Bodega cats of New York
bodegacatsofnewyork.com
bodegacatsofnewyork.com
The bodega in my last neighborhood (Fort Greene) featured an orange cat, Ice Spice. Spice birthed Olivia who now has loads of kittens. They wander in and own like they own the place, even whining at customers to open the doors for them. Here's a picture I took of Olivia on top of the tobacco products
[0] https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org/tree-map/neighborhood/177
Bodega cats aren't pets, they're a cheap and low-impact way to keep rats from moving into the bodega en masse. If one gets run over by a car, that's just an unfortunate cost of business for a bodega owner who needs an option that works better than putting glue traps every five feet or fumigating the entire place every week.
Pray spends less time at a location if there are predators. The prey is skittish.
Glue traps kill Rats, new rats fill the niche. Some rats learn to avoid them.
Wolves harry deer and kill some but the deer don’t eat all the baby saplings because fear means they move on more often.
Rats have the numbers, killing some of them isn’t the best solution.
Cats are smart when the rats change behaviour so does the cat.
Older cats teach younger cats.
Glue traps are a completely different solution.
They also kill a lot of spiders so you get more flies.
Nurturing predators is a way better solution.
An NY bodega is an ecosystem.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/combined-sewer-overflows....
As one of the 10% of humanity who has a severe allergy to cats which causes me to be unable to breathe, break out in hives, and weep incredible amounts from every exposed mucus membrane, I had to laugh at this. And cry a little.
Y'all have no idea how high impact cats are.
Fel D proteins seem to trigger immune responses across a broad range of mammals. They are homologs of slow loris venom which also causes intense immune responses. Hypothesis is that they evolved in part by inducing an intense allergic response when the cat is eaten. Which obviously helps the survival of the next cat that predator encounters. It seems to be sheer accident that 90% of humanity isn't bothered by it. Even so, cat allergies are the single most common allergy among humans. Cats shed Fel D 1 everywhere. Being in the same room with one is enough to wreck me for hours to a week. Some folks can control it with medication, but I can't take enough to be in the same room with one.
Rat traps are less expensive, more effective, less prone to killing things other than rats, sanitary, don't have to be fed, don't need a litter box, don't cause allergies, don't need shots, medications, or vet visits, and don't have kittens. Far lower impact and much less work than a cat.
Killing rats is just an excuse people use to keep an emotional support critter around. And is unfortunately inconsiderate of 1 in every 10 people in public spaces.
1 in every 10 people may have a cat alergy, but the % of folks with an allergy as severe as yours has to be much lower. I know plenty of people with cat allergies who can spend entire evenings in my cat-inhabited with only very minor discomfort. The person with the most serious allergy to them I know is miles away from your symptoms.
I think you are exaggerating the severity of the issue, but I'm sorry you have this terrible allergy to something as common as cats, that sucks.
You and everyone else who doesn't suffer. But I was conservative by stating 10%. Medical literature says 10 - 20% and even qualifies that as a potential underestimate. I have looked for stats on severe sufferers, and they are unfortunately very difficult to find.
It does suck. But I would caution you not to discount the discomfort of others so easily.
People tend to understand that exposing someone with a peanut allergy to peanuts is dangerous and can even be considered assault or attempted murder.
No one thinks that about cats.
But the severity of the allergic response occupies the same spectrum (same immune system, misbehaving in the same way). Peanuts just aren't as cute or fluffy as cats. No one is offended if you don't want to pet their peanut. No one makes you eat peanuts in order to visit them at home. No matter how mild the peanut allergy. No one rubs peanuts into every surface of a place like cats spread Fel D 1.
But immune systems don't know the difference. An allergen is an allergen.
To folks who have the allergy, the differences in the way it's treated compared to others affect our every day.
1 in 5 to 10 in discomfort. Roughly 69,760,000 people in the US.
Good to know. Given Dunbar's number it's likely that most people in the US know someone with a severe cat allergy.
Your reference begins with: "The presence of pets has been associated with reduction of stress and blood pressure and therefore may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases."
> inconsiderate of 1 in every 10 people in public spaces.
It's high-impact for you but low-impact for humanity in general or even just for businesses with a rat problem.
1 in 10 is exactly the definition of "low impact". I get that it's a ginormous inconvenience to the dozens of you out there---and as a person with his own allergies, albeit not to cats, you have my sympathy---but that doesn't change the fact that 10% falls pretty squarely under the definition of low-impact.
You can just say you like cats. You don't have to invent fallacious reasons for it.
If you can imagine drowning in your own fluids, unable to breathe, while your whole body swells painfully and itches, your nose runs uncontrollably and eyes swell shut, you've got the picture.
Y'all don't have to ask ahead of time before you go anywhere new if there will be a cat there. And you don't have to cancel if they say yes.
For those of us who are, it's literally the foundation bedrock of every choice I make during the day. My work is cat-free. My family don't own cats. My persistent friends are the folks who don't own cats that I can visit regularly. My world is a lot smaller than yours. Less opportunity.
People with severe food allergies have to plan and limit themselves similarly. Because people who don't understand can't be trusted to help limit exposure. Sensible precautions are seen as unnecessary drama by those who don't need them.
Anyone with a severe allergy can share a dozen stories about the times someone who didn't understand almost got them killed. Standing up for ourselves in the face of folks trying to downplay our conditions is the reason any of us are still alive.
Will you DIE from words like your brother and I from our allergens? If not you can calm down about it. Unlike us you can just walk away from this. If it causes you suffering you're choosing to suffer by engaging in the conversation. That's not good for you. Take care of yourself.
As a side note, I get the chide about labeling. You might accidentally eat cat and die! It slips in all the time! Granted, the labeling is not enough to protect him due to the severity of his allergy. Don’t try to bring him down to your level. It’ll take months anyways.
At this point you're interpreting genuine care and empathy for your brother's condition and appreciation for a hard-fought safety measure as chide. I remember when it was enacted. And a win for any of us is a win for all of us. Re-evaluate that assumption of yours.
You're right that a respiratory and contact allergy wouldn't benefit from food labels. Safety labels for folks like me would go on buildings, especially public spaces. And they would absolutely be helpful. The ADA does have some protections for folks with respiratory allergies in public spaces, but they're somewhat severely limited to a 6mo period after which filing an enforcement action is not possible. If you miss it, tough luck.
You are demonstrating to others the sort of attitude folks like your brother and I encounter constantly. So thanks for that. It's good for folks to see that just talking about the things that I and others like me experience and expressing care for others with similar conditions is enough to elicit hate. Because that's not uncommon. Most folks like me have dealt with that behavior, and nothing you say about me or my allergy will have any effect other than reflecting on yourself.
Can you honestly not see how melodramatic you’re being? Like this has to be an act, yeah?
Are they? If the cats are eating rats, then they don't really need to be fed. If they're allowed to go outside, then you might not even need to clean the cat's litter box. Rat traps have to be reset, and the corpses disposed of; cats do all that automatically.
Rat traps work 24/7, unlike a cat which sleeps up to 16 hours a day.
Cats must be spade or neutered, an additional cost and effort lest they contribute to the epidemic of semi-feral cats.
Outdoor domestic cats kill an estimated 7 - 26 billion wild animals yearly, most birds, 3/4 of which weren't eaten when studied.
Outdoor cats especially need flea treatment, else they'll bring them into the building. Having dealt with a flea infestation, trust me you don't want to. Involves poisoning your whole dwelling for a few days at significant expense.
[0] https://www.orkin.com/press-room/worst-cities-for-rats-los-a...
It's become a family favorite film we tend to watch each winter now. All ages can take something from it.
Cat's themselves are not very sanitary. Better than rats, sure, but they are a source of toxoplasmosis which is very dangerous to pregnant women for example. Limiting exposure is manageable when keeping as a pet, but its a terrible baseline for a cramped public store.
It appears they finally discovered dumpsters recently: https://www.amny.com/news/curbside-empire-trash-bins-coming-...
(Another crazy trash city was (is?) Seattle with their weird judgement causing everyone to compact their trash.)
If you drive in Manhattan you'll also notice a whole lot of delivery trucks and other vehicles blocking lanes, and a lot of designated delivery-only parking zones. This is rooted in the same lack of alleys.
