POP Cats 2024!
Dr. Julie Liu: proud cat parent, Fear Free/ Cat Friendly veterinarian, owner of My Family Cat, and subscriber to Canva Pro.
My Family Cat’s first POP Cats appearance is officially over, and I had an amazing time meeting all of the cat lovers who stopped by my booth last weekend! Were they lured by the swag I had strategically laid out at the front of my table in bowls shaped like cat heads? Maybe, but it resulted in multiple conversations with compassionate cat parents as they shared their struggles with their cat’s behavior. Felines often don’t receive as much consideration in the veterinary and pet world as canines, and it was heartening to confirm that there truly is a need for behavioral support for cats in Austin.
Some highlights:
Meeting fellow sticker-philes. I’ve loved stickers since I was a kid, when I would hoard my collection in the beige repurposed makeup box I got from my mom. There should always be some element of fun to life IMO, and when I was a staff vet I used my stickers to decorate certificates for patients congratulating them for being brave during their surgery day or for succeeding in weight loss, and I loved to imagine them being hung proudly on the fridge. I even had other staff members ask me for certificates for their patients.
By far the most important decision for any feline-centric business owner is how to incorporate cats into your swag.
In my current stash I have stickers that say JULIE from when I was 8 years old, sparkly cupcakes, and scratch-n-sniff pizzas given to me a few months ago by a vet friend who remembered my stickers when we worked together years ago.
Now that I’m a business owner, I was able to share my sticker love at my booth with other attendees in the form of glittery and rainbow-y “Proud Cat Parent” stickers, feline tarot card stickers, purple space-themed cat stickers, and loafing cat stickers in various colors. While children were definitely drawn to the free stickers, by far the majority of people who made a beeline were adults. Watching people fan out the options on the table to pick the best ones for their collections and find stickers that looked like their cat was a nice flashback to childhood.
Cat loaves! Galaxy cats! Tarot cats! (Disclaimer: I did not design these, but wish I had).
Phone pics of family cats. I am a cat parent, not a cat owner. The photo album on my phone is like 80% personal pets, and a pic of my cat Puff is the lock screen image on my phone and my laptop. POP Cats was filled with cat parents. I had several instances where I would be chatting with a fellow cat parent about their cat when they would abruptly pause, scroll through their phone images that were also 80% personal pets, and show me a picture of the cat in question looking very cute.
When I was choosing the name of my business, I wanted it to reflect that happy impulse and remind cat caregivers of the bond they have with their cat, which can undergo significant stress when their cat develops unwanted behavior like aggression or housesoiling. My cats are and have been my family, even when they were fighting with each other or busting into the food cabinet or making life extremely challenging, and that’s how “My Family Cat” was born.
Do I ever get tired of seeing this cute face 500 times a day? Nope.
Connecting with local vet professionals. I’ve been a veterinarian since 2009, and have been self-employed since 2020. Outside of My Family Cat, I provide relief services (filling in at general practice vet clinics around Austin to support clients and patients) and am a public speaker and freelancer through my other business, Flux Vet. Since many of the vet and pet professionals in my network live outside of Austin, it’s always great to meet people locally, whether it’s at the clinics where I work, at conferences, or events like POP Cats. I met colleagues from the worlds of rescue, shelter, ER, urgent care and general practice. I also met a cool petsitter from San Antonio (@Jannanimals) and chatted with some local technician friends who stopped by my booth to say hi.
The vet practices in Austin are all intermeshed and form a symbiotic support system for pets. When you bring your cat to your general practice vet, they may refer you to a specialist such as an internist or surgical specialist, an ER for continued hospitalization if your cat needs critical care, or to a behavior-focused vet like me who can come to your home and dive deep into a behavior concern. Similarly, I request and review your cat’s records from your vet before your behavior consult to learn about your cat’s medical history, and refer you back to them if there are recommended medical diagnostics or treatments outside the scope of my cat behavior practice. Even as a veterinarian, I’ve brought my own pets to specialists and have hospitalized them at ERs when needed, and I routinely refer clients to trainers, groomers, petsitters, rehab vets, mobile vets/ vet techs, and holistic vets in Austin. Puff has a wonderful Fear Free general practice vet who takes care of his medical needs in a way that minimizes his fear and stress, which is even more important now than he’s over 17 years old.
The interconnectedness of vet and pet professionals all working on behalf of pets makes me feel grateful to be contributing to a larger movement as a feline advocate.
Team work makes the dream work! Especially when it comes to finding a network of vet/ pet professionals who support the
emotional and physical health of your cat.
#Exhibitorlife. While I spent several hours manning the booth for the Relief Veterinary Medical Association at the recent AVMA convention, this was the first time I had exhibited for my own business, and there was so much to learn. My ever-supportive partner Brian made himself available to help me load in and set up my banner, and I was very proud of myself for figuring out how to break everything down at the end. I also enjoyed getting to know my exhibit mates on either side (shout out to Tooth of a Cat Apothecary from Austin and Michaela Made from Dallas!), who were clearly exhibitor pros and gave me some great tips, including writing a post-event blog.
Unfortunately, as someone who routinely gets hangry, I quickly realized that I didn’t plan well for how to manage the food situation when I would be at the booth alone for 5-6 hours a day. Furtively cramming mouthfuls of PB and jelly sandwich into my face when there was a break in the crowds was a terrible idea due to my insistence on applying a mega layer of PB like I do at home. In case you’re wondering how to eat at your future exhibitor booth, let’s just say that discreet eating only works when you’re consuming food that doesn’t fall out in globs. Day 2 of eating was more successful because I limited myself to a PB/ chocolate protein bar from HEB that claimed to have nutritional value, but still left me hangry. Clearly, this is something I need to nail down before any future exhibitor outings.
As I learned the hard way, PB and jelly sandwiches made with a PB avalanche are not finger food.
That’s it for POP Cats thoughts. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and if you have more questions about my behavior services, feel free to reach out or book a cat behavior consult directly on my site!