cramped at CatCon

[@AtlasDeValle]

Hearing about how loud and cramped it was makes me really stressed out for the cats. That’s really gotta change

[@d6d6d6d61]

I think that people who intentionally try to get their pet famous often don't have their pets well being in mind unfortunately

[@heathermichael3987]

I felt and thought the same thing .

[@halfassfashion]

Especially because stress makes cats sick!

[@ToplessTopics]

it reminds me of the reptile shows i've been to...they keep all the animals in little plastic containers with NO place to hide, it enrages me

[@colonelhstinkmeaner8547]

Some of those people identify as cats😂😂😂

[@IsSarahPi]

An extra hour in the CatCon litterbox!

[@unconcernedsalad2]

replying to boost this godlike comment

[@wilma678]

😭😭😭

[@GreatBooker]

Stoppppp this made me ugly snort laugh thank you

[@cuttlefishii]

I'm going to be laughing at this comment for a solid week thank you

[@KariIzumi1]

I hate that I understood this joke

[@melanieschwarz2181]

They really should’ve had the cats in a separate room like you were saying, but also have it be a noise reduced area, like you can’t talk above a whisper in the lines. Also, they should’ve had more enclosed spaces for the cats, like at least a full room made of curtains. Could also be more opportunity for marketing/decoration/advertising. Cats love being in enclosed spaces and I can’t imagine how stressed out they must have been. Do better CatCon!

[@kinkinibhattacharya8183]

I got loads of adverts for CatCon and this was my first thought! My kitty gets stressed when there are too many people in his space. An event centered around cats should take into account what is best for them. This felt exploitative and felt like it was endangering all humans and pets involved.

[@spasiba12345]

The entire adoption area where the cats were...was separated from the rest of CatCon by large blue screens. Potential adopters could interact with a cat they liked in temporary closed rooms.

[@neverstoppedme]

I've had cats my whole life. I've rescued, I've raised kittens from just a few weeks old, I’ve had sick/old/special needs cats. I have 3 right now. I LOVE cats, is what I'm saying, and I cannot imagine ever putting one into that kind of situation. Holy crap, that is not a safe or appropriate environment for any cat, even the most mellow.

[@Grace-er9ep]

Same we have 4 cats right now and even the most friendly fella we have would be absolutely horrified by this. Their senses are all supremely more intense than ours so I can only imagine how those poor little guys felt

[@cmmiestcat]

Not just cats.... ANY animals in general.

[@GweenOfTea]

Yea, the idea of a cat convention just doesn’t sit right with me. But I’m not exactly the biggest fan of cat cafe’s either. I just don’t think cats are an animal that handle being around tons and tons of people, for multiple days

[@captainghoul666]

​@@GweenOfTeayeah very solitary animals at the end of the day. New people stress them out, I do like the cat cafes that are adopting out the cat. It takes pressure off shelters, and then hopefully the cats aren't lv8ng with that stress as little as possible

[@docsmooth]

I had a cat for 19 years and I know if I had walked through the adoption area she would have smelled it and been pissed at me for a month.

[@PuttBlug69]

how did u comment 10 hours ago this video was just posted

[@PuttBlug69]

are u a wizard

[@beckyginger3432]

Or a patreon

[@stephenpmurphy591]

My wife & I have three Maine Coon cats & Four dogs.( German Sheperd Bernese Mountain dog & 2 border Collies will live in a rural region) Our cats don't care if they smell the scent of a foreign dog on us, however if they should detect the sent of an alien cat Frank will hiss recoil in horror & betrayal and swatt us several times. The other two react as if they've smell some vile order and ignore us until food is offered as a peace treaty. Any wonder why ancient Egyptians worshipped cats as God & Goddess incarnates?

[@nailinthefashion]

​@@stephenpmurphy591you're living my dream omg what a sweet person and comment

[@sundaymorningbeef]

Let me be the lame person to make the “I can’t believe she didn’t see that coming!” joke about how the psychic’s assistant quit and she had no idea

[@thebakednachos]

I guess tbf she did say she's a pet psychic 🤣

[@oliviaoob1426]

@NotVille_ lame loser bot

[@mcgoo721]

No honestly dont feel lame. Those people need to be ridiculed.

[@WALKnTLK]

I 100% believe they couldn't afford the entire venue this year. In 2019, the last catcon before the pandemic, they used the whole convention center. Larger vendors and some photo ops were in the large hall, and the adoption area & artist alley were in a separate smaller hall. Hopefully they can go back to a similar layout next year.

[@aslobos]

Yes. This is the last CatCon I went to before the pandemic. I agree about the cost. Hopefully, next year will be like this. I had a great time this year. 😻😻😻 Thanks for reviewing, Amanda!🥰🙏

[@TeamOuid]

Was so excited when I saw you were at a CatCon. Then I was really sad because it wasn't SEAMeow, the Seattle CatCon. But SEAMeow was a good con with better everything; you can bring your own cat, better flow, better catfluencers, also SEAMeow was $45 for the whole weekend and was a charity event as it was hosted by the local cat cafe that adopts out FIV+ cats. Just FYI, I'm a non-affiliated dog mom, but it was such a fun con.

[@strangerofthe2067]

I live in Tacoma area and have adopted 2 cats from the local cat cafe here in the past two years and I had no idea this was a thing in Seattle. I’m definitely interested knowing that it is for charity towards the local cat cafes, that’s awesome! Thanks for posting this!

[@wompppwompwomppp]

There's a pretty good Dog convention i remember going to in Seattle when I was younger. Full of peoples personal pets walking around as well as every other dog you can imagine

[@donttalktomebye]

@@strangerofthe2067i saw they were there this year and hey havent opened their new location yet but i really cant wait for them to open so i can get the opportunity to adopt from them!

[@strangerofthe2067]

@@donttalktomebye it’s such a cool concept! We setup dates a couple different times to just go in a play with the cats, then eventually adopted our first around a year and a half ago, then decided pretty quickly that we wanted him to have a friend so we went back around 6 months later and adopted a female. They’re now the best of friends and we are so happy to have them both! 2 of our friends have also gone and adopted from there since we got our second, and we still go in just to visit other cats there too. Really love the cat cafes!

[@jayshmay]

I went to SEAMeow too!! I loved the people with the cat heads on playing their string instruments outside :))

[@chocolateal21]

My mom was a vendor at CatCon! She has her own small business so it was just her and my dad that went out there. They were SWARMED both days, my dad said neither of them were able to leave the booth all day just due to how many people were coming. The vendor/artist alley area was constantly moving, and many booths had lines of people waiting to purchase items, which didn't help the flow of foot traffic. It was great for business, but they're definitely planning to accommodate for the chaos next time.

[@natalied662]

if i was a business owner i def wouldnt be complaining about being swarmed lol. ill go hours without eating too

[@missbeaussie]

​@@natalied662yeah but hours without peeing not so good

[@natalied662]

@@missbeaussie she said there was both of them there so if one really needed to pee i could arrange around that since it doesn't take more than 5 minutes

[@gmc5618]

For the cat adoption itd be great of it was ran more like a cat cafe where you book a slot, theres rules of conduct, theyre in a seperate quieter area

[@clarakf]

If there's one thing that Amanda's videos have taught me, it's that the US has way more conventions than I ever could have imagined

[@Vicky-Hugh-Martini]

I'm surprised that there can be a convention for almost anything.

[@carolscott5301]

I can't be surprised by any convention after learning about the Abraham Lincoln impersonator convention

[@xxzcfdxc]

I was going to comment this 😂

[@flagerdevil]

Only in the Americas! 😁

[@Ray_Vun]

if there's a convention to meet people who've been in jail, i hope it's called exconcon

[@bradwearsprada4728]

It's basically rule 34 for conventions

[@entitled_little_cat]

"I am an anxiously early person by design... And by trauma" had me deceased 😂 same girl same

[@nrgbunni.]

I always stress about having to be early to things so I'm not late and I didn't put 2 and 2 together that it was probably because of my trauma and anxiety as to why I do that and this comment made me realise that.

[@minorchord]

Please never stop going to the most random conventions, I love this content Amanda :) Waiting for the dog convention soon now though

[@_PinkiePie.]

@NotVille_ Not your dad when he went out for milk 15 years ago

[@Scarleto]

I definitely get your point about not picking up a random cat. I've had my cats for 7 years and neither of them are comfortable being picked up and held, I can't imagine how that'd go in that stressful environment. Probably a lot of scratches! Definitely feel for those poor kitties, I hope they had a lot of adoptions to make it worth it.

