Are you a cat lover? WA is a top feline-friendly state. See where we rank nationally

Jared Gendron
·3 min read

Americans are obsessed with their pets. Since the advent of the Internet, cats and dogs alike have provided an endless supply of video entertainment documenting their playful antics. Today, our furry friends continue to be some of the most-watched subjects of online videos, with popular content sites like The Dodo, a pet-centered publication, having amassed more than 13 million online subscribers on YouTube.

A sizable portion of online searches for pets, particularly cats, come from Washingtonians. In fact, a new report from pet website Cats.com finds that the Evergreen State is the fifth-most “cat-crazy” state in the U.S.

The pet website examined pet-related factors such as the number of households that own a cat, adoption rates, number of pet supply stores and online Google searches for cats to form the overall ranking. The website gave each category a normalized score out of 10.

Cats.com utilized data available from Pawlicity Advisor, Census Business Builder, Eventbrite and Shelter Animals Count to rate each state on cat-friendliness.

The only states that ranked above Washington were Wyoming at first place, followed by Rhode Island in second, Vermont and then New Hampshire.

See the cutest cats in the region at the annual Idaho Cat Fanciers’ Show at Expo Idaho, Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19.
See the cutest cats in the region at the annual Idaho Cat Fanciers’ Show at Expo Idaho, Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19.

Why WA loves cats

The cat website ranked each state in eight separate categories, as well as an overall cat-friendly score. The Evergreen State proved to be a high-end state for cat cafes, ample square footage and number of cats per household. But what pushed the state to the top was the number of cat-related online searches.

Here are Washington’s results:

  • 12th – Households with one or more cat(s) (31%)

  • 30th – Average cat insurance paid per month ($17.10)

  • 26th – Adoption rate (79%)

  • 40th – Cat-related events per million people (0.13)

  • 10th – Cat cafes per million people (0.63)

  • 2nd – Cat-related Google searches per million people (24,352)

  • 17th – Pet supplies stores per million people (59.63)

  • 10th – Average house size (2,185 sq. ft)

According to Cats.com, Washingtonians searched for cat-related content more than 194,000 times in the past year, or 24,352 times per million people. The most-searched related phrase were “cat memes,” which was searched around 81,000 times, and “cats for adoption” at 56,000 searches.

The cat website pooled the eight categories together to form its overall ranking, in which Washington came in at fifth with a “cat-friendly” score of 6.39 out of 10.

Cat cafe locations

The most notable local cat-related business in the Tacoma area is Catffeinated, a women- and LGBTQ-owned cat cafe. The shop, which relocated from Tacoma’s 6th Avenue to Puyallup earlier this year, has its own lounge with a kitty playground, “Cats & Mats” yoga sessions, “Purr & Paint” art classes and a kitty book club. Local residents can also even adopt a cat from the cafe owners.

Valerie Beerbower (left) of Lacey and Braxtin Angelo of Bonney Lake meet up to play with felines at Catffeinated cat cafe on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Customers can sip coffee and tea drinks as they interact with adoptable cats and kittens. “This is the best Tuesday ever,” Angelo said.
Valerie Beerbower (left) of Lacey and Braxtin Angelo of Bonney Lake meet up to play with felines at Catffeinated cat cafe on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Customers can sip coffee and tea drinks as they interact with adoptable cats and kittens. “This is the best Tuesday ever,” Angelo said.

Elsewhere around Washington, you can also find these cat cafes: