Walking into the 2025 Cat Fancier Association International Cat Show & Expo, there is no mistaking where you are.
On the main stage, performers belt out Taylor Swift’s song “22,” but they have replaced the lyrics with meows—it’s “Cat-aoke,” after all—and they are joined by a trio of dancing, cat-themed Furries. Nearby, there’s a four-foot-tall cat tower with two adult humans sitting atop cosplaying as Rum Tum Tugger and Electra from the Broadway musical Cats. They mew as I walk past.
Vendors sell cat houses that look like more like condos, or even the White House. A booth demonstrates a $900 futuristic-looking box that promises to dry your freshly-bathed pet quickly and quietly.