[@CainXVII]

Yes. It's the cat that's going to pay if it bites someone.

[@misaoshikhun2460]

Now i'm curious on these events. Can you do a year-end tier list of events you went to? It would interesting how they stack up from your POV.

[@leahdavis9434]

Seconding

[@ads605]

Thirding

[@ann-gt4hh]

I have a cat. We adopted him at 10 years old and now he’s 15. He’s a orange tabby and absolutely hates all other cats. For this reason he may only go outside on a leash. Didn’t know there was a catcon but honestly I shoulda. With how much pet owners go in on their animals and animal enthusiasts hype, you’d think this con woulda been more prepped for the huge lines. Knowing that my shelter keeps a quiet policy I’d be really worried about all the cats in attendance :( They really needed to be further from all the noise.

[@d6d6d6d61]

Yep it's all about capitalism, not the well being of the pets :(

[@vaehtay]

The psychic reading is really funny to me. Even if things like that do turn out to be scams, they’re always so lighthearted and fun. Like, getting one of those would make me so happy that I’d do it even if it was pricey lol

[@missbeaussie]

Definitely not always fun. I once had a woman tell me something really awful (that turned out not to be true) but give me anxiety for a long time. Legit one's are fine but there are many dodgy ones.

[@eggysalad]

​@@missbeaussietrue! some psychics who are scammers through and through will tell you horrible things in hopes that you will feel lost and/or scared and keep coming back to them for "advice" so they can keep taking your money! sorry you had that experience :(

[@n0tadr1anna]

I'm concerned about how stressful this must be for the cats. They're in a loud, unfamiliar place surrounded by hundreds of strangers for _hours._ Maybe some cats don't mind, but I know my cats would be panicking and looking for somewhere to hide.

[@leahdavis9434]

I assume that's part of why no one could bring their own cats, aside from health stuff and fighting risks- they probably use cats that are used to people, maybe shelter cats that go to cafes

[@katerrinah5442]

My cat is super social and not bothered by crowds. I'd never even consider putting him in that kind of environment. Their poor ears and noses must have been so overwhelmed 😔

[@assgremlin]

They should've just set up screens showing off each individual cat being recorded with webcams so they would be there without actually being there. For a con that is all about cats they really did no research about how stressful it is for cat to be in a new enviroment full of loud sounds and smells (especially of other cats) after hours of traveling. Or maybe they just don't care. I'm pretty sure that people who go to such cons are aware how cats looks like and how their fur feels, they don't have to met them irl - just set up a merchandise booth and cardboard cut-outs for pictures or something.

[@laurenkathleen2221]

For your computer screen, go to system settings > lock screen > then you can turn off some of the timers for sleeping and set them to "never". I was looking for this comment all over your last video when you mentioned the screen keeps going to sleep, and this hopefully helps. If there are changes to your settings, you can always just search "inactive" and some different headers will pop up for options.

[@dejausser]

One of my cats genuinely loves making friends with everyone, he actually likes going to the vet and seeing all his vet friends and they love him. We had to take him to a different clinic last week for a specialist dental surgery (he's 12 and his teeth are beginning to wear down a lot) and when I came to pick him up three different vet staff came up to the counter from out back to tell me how great he was! He's leash trained and we often interact with strangers at the park who are so excited to see a cat on a leash, he's just the chillest most dog like cat. And even with all that, I would absolutely never subject him to this convention, it's just way too stressful looking for a cat!

[@wildpurplechild]

That's wonderful! I work at a vet clinic and so many cats hate it so much, including mine. We do our best to keep them comfy, but most cats get stressed in new spaces. I'm glad your boy doesn't mind. :)

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

2:50 Hermes Barking his disgust at you going to Cat Con was just perfect😂😂 She’s gotta work to keep you in the good treatos!

[@ritadale8911]

I hope we make it to the point where Swell puts on her own convention and all of the other KZbinrs attend to review it. All will be right with the world.

[@CainXVII]

Or we all create youtube channels to review her convention:3

[@Seypenni]

Very fitting that the cat con used a venue that was juuuust big enough for everyone to be in, but not comfortably. If they fits, we sits.

