funny films of her. But it's hard, because I try to get my boyfriend to put them online, and he thinks the whole thing is kind of hmm. I think he just doesn't want to admit how much of a cat person he is, because he tries to be a little bit tougher than he is at home. Even though they say this cat's really high energy, you might not realize that she will climb you and jump on your shoulders regardless of what you're wearing or not wearing. And she'll like to sit up there, and sometimes they lose their balance. It can be a slippery slope really. And be prepared to get some scars. She definitely is getting more notoriety. A lot of my friends know about her, and we'll take pictures and post them on Instagram and at least tell me about it so I can tag myself in it. A few of his friends that came over were like, this is the weirdest cat we've ever seen in our entire lives. She just looks so strange with that huge head and huge ears. I have written two or three songs about cats, only one since I've gotten her though. My band has a curse word in the name so-- -What's the name? WHITNEY ROGERS: It's *** Beast Kitchen Club. And we've been doing stuff for a really long time. Yeah, this is me like three or four years ago. This was before we figured out how to work most of the stuff in the studio also. I'm pretty proud of it. -How high can she jump? WHITNEY ROGERS: I'd say about between five and six feet or so. I'd say, pretty much, four and a half to five is, sort of, her average. Most of the cat videos that are on the internet are pretty funny or have some intrinsic entertainment value to them but also raise more awareness about rarer breeds, care, troubleshooting any possible problems your cats might have, and, sort of, parenting almost. I really love cats.