Subscription boxes are the latest craze sweeping the nation. Whether it’s meal preparations or luxury household items there’s a monthly subscription box out there. When I heard that there was a new cat subscription box especially for us crazy cat ladies, I had to find out more. I recently interviewed Farah Radford, the founder of Cattitude Box, just after her appearance at Cat Extravaganza in London earlier this month. I wanted to know more about her Cat Subscription business and why Cattitude Box is ‘purrfect’ for cats and their ‘pawrents’.
Can you tell me about a little bit more about your business?
Cattitude Box is a monthly subscription box for cat ladies and their cats. Every month you get a box full of goodies for you and your cats to share! You can also buy a one-off box for yourself or a gift box for a special cat loving friend. The branding of the website was left monochrome to raise awareness of the fact that the RSPCA sees more black and black & white cats come into its care than any other colour of cat, (partly because people think they don’t look good in photos)! We also donate a portion of our profit to Bury’s Stray Cat Fund. Set in Bury St. Edmunds, they are an independent cat sanctuary who have been looking after cats and kittens for over 40 years.
How did it all start?
It actually started with a bit of a joke really. I had a subscription to a monthly beauty and lifestyle box. Whenever the box arrived my cats were more excited than I was – mainly because they get to sit in the box. It was a small box but as you know if it fits they sit! Sometimes they’d even steal items from the boxes. One time Muffin stole a makeup sponge that came in the box and started chasing it around the house like a football. She kept it in her special hiding place for weeks. My husband jokingly said “shame they don’t send anything for Muffin, she is their biggest fan! A nice catnip toy would be nice! And what if your eyeliner thingy had a cat on it. Why do they all have to be all boring pink and gold”. I looked at him as he changed the TV channel and said: “you know what, for the first time in your life you’ve said something useful”. Maybe there should be a box for both the cats and cat mums!”
I did some research and found there were a few UK subscription boxes for just cats but nothing that was for both cats and the cat owners. There was definitely a gap in the market. I was talking to some friends about this idea I had and they said how I had a great eye for quirky cat-themed products. A lot of my friends are cat ladies and because I travel a lot, I tend to come across cat themed items during my travels and always get them little souvenirs. Think of Cattitude Box like a friend who knows your love for cats and sends you quirky cat gifts for you and your cats every month.
What makes a crazy cat lady?
Oh you know, different things. The media obviously portray us as lonely single women with 18 cats who shout at other people and never leave the house! But it’s often the simple things that you do for your cats, often without realising. You take more photos of your cats than yourself. You are covered by cat hair all the time, you say goodbye to your cats while leaving home, and get sad nearer your holiday as you’ll miss your cats. Or you just simply love your cat more than other people. Us cat ladies are more similar than we think. We laugh at all the same cat memes. We watch the same cat videos on YouTube. We all want to adopt all the unfortunate cats if we could. We also look at things with cat reference on them and smile.
I don’t think being a crazy cat lady is a bad thing. We should embrace our crazy cat lady status because not everyone gets to be lucky enough to be cat mums.
There is definitely a stigma around the term “crazy cat lady” and I think it’s time we cat ladies should own it. We should be totally proud of our cat lady status. It’s cool to be a crazy cat lady or a crazy cat dad (I know my husband is definitely one!). Speaking of, we are also doing a special cat dad gift box for Father’s Day so the crazy cat men don’t feel left out!
Are you a crazy cat lady, and if so what is the craziest thing you’ve done for your cats?
I’m 100% a crazy cat lady. My black and white cat Muffin – who was the inspiration behind the black and white theme of Cattitude Box, has also been through a lot and is a very brave girl. I think the craziest (and also the stupidest) thing I did was run to the vets after donating blood to pick up my cat.
Bit of a back story – my cat Muffin was very ill as a kitten and at one point kept having blood in her stool. We had to leave her with the vet overnight to do an endoscopy so that they can find out what was wrong with her. I also donated blood on the very same day and like they do, after the blood donation they told me not to do any exercise for the day. As soon as I got out from there I got a phone call from the vet and I actually ran to the vet to get her (I lived in a small town and everything was walking distance). The vet nurse was telling me about the procedure and findings and I fainted sitting on the chair while talking to her(because of the blood donation and the running etc). My husband was out of town so they had to call a friend to pick me up. The vet nurse was like “Mrs Radford came to pick up her cat who had an endoscopy done today. We have just told her that her cat has colitis and she fainted. She is awake now but could you please come to pick her up?” Muffin had a steroid injection and her food was changed and she was fine afterward. but it became a running joke that I’m a crazy cat lady who faints at the vet after she’s told the cat is ill.
What do your friends and family think about your crazy cat loving ways?
They joke about it of course but they also spam me with every cat meme they come across on the internet so I can’t really complain! My mother was a little upset after I got the third cat instead of a grandchild for her!
What should every crazy cat lady have?
Lint rollers. Lots of them. They’re a lifesaver – especially when you get dressed up to go to a meeting and the cat(s) choose to sit on you! And the next thing is probably a subscription to Cattitude Box to share with their cats.
How do you decide what to include in your boxes?
Being a cat lady definitely helps to curate cat-Tastic items for my cat ladies! We partner with independent artists and creators to design custom items. We often commission special custom items just for the boxes. All the food that we choose to go in our boxes are Grain-free and very gentle for the kitties. Our boxes are very much for the cat ladies by the cat ladies.
I get inspiration for Cattitude boxes from everywhere but especially from my travels. One of the countries I thought was really cool for cats is Japan. My friend Mikato is visiting her hometown in Japan at the moment and regularly sending me photos of quirky cat items for a Japanese themed Cattitude box.
Where can we get our paws on you boxes?
Head over to Cattitudebox.com to get your box so that you can parade your crazy cat lady status in all its furry glory! You can use the code GREATCATSBY10 for 10% off your first order.
I absolutely love this, amazing idea and such a lovely thing to look forward to. Love that you support charity along the way too.