Dive headfirst into the world of Tamar Arslanian and her best-selling book, “Shop Cats of New York”.

If you’re familiar with the cat blogging world, you’ve probably come across I Have Cat. This fun, quirky blog, which has tens of thousands of followers, is run by the exquisite Tamar Arslanian.

In a cruel twist of fate, Tamar grew up without cats. Her first cat came to her during a long-distance relationship while she was living in New York City, and she hasn’t looked back since. Although Petie has since passed away, her two cats Kip and Haddie keep her company.

She’s been featured in more cat publications than I can list here, but she recently published her own book called “Shop Cats of New York“, an intimate look at the store cats found throughout the metropolitan heartland of New York City.

I bought it. I read it. I loved it.

I never dreamed I would get to interview her, but lo and behold, I managed it. So sit back, grab your cat, and have fun reading the “official” behind-the-scenes interview for “Shop Cats of New York”.

Hello, Tamar! After reading “Shop Cats of New York”, there’s been a pressing question on my mind that I have to get out of the way. How in the world did you manage to find all of these shop cats? Did you have some sort of Cat Radar?

Cat Radar would have definitely been helpful! I knew about a few of them like Jack the wine store cat and Kitty the Pilates studio cat because they live in my neighborhood. I did a ton of online research, then called the businesses to find out if the cats were still there, as many of the articles were dated.

My friends also told me about cats in their neighborhood, and I asked followers of my blog (I Have Cat) to keep their eyes peeled.

Where was the most unexpected place that you found a shop cat?

Perhaps the glass blowing and glass bending studios given cats are prone to taking great pleasure out of knocking things off shelves, counter tops, etc.!

Finding a resident cat at a dog groomer/boutique was quite a surprise. I was just walking down the street with my photographer and we both did a double take when we saw a cat in the window. We both got a kick out of it when we realized the type of shop it was!

(That does seem unusual! I think the most expected cat would have to be the one in the occult store. It just makes sense, you know?) If you had to pick a favorite cat, would you?

Oh, that one’s not fair; there are too many great ones! They’re all amazing for different reasons.

Were there any cats that didn’t make it into the book, but you wish they did?

At the time, there were two FDNY (Fire Department of New York) cats with Instagram pages who had been featured in local magazines and websites that we really wanted to include, but for whatever reason our requests to the press office were denied.

There was one police station cat we did receive permission to photograph (the NYPD has a different press office). [However], when we showed up at our scheduled time, we waited and waited and kept waiting to see the cat, but I guess we weren’t a priority for them (or the cat!). After quite a few hours, we had to move on to photograph other cats since we were working on a pretty tight schedule.

There were a few cats we found out about after [Shop Cats of New York] went to press. One that comes to mind was a cat living in Chinatown at some sort of fish market. We saw photos of the cat posted on Facebook, but never figured out the cat’s exact location. He was even outfitted in little traditional Chinese outfits! He seemed to have quite the set up being among [the] fish!

He certainly did! It’s too bad the other two never got back to you. Speaking of frustrations, what was the most frustrating part of writing the book?

I wouldn’t say it was necessarily frustrating, but it was eye-opening to see firsthand how long it takes to bring a book to market. I would say it was about 2 1/2 – 3 years from inception to the book being on shelves, and  I was fortunate in that I [was] already working with a literary agent. It would have taken much longer if I hadn’t already had representation.

What was the biggest compliment that you received on the publication of your book?

One person said the book brought back happy childhood memories of visiting shops with cats. I thought that was lovely. Others have said they loved seeing a new aspect of New York City, and those originally from NYC have seen the book like a trip down memory lane. The only negatives I’ve heard is that the book is too short! I’ll take that!

So, when can we expect “Lazy House Cats of Minnesota” to come out? I think Misha and Tippy could have a starring role in it.

That would be an interesting one, though I imagine competition would be stiff! I’ll have to see what my agent thinks and get back to you!

Great! Well, it was lovely to be able to interview you, Tamar. Thanks again for writing this wonderful book! It was an absolute joy to read.

To read more about Tamar and her delightful fur babies, you can check out her blog I Have Cat. Her book “Shop Cats of New York” is currently available in hardcover and Kindle format. Buy one for yourself and another cat lover today!

Photography © Andrew Marttila

Source: Tamar Arslanian

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