Meow Parlour’s Facebook)
On Monday she graced Meow Parlour on Hester Street with her presence, sporting her “normal” look (fuzzy red newsboy cap that looks like it belongs on Sesame Street, a plain baggy white sweatshirt and what might be pajama bottoms). The employees look pretty stoked, but what if Miley was there to add new blood to her “Dead Petz” collection? Just kidding– her real pets have their own Instagram accounts, like Shanti Om. And of course, don’t forget her pet pig Bubba Sue, who famously made her debut on the cover of Paper mag with a nude Miley.
There were quite a few reactions and witty digs online to her Meow Parlour foray. “Is she in this picture? I don’t recognize her with clothes on,” wrote Lunar Laura Martian. Su May Ong noted that some of the kitties were playing it cool around the celeb: “Cat in the cat-shaped box not impressed…” True, but the one on the other end looks like it’s bugging out that Miley’s in the same room with her.
By the way, ever wonder where those cat cafĂ© kitties come from? KittyKind, a non-profit cat adoption group, finds many of the cats in abandoned litters, or in feral colonies (though they aren’t feral themselves). But once in a while you get a cat with a true New York story. Take Prada, a cat at Meow Parlour since September who had her humble start in a shoe repair shop in Harlem. For a while, the shoe repair shop was the perfect crash pad for Prada and her mother Manolo, but soon there were five kittens living in the store. Mr. Lopez, the shop owner, couldn’t care for all of them, especially when Manolo started sneaking into the neighboring deli to visit her boyfriend, wreaking havoc.
Prada, via Meow Parlour
These days Prada hangs around Meow Parlour, spending most of the day in dreamland. “She’s really relaxed, really chill, she sleeps a lot during the day and has the same routine every day,” said Meow Parlour owner Emilie Legrand. “When we come in in the morning she likes to come and see us, rubs against our legs, wants to be pet, she meows a little bit, and then she goes to sleep for the whole day and wakes up towards the end of the day.”
From hardscrabble shoe-shop mouse-catcher to pampered cat-cafĂ© kitty– it’s a tale worthy of HBO’s Animals.
But, as cat cafés in the LES are reaching a peak, it might already be time to look for a new trend. From what we hear, pussy massages are the next stop. Chances are, Miley will be hanging out with this Greenpoint cat any day now: