It’s cat time, dear Pandas! Today, we’re not featuring your usual kind of cute-yet-imperious felines. No, today we’re once again delving deep into the world of cats photographed making themselves at home in small but cozy New York convenience stores and local corner shops.

Robb Hitt created the Bodega Cats project (or, rather, paw-ject) way back in 2012 and was astonished to see how quickly the idea took off. It’s been nearly a decade since and now Bodega Cats is a real force to reckon with on social media, with 674k fans on Twitter, 351k cat-lovers on Instagram, and a further 53k followers on Facebook. That’s over a million cat worshippers!

Cat pics always boost my mood, no matter how blue I’m feeling or how dreary the weather is outside (autumn rain, please have alternating shifts with sunny days, thank you). Hopefully, these photos of bodega cats doing their thing and looking like they own the place will bring smiles to your faces, Pandas. Go on, give your fave cattos a pet and an upvote. Meanwhile, you can praise them to heaven and back in the comments.

Already thinking how you’ll need more cats to get you to the weekend? No worries, we’ve got you covered! This is just the latest piece in Bored Panda’s fascination with the Bodega Cats project. You’ll find all of our earlier meowgnificent articles about our feline meowsters here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

More info: BodegaCats.nyc | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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For those of you Pandas who might not be in the know, bodegas are corner shops, typically found in New York City’s five boroughs. The term itself means a small neighborhood store in Latin American Spanish. Odds are that most of us live within walking distance of one of these, even if we’re far, far away from NYC.

There are over 10k bodegas in New York City. And just like they’re a part of NYC’s everyday (and night) life, so are cats a recurring feature of the bodegas themselves. While they are absolutely, 100% adorable, they aren’t, technically speaking, all that legal. At least that’s what Mental Floss claims.

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“Cats fall under a prohibition upheld by the city's Department of Health and Hygiene as well as the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets that prevents any animal (other than fish or service dogs) from being on the premises where food and drinks are being sold: The felines could potentially shed hair and excrement around edible products, a clear violation of safety regulations,” Mental Floss explains.

Technically, fines for keeping a cat in a convenience store range from 200 to 350 dollars. Repeat violators could even face fines of 2k dollars. However, having a cat around can scare away rats and other kinds of vermin.

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Though, there is a theory that cats tend to shy away from messing with bigger, more mature rats (we keep hearing they’re massive in New York!).

Gregory Glass from the University of Florida told Scientific American: “Once that rat hits puberty, they are way too big and nasty for the cat to deal with,” he says. “You can watch a lot of cats and rats accommodating one another, easing by one another, eating out of the same trash bag.”

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According to Professor Glass, cats might be more of a placebo than an actual force to be reckoned with when it comes to fighting back against rats. “What they do is a placebo. They make people who want to do something good feel better about themselves. Sure, somebody might have a super-cat that will take lots of rats. But the super-cat will have to kill an awful lot of rats to make any sort of difference.”

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During my previous interview with Rob, the founder of the entire project, almost exactly a year ago, he said that all cats are unique and this applies to bodega cats as well. How a particular animal will act when approached by a bright-eyed customer will depend entirely on the individual.

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Some cats will be more than happy to be petted (though keep in mind we’re still in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic) while others might see themselves as untouchable feline royalty, not to be touched by human plebs.

"Cats will just be cats in terms of Bodega Cats vs. House Cats. They all have their own personalities. Feral cats on the other hand aren’t conditioned to seek out human interaction so they act more secluded,” Rob told Bored Panda earlier.

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During the first half-year of the pandemic, Rob was stuck at home “missing the cats” alongside many other New Yorkers. Now, with the continued rollout of various Covid vaccines, more and more New Yorkers are able to feast their eyes on fluffy corner shop cats. (If that won’t convince you to get vaccinated, what will?)

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Rob has been putting the Bodega Cats account’s fame to some very positive use. He’s partnered up with various organizations that help raise awareness about controlling the cat population. Whether that’s through adoption, TNR (that’s ‘trap, neuter, return’), rescue, and helping pay for vet bills for rescue animals.

The founder said that he supports organizations like Greenpoint Cats, Flatbush Cats, and The Original TrapKing by raising awareness via social media and donating money to them from webstore sales.

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The idea to start Bodega Cats came about by accident. One night back in 2012, Rob was out late when he came across a cat in a bodega. He took a photo, made an Instagram post, and it got a lot of positive feedback from his friends.

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“My friends enjoyed the photos of the cats I posted more than the photos of me! At that point, I decided to start the Bodega Cats accounts in hopes of giving people a moment of positivity and smile throughout their day,” Rob told Bored Panda about how one photo turned the internet into a better place. For all of us.