[@00Rav3n00]

Hermes barking while Amanda makes a video about cats is the pettiest and most perfect thing ever 😂

[@ossumopossum]

swell!!! i was gonna contact you about the foulest con experience ive ever had at this event saturday. it was sooo over crowded and that is an understatement. im soo glad you covered this. tyty . over sold, over priced, over hyped. skip it yall

[@spasiba12345]

Yes, at times some of the narrow aisles/rows of vendors were crowded. They did cap the number of tickets sold, so it wasn't just a general admission free for all. Over hyped? I don't think so. Lots of creative, handmade, unique, fun & interesting products for cats and their people...seminars on cat care, cat culture, cat behavior...even cat trivia. This was my 4th CatCon and I had a blast.

[@leeannrussell3746]

Cat podcast is a genius idea. I would definitely subscribe to a ASMR Cat podcast. Where they interview the cat, play with the cat, feed the cat. Love this idea

[@Grace-er9ep]

I have 4 cats and we are working on making family cat playtime a recorded thing, it's just a matter of cleaning up all the hair and knocked over stuff lol. Keep looking because maybe we'll be up online sooner than later

[@Pendrake]

It would be a pawdcast.

[@marbleousmel]

My cat would just give me dirty looks

[@KaylaKasel]

There are some great ASMR Cat Spa videos

[@AmaraJordanMusic]

“It’s a little bag, but, I have it filled up… ‘cause I’m a girl.” 😂 I loved that more than I probably should have. I used to carry those huge Fit the World purses and I’m trying to scale down. I FEEL THIS. 😂

[@cashnelson2306]

watching Swell be amazed by a basic cold read is so adorable

[@CainXVII]

Yeah, and even the old "if it's not your cat, then who is it?"

[@punkierockerbruster]

Learning that once the KZbin thing is over (not saying it's soon) but that you can definitely go into consulting for conventions and events and charge some $$$ is rad 😂

[@ziggystardog]

I imagine all cat parties are awkward, after hours or not.

[@PhoenyxV]

PAWties* (sorry, had to)

[@stephaniet5448]

@@PhoenyxV😂😂😂👍🏼

[@maxnum1sgameclub263]

Go and read the manga “the evil secret society of cats” its a fairly cheap 4 panel manga book. You have no idea how strange cats can be HAIL the supreme cat commander!

[@lizzysmira]

When u said “I am an anxiously early person by design and by trauma” I felt that.

[@megansinger517]

They definitely needed a separate chill out area for the cats. Some cats have personalities suited for a big social environment but the ambient noise alone of such a big space, even if people were all keeping their voices at a lower level, it still wouldn't be enough for their hyper sensitive ears.

[@aimeekessell5022]

The feathery paws bit was hilarious because my cat’s name is Mercury and also has very fluffy feet. 😂😂

[@linzonn]

I've attended a cat convention called Meowfest (Vancouver and Toronto) and find the experience very similar! It's expensive, loud, crowded, and there's not a whole lot to do. But people keep going and the conventions keep running, so I guess it's working for them. Personally this will be my last year attending, and I'm only going because one of my kids really wanted to go.

[@user-xv1cs9mm9d]

I just bought tickets yesterday 🙃 i wish this was out sooner

[@SweetWilliams13]

Been loving all of these random cons, so much fun hearing about these events that I haven't heard anything about before

[@iAmRaccoon]

My cat spent the entire video staring directly at the cat face behind you

[@jencooksthings]

I was helping my friend move and her cats kept yelling at me because they were very unhappy about it and she kept laughing at me because she could hear me from the other room apologizing for upsetting them. 🤣

[@SymphonyOfNaked]

The Purrrcast's tagline is something like "where we talk to cat people because we can't talk to their cats." Probably the closest existing podcast to your idea!

[@A____P]

Still waiting for Swell to go to a furry convention

[@rabbitasaur]

Swell should go to Further Confusion in San Jose in 2024

[@aeiou_ena]

Midwest furfest is coming up in November we can cross our fingers and hope lol

[@that.neurodivergent]

YESSSS just not free fur all lmfao

[@aeiou_ena]

@@that.neurodivergent no one should go to Free fur all

[@that.neurodivergent]

@@aeiou_ena wholeheartedly agreed

[@armor_plated_gecko]

If they didn't call all of the queues fe-lines I'm very disappointed

[@beth-bi9yv]

😂

[@CainXVII]

😂

[@mackenzie6166]

There is actually a cat podcast that I listen to! It’s called the Purrrcast, and the whole premise is talking to people about their cats (sometimes from the person’s home with the cat present lol)

[@scouturrutia6179]

I watch your videos before I go to work to get me pumped up and now you’ve become a part of my daily routine. Much love to you Swell!

[@PlantBasedLaughter]

You may already be doing this, but offering your services as a consultant for organizing events would really suit your talents and experience. Your comments about the Artist Alley and how to support traffic and flow is very insightful. Plus it sounds like for this convention that they needed someone who this kind of insight for many reasons

[@GreatCatsby_]

i'd really like you to talk more about the accessibility of cons. there are a lot of us that like to go to these things.

[@chrissywalter]

She usually does. She's actually pretty thorough talking about it too. Honestly the only person I've ever really noticed who does

[@mb6019]

I’m part of cat Twitter & have never heard of this convention. Not that I would ever go & put my babies through all that but wow that’s very surprising.

[@Blade2point0]

Will you check out a reptile convention? Some of the friendliest, most caring people out there.

[@anxietyirl]

There is legit a huge cat influencer fandom and yes snark groups towards the owners, I'm honestly surprised this isn't well known!

[@traceacex]

So here’s a fun fact. We had a cat convention over here in the Asbury Park area before the pandemic was a thing and they had at least done the intelligent thing of having the main drag of vendors and the like and then on an entirely separate area of the building that you needed a ticket for, they had the meet and greets. And that area was MUCH a quieter than the rest of the event. Still stressful, but holy moly seeing some of these cats just hanging out with all these strangers walking around makes me sad for them, especially if they aren’t the kind of cats that are used to being around a lot of people. Your idea of using the other area for the cats would have been perfect Swell.

[@izobellle]

my dad also loves doing the psychic readings 😭😭 he doesn’t believe in any of it but loves entertaining the idea of it

[@Thorax420]

i loved hearing about the toddler playing with the fursuiter! T w T thats just what being a furry is about, sharing love of animals and playing around! for some kids theres nothing more exciting than a giant friendly plush version of their favorite animal, and suiters love to keep kids and people entertained. id love to see you go to a furry con someday! there's usually a dance competition, dance offs, parades, and games to check out!

[@wonderjan]

I'm from Singapore and we recently had one called Asia Cat Expo! I'm not a cat owner and I'm not in the know for any local cat influencers but attendees actually brought their cats in their cute trolleys and backpacks. After watching your video and thinking about it they also had a layout issue near the adoption area with the human traffic. There has been a long queue for awhile outside the convention too so I hope they put the crowd in mind for next time and consider expanding the hall for that.

[@andtrtewthisisme292]

Really enjoying the Magic Treehouse-esque titles of these videos

[@ASHUHL3A]

The intro is giving Stefan from SNL & I’m living for it.

[@AmaraJordanMusic]

About feeling dazed. I’ve done some work with chronic pain patients, who have overactive nervous systems and often experience sensitivity to noise, light, and temperature. It can impact people in many ways. It’s a matter of threshold and tolerance, but these issues can impact neurotypical people (chronic pain often becomes a neurological issue; the brain doesn’t intercept and translate signals correctly and basically becomes inflamed). Overstimulation from light and, as you highlighted in the video, sound, can cause a feeling of dazedness. It’s a half a step toward depersonalization, because the brain is so overwhelmed by the amount of stimuli it is presented with. To protect itself, it starts to filter out things we’d normally be on alert for, by trying to figure out what represents danger and what doesn’t. This selectivity can make you feel a little out of step with what’s going on around you, because, well, our perception is our reality, and you lose the ability to perceive the world as you normally would. It can be kind of dreamlike. It’s really interesting stuff. Like mentioned, though, in such a crowded space, it really could be an excess of carbon dioxide! There have been studies that show driving can be impaired to a degree when carbon dioxide levels in the car rise too high. It also impacts performance of school children who have longer class periods; at the end of the school day fatigue isn’t just from being bored and ready to go home; it can be from stale air without enough proper ventilation, allowing a build up of carbon dioxide. One study showed it even impacted student grades. Fresh air does the body good. Sorry to go all science nerd about it, but it was a huge red flag and now I’m curious as to what the actual cause was. Watch me show up next year with a carbon dioxide monitor and all the people in fur suits look at me because I’m being weird.