NYC has no allys. Trash goes on sidewalk. Streets smell stinky.
Again, this is not a judgement or a mandate. You can pay for a larger garbage can or for a multiple garbage cans if you want to. But you have to pay for how your consumption habits impact the cost of disposal.
https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-a...
Anderson said expanding Empire Bins to more parts of the city is “not easy,” due to the expense of and time it takes to acquire the side-loading trucks, which are custom-built and have not been used in North America before. The trucks are assembled through a combination of American and Italian parts and designs.
“These bins and the trucks that service them did not exist two years ago,” Anderson said. “We are now building a new supply chain that stretches across the Atlantic Ocean to get those trucks here, built, and ready to use. That takes time.””
Had to go custom huh…
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
[Posted from 2026.]
I have the wheely bin now, which is good, but it's insane that it took until 2025 to actually require it. Probably the only good thing Eric Adams did.
NYC is also non-uniform, so there are different types of trucks and streets.
Adam's admin largely solved this during his term, but the above ground bins are unpopular because they're ugly and then it takes time to retrofit the garbage trucks for mechanical pickup.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/upshot/nyc-tr...
Hyperbole and toxoplasmosis go well together.
In particular: it's a limited time window when an infected feline could transmit toxoplasmosis. It can be dangerous to pregnancies, or immuno-compromised individuals.
Most humans (and other beings) aren't pregnant or immunocompromised, but the drama of the topic gets clicks, so it's a meme of sorts, and it resurfaces every six months or so in the news as if a revelation.
Just because pregnant and immuno-compromised people are in the minority, it's not a big deal?
I'd rather not eat cats at all, so cooking them properly doesn't enter into it.
But I don't mean to be confrontational. I understand that it is probably annoying to hear toxoplasmosis talked about like it is black death.
If you put humans in a sterile bubble you get a different set of diseases, to a considerably greater degree because your immune system evolved in an environment where you actually got infections.
So if it is often harmful to some extent in people who do not show severe symptoms, then it is a terrible disease that causes widespread harm. There is evidence it causes lesser, but possibly significant harm, in far more people than is generally recognised:
Are there any benefits to toxoplasmosis besides some people finding the vector cute? The alternative isn't living in a sterile bubble.
Malaria... is not asymptomatic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vec...
Here's research into intentional infection with a parasite to treat autoimmune diseases
> Most humans (and other beings) aren't pregnant or immunocompromised, but the drama of the topic gets clicks, so it's a meme of sorts, and it resurfaces every six months or so in the news as if a revelation.
I already addressed this. It's one thing if you keep an cat in your home and can manage the risks. It's another thing entirely as some unknown variable in a cramped public store.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2526142/
> Most humans (and other beings) aren't pregnant or immunocompromised
So we do not need to vaccinate against rubella either? most people are not disabled so we do not need wheelchair ramps? Most people are not sick at any given time so we do not need hospitals?
You are far more likely to get it from undercooked beef or shellfish than from a cat. Less than 1% of cats broadly are shedding it at any given time and that number is even lower for indoor cats. If, like me, you have a penchant for rare steak and beef tartare then there's a decent chance that you have it.
So, while I actually find both rats and cats endearing, I'd take the cats over wild rats in the stores any day.
And Black Death, owing to Church persecution of cats, is another great illustration of cats' role.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5790555/#:~:text=Ex...
"But recent genetic and archaeological discoveries indicate that cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent, perhaps around 10,000 years ago, when agriculture was getting under way."
Edit in response to the comment below as i hit post-limit:
As it happens, we owe to weasels too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_cats#An...
"Housecats seem to have been extremely rare among the ancient Greeks and Romans;[16] the Greek historian Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.[16] Even during later times, weasels were far more commonly kept as pets[16] and weasels, not cats, were seen as the ideal rodent-killers"
The main point still stands though.
So you aren't entirely wrong, but rest assured that we were agonizingly aware of the ways in which he was unhealthy.
Raccoons say "hold my beer"
(i don't know, but you triggered a thought!)
here's what i was thinking...presence of protein lysing enzymes in sweat as a protective mechanism.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187439191...
Bodega Rats of New York
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shop-cats-of-new-york-tamar...