Cats, Cats, Cats Everywhere! CatConLA Was Every Crazy Cat Lady’s Dream

Just when you thought LOL Cats, Lil Bub, Lil Adolf, the Grumpy Cat, and your average garden-variety crazy cat lady had enough show time on the internet, along comes CatConLA to break the internet. Cat lovers of all descriptions turned up at the Reef in downtown Los Angeles over the weekend to coo about all things cats.

The CatConLA founder, Susan Michals, told the Daily Beast that she would like CatCon to become as big as ComicCon.

“When Comic-Con started, people just saw it as something for geeks and freaks and nerds. It’s expanded to being the mecca for making announcements for every studio in the world. It has gone from being geek to chic.”

Over Saturday and Sunday, 12,501 enthusiasts of cats attended CatCon. Besides being able to immerse yourself in all things cats, there were special panels set up by feline enthusiasts to talk about cats as well. Animal Planet’s Shaun Sears and Tom Otto were there to talk about cats, as were artist Simon Tofield and actress Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah-Fowler in The Big Bang Theory).

You could also meet some of your favorite celebri-cats — well their owners at least, although Lil Bub was there in the fur and ready to perform. Sammi Wallschlaeger was there to talk about her cat, Lil Adolf. Lil Adolf is one of the many famous cats on the internet. He has his own Instagram account and sports a marking on his face that resembles Hitler’s mustache, hence the name.

“He’s into the world domination thing but he loves everybody of all creeds and ethnicities. He’s very chill. And I’m Jewish, so it’s cool.”

There was also plenty of purr-chandise dedicated to cats for the CatCon attendees to buy. By the end of the weekend, many of these cat-inspired stalls had sold out of their catty merchandise. Most of the stalls were handpicked by Michals and ranged from cat food to art, literature, and fashion — all based around cats as the theme.

There were also people on hand to talk about cat adoption and responsible cat ownership. However, the term cat “owner” seemed to be taboo. Many cat enthusiasts used the terms person, dude, or servant rather than offend any sensitive cat’s ears with the fact that they might be the pet rather than the other way around.

While this past weekend was the first annual CatCon, as the doors closed on Sunday, Michals announced the event would certainly be on again next year. Are you a fan of cats? Will you be attending next year’s CatConLA? Let us know by commenting below!

[Image credit: Getty Images / Christopher Furlong]