[@mandyd9681]

I had not heard of Cat Con, up in Seattle they had Sea-Meow and you could bring your own cat to that one 🤣

[@jessyk4101]

We had a similar thing in MN and people COULD bring their cat and I just felt so bad for them. A lot of them were squished in the little backpacks or stressed in strollers. There were some rescues there too and having outside cats and then the scheduled to be there rescue cats seemed poorly planned

[@Freya407]

Ok, all this con content is making me want a Swell review of Gen Con (or any board gaming convention, really). I haven't been since the before times, so would be fascinating to get an outside perspective on it now! If your next Aug is also open, just sayin... 😁

[@AWAKENIUM]

LOL AMANDA THIS INTRO WAS FANTASTIC.

[@JennyNobody]

after I decided I like you as a creator, 101% of why I click a video like this is because of the "thats a thing" factor. You got me. You absolutly got me.

[@HwipCream420]

If I ever throw a convention I’m 100% going to hire you for consulting lol.

[@jorgev9674]

Never thought i would want to go to a Cat Con but you make it sound so interesting! Thanks for going to these for us!

[@opossible_elixir]

3:27 I can't believe they went with "celebrecats" when "celebrekitties" was right there

[@crayonz2markerz]

Oh my gosh. I was there the same time as you and I completely missed you. I was inspired to go because of you and your videos! Your videos inspired me to go out and just try anything I find interesting. Thank you very much for creating the content that you do!

[@SnowyDae55]

I have two cats for about two years and I know they couldn't have handled that. My cranky girl just wants to cuddle, so there's a minimal chance she'd even leave the house lol. I'm interested in looking into those travel things, but I sincerely believe that she'll only want indoors

[@Xenothios]

I love how your relationship to psychics started as absolute mischief but fast forward to now, it's turned into just a fun way to get roasted or called out by a stranger

[@fromisabella]

I don't know if you've already been, but I HIGHLY recommend checking out the AKC's Meet The Breed's convention -- it's literally just a convention where every breed of dog has a booth, and yes, you can pet every. single. dog. I went to the one in NYC this year (it was the best day of my life) but I also overheard some drama while I was there 👀and that may be a recurring theme that you may enjoy. Dog breeders are wild, and the community around them always feels like its harboring secrets. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But in either case, they go to different cities throughout the year, and you get to pet puppies :) 💕⭐✨

[@raetoldmeso]

I went to CatCon in 2019 and my experience was so different! They actually used the entire center and kept the adoption area separate which was so nice. They also utilized the different rooms (different stages, etc.) so it didn't feel as cramped as 2023 was. Checking in was also pretty chill and easy to do. Note: I'm an events manager so i literally plan events for a living and I truly don't understand why they made it smaller other than budget reasons.

[@coneillm]

Amanda, in your event going experience, do you think organizers tend to put everything into one giant room instead of splitting up the event into multiple rooms cause they are worried guests will get lost or miss out on something due to lack of signage and wayfinding?

[@rocket.popsicle]

LOL Mr. Perfectly Fine and Reputation. My swiftie heart is screaming. I hope they got adopted

[@dotunderscore]

Last video you asked about the screen behind you and how to make it stop going dark. If it’s a mac, it should be in the energy saving settings. You can change the time your computer waits to go into sleep mode (the dark screen). Hope that helps!

[@alexandram.2714]

Wow. I followed a Twitch Stream for Cat con and even from watching it live, the place seemed packed. The couple who did the live stream were always super positive about the convention - they had to wait in massive 45 min lines to get freebies and they also noticed that there was no human food (ie: no food turcks or venders, even outside the hall). They did the weekend tickets but, your video confirmed what I saw - the kitties seemed stressed, there was too much noise and the place was overpacked. I SO wish you'd do a live stream- it sounds like it'd be a blast to listen to your ocmentary while going to a con, fair or what-have-you.

[@Sam-mt6xg]

“a severe lack of chairs” in the dining area- come to kansas city comic con. don’t expect a chair, don’t look for a chair, don’t ask for a chair, don’t think about a chair, there is no chair. you will be eating on the ground, guaranteed

[@TheCritic-MMA]

Was similar at Siggraph (visual effects artist convention) in LA a week ago! Expo was in the smallest room at the LA convention center, filled with interested people and packed booths.

