WNYC Interviews Park Slope And Windsor Terrace Bodega Cats ‘In Their Own Words’

You don’t have to be a cat owner to be under the watchful eye of one of our neighborhood felines.

Whether you’ve stopped by your bodega for coffee, a bagel with a schmear (oh, I wish they still said that), or some chewing gum, you may have a keen observer.

Ever want to hear what your local bodega cat is thinking about? The WNYC series Bodega Cats In Their Own Words recently featured two local four-legged residents. And those cats have something important to say.

Here’s an opportunity to hear what’s on the mind of Wolverine the bodega cat of Park Slope/Gowanus.

Wolverine makes his home at Mingo’s Sandwich Factory (336 Butler Street at 4th Avenue). We stopped in today to meet him, but one of the employees explained he wasn’t feeling up to company. You see, Wolverine is a huge Golden State Warriors fan. “He’s pretty depressed about the finals,” said the employee. “Sorry you came by without seeing him.”

“I was actually on death row. I only had one day to live,” Wolverine says in his video. “Luckily a job opening came up in a local deli. It’s been rainbows and stars every day after that.”

Wolverine has been at the deli for about seven years, which provides him with a unique perspective about 4th Avenue. “Seven years ago, the neighborhood was a little rough,” he says. “I see a lot of construction workers. I see the neighborhood changing rapidly. There’s a building going up like everyday. I do fear for my owner’s future because it gets more costly everyday. And I do see my owner struggling on occasion.”

We also had a chance to hear from Snowball the bodega cat of Windsor Terrace:

Snowball makes his home at 10th Avenue Grocery & Deli Express (561 17th Street at 10th Avenue). Once again, we weren’t able to say hello, as Snowball was busy elsewhere.

Snowball was left in a box under the wheel of a car, abandoned by his previous owners. He was taken in by the bodega owner.

But Snowball is well taken care of nowadays. “Look, he’s so beautiful and pure,” Snowball says, describing how people often complement him. “My owners wash me with a cloth everyday.”

Snowball’s experience relates to highly topical issues. While describing his abandonment, he says “it’s like a refugee trying to find a home, and everybody just shutting the door in their face and leaving them in the street.”

But Snowball is a big fan of his bodega and the other felines in the neighborhood. “I get along with every other cat,” says Snowball. “Whether I’m white, whether I’m brown, or whether I’m black, we don’t care.”

You can view the WNYC series here to learn about the lives of bodega cats all over New York City.

Correction: June 22, 2016, 9:30pm. We mistakenly attributed the series to NPR instead of WNYC. We regret the error.