How a “childless cat lady” turned her home into a cat playground

BUFFALO, Minnesota – Childless female cats are one of the biggest stars of this election season.

JD Vance, Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate, recently made headlines when a 2021 Fox News interview resurfaced in which he complained about “childless cat ladies who are unhappy with their own lives and the choices they've made and therefore want to make the rest of the country unhappy too.”

But local cat lover Mary Tan assures that this description is far from accurate: she and her three pets, for example, are very happy, especially given all the work she put into her house to transform it into a cat playground.

“Cats are my thing,” Tan said. “I'm trying to raise the status of cats. … I want people to respect cats and know that they are wonderful pets.”

That's not only Tan's personal mission, but also the responsibility behind Whisker Media, the public relations firm she runs. The former WCCO reporter has cat-centered every aspect of her life, and her Buffalo home is equipped for both her feline friends and the kitties she regularly cares for.

“It's designed so that when I'm talking to clients, kitties are up here. The whole thing is designed so that it's a highway for them to climb and run around on,” Tan said of the raised walkways attached to her walls.

A growing trend

Cats are trending among millennials and Generation Z, for whom keeping them is much less work than a dog, Tan said. Her work representing pet companies through Whisker Media has boomed during the pandemic as demand for pet products, particularly cat items, has increased, she said.

In 2019, the American Pet Products Association estimated total pet industry spending in the U.S. at $97.1 billion. This year, that number is now estimated to be closer to $150 billion.

According to an analysis by Forbes, households with cats only spend about $653 per year on their animals, including food, veterinary care, toys and grooming. Households with only dogs spend more than $900 per year. The report also found that Gen Z members are more likely to own a cat than Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation.

“Cats are more appreciated by younger generations,” said Tan. “It's really difficult for younger people to afford a house right now. Cats are much easier to care for and don't need nearly as much space as [compared to a dog].”

Darryl Michaelson of Purrniture Cat Furniture in St. Paul has seen a steady demand for cat furniture since he started his company in 1990. By chance, he secured a booth at the Minnesota State Fair and after a few years was able to open his business from a brick-and-mortar location because business was so good.

“I got a few kittens in my early 20s and when I looked at the selection, I realized that none of them were well made and [much] was more expensive than I could justify,” he said. “I thought I'd build one myself. I'm handy and my approach was: I would drive around and collect wood.”

Michaelson, who makes much of the furniture himself, said he not only makes sure his cat trees aren't wobbly, but also gives them a sleek and modern look with rounded edges that go well with human furniture.

His best advice for people looking for cat furniture is to pay attention to where the cat likes to hang out, whether it's high up or tucked away in a corner on the floor. Cats just want to be part of the family.

“For a cat to actually want to use it and be on it, [it] needs to be in an area where people are – not in a back bedroom where no one is,” he said. “A cat furniture piece does not need to be by the window. Cats are happy when they can watch their family watching TV and eating dinner.”

Cat crawling

Franklin, an orange tabby cat, scurried across Tan's wall, quickly jumped down from a perch, squeezed through a hole in her desk, and settled into a storage compartment across the room. Then the cat jumped to the floor and rolled over, exposing his belly.

This is Tan's home office, complete with a Whisker Media sign hanging above a wall full of hiding places for cats and kittens. There's also a transparent cat bed hanging on one wall where Franklin often curls up.

The custom-made perches that Franklin runs across hang on the wall above Tan's computer and desk, giving her cats a place to run and jump. Below are cat hammocks, perfect hiding places for shy kitties. Behind the bedroom door is a small cat tree with even more covered areas.

The room is a complete success in every respect.

“The kittens are just crazy,” said Tan. “They climb on everything and everything is a toy. So I put all my office stuff like pens and papers in [a] Bank.”

This bench was provided by contractor AJ Penkert, who has helped numerous families make their homes pet-friendly. He helped Tan – who moved into her home last year because she knew she wanted to make it the best place for her cats – furnish the space and install pet-safe flooring that can withstand even the biggest cat disaster. It's scratch-resistant and easy to clean without absorbing odors, he said.

“I work primarily with dog owners installing dog doors and kennel runs,” he said. “This was the first complete cat room I ever installed.”

The rest of Tan's house is still a work in progress, she said, though she already has a large cat tree next to a window for her cats to look out of, cat art hanging on the walls and cat toys scattered around the living room. In her other office, across from the massive bookshelves downstairs, she has two small cat trees with beds overlooking the front patio. But all that doesn't mean her living space is a cluttered mess.

“I try to create a minimalist, modern look, also to combat the crazy cat lady image,” she said. “When people think of women with cats, they think of a dirty house. With this design, I wanted to fight against that.”