[@DreFromMaine8472]

I love cats and I didnt know there was a CatCon. My 19 year old cat Jack died earlier this year, he had a long and happy life. I wanna get another cat next year sometime. Thanks for the video, Amanda!

[@poppy7740]

you know your a great youtuber when you get sponsored by a *adult* toy company, idk why but all my fav youtubers have!

[@jacob_90s]

Amanda: If I fits, I visits

[@spiralflame88]

I saw the floor plan for this year and they will expand to the other part of the convention which will help with overcrowding.

[@sierrarose1512]

I love your face when you said "not enough space to do any of it" lol it was great!

[@yourstrulyjohnnydollar8775]

As someone who worked for an old money country club, I became a master at walking confidently while pilfering food and drinks that were only meant for guests. If you walk like you are serious about doing something, no one ever questions you.

[@bailegg]

i used to work in times square and i saw one of those traveling cats doing tricks out there once and honestly it made my day

[@scofah]

I have an old tortoiseshell cat named Turtle who came to me the way you described a cat will come to you. She is very sweet. Best cat ever.

[@pikeyMcBarkin]

Thank you for your dedication to the bit here. LOL. I really appreciate your content.

[@samaramartinez1762]

An awesome cat podcast is The Purrrcast. The hosts literally talk to people all about their cats. I love it.

[@tanyawurl1090]

Mini Schnauzer!!! Omg, I love you even more :) I had one named Jimi who looked just like yours. He was the best doggo ever for all 16 years I had him❤❤

[@annb6165]

I was at alien con that’s held in the same center. They had the entire convention floor, every conference room AND the historic Pasadena civic center next-door for maybe 500 people at once on Sunday. I think even one of those conference rooms would’ve been great for the cat travel show in particular!

[@bakariwlkr]

That Stefon intro was exactly what i needed but didn't know i needed today

[@kaichidraws7787]

Hahaha so many convention, even one I dont even thought exist XD. You always keep us updated.

[@minkyrat8481]

Hi Swell, love your videos, I was just wondering if you’ve ever considered using a program like Caffeine to prevent your background screen from falling asleep while you record? You always choose fun backdrops (judgey cat here truly being the cream of the crop) it can just be a bit distracting when your computer starts to fall asleep

[@mossryan4027]

28:34 the Taylor Swift themed cat names are sooo cute 🥺

[@calicoCatkind]

this con was over my birthday and as a cat person i feel honoured.

[@mcgoo721]

The Sona 2 Travel sounds like the perfect device for such a cramped event

[@msjkramey]

Love the dogs barking while you talk about CatCon. It's almost like theyre jealous

[@jasminefro7795]

I really wanted to go to cat con this year, but I wasn't able to and now kinda glad I wasn't able to because the crowds would have not been fun. I hope that next year if they stay at Pasadena they utilize the whole convention center like you mentioned and separate the kitties to reduce stress.

[@phanci]

As for the convention center and only having half, I've worked with convention centers and either 1. CatCon didn't want to pay for the whole convention center or 2. They couldn't prove their attendance numbers confidently to the convention center to warrant all the space. Unless there was another group in the other half of the convention center using the half space then maybe they booked the before catcon and catcon decided the leftover half was ok. Other than that I seemed like they didn't want shell out.

[@ERYN__]

I frequently don't have my bag checked because I often use a venue wheelchair, I do have my own chair, but I've only used it 3 times because I'm usually fine to use my cane or walker. When they push me in their chair, they take me past metal detectors for obvious reasons, and they don't look at my bag. I don't have anything to hide in my bag, but it is interesting to observe what kind of special treatment I am offered as a disabled person. I don't currently use accessible parking spaces because I haven't felt the need enough to deal with the DMV over getting one.

[@happybatty5142]

I went to a cat convention called PopCats and I feel like they had plenty of space, and they allowed people to bring their cats as long as they had a carrier for the cat. I saw some cats in cat backpacks. There were a few places where you can see cats up for adoption. I enjoyed it 😺

[@owenclifton7052]

I love cats and I love swell. This is going to be a good morning

[@shaynalange7488]

Your intro here made me laugh so much because you gave "Stefon" from SNL.

[@ToplessTopics]

next week we're visiting seattle for the first time since we moved to portland almost a decade ago and I found out there's a cat cafe there...but you have to schedule your visit at least a week in advance, it's only 45 minutes, and it's $22 per person JUST TO BE THERE (: