Cat Clubbing on Campus

At the end of the Spring semester, UWG students Julianne Arnold and Justin Jones spearheaded the formation of Cat Club. Since its formation in May, Cat Club has taken off as it unites UWG students who simply want to appreciate their own pets and help felines in shelters.

“Cats are important to me, because I have one,” said Arnold. “Obviously, it’s important to other people in Carrollton because there is a cat cafe, so we thought it’d be a good club to have.”

Currently, the club has over 50 members and over thrice the number of followers on Instagram @uwgcatclub. Every week, club members vote on a “Cat of the Week” from amongst the membership’s pets.

“We are thinking of opening up [‘Cat of the Week’ voting] to everybody [in the UWG community], but right now it’s just people in the club,” said Arnold.

While the club is focused on cats, they hold no discrimination or gatekeeping for their club reach.

“We did think about doing a pet club just in general, instead of just cats, but I know it’s more specific,” said Arnold. “We might try to open it out a bit more in the future to more pets as well.”

UWG’s Cat Club recently wrapped up a “Protect the Paws” event on Oct. 11-13, where the club partnered with the Self Sufficient Wolves Club to fundraise for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

“We’re just trying to raise money— Not just for cats— It’s for different animals,” said Arnold. “Raising money and selling packaged snacks, and from that money, we donate it.”

Self Sufficient Wolves is also initiated by Justin Jones, Cat Club’s vice president and is a club that teaches students how to live on their own, in essence, how to be self-sufficient.

Overall, the purpose of Cat Club extends to more than appreciating and posting cat pictures online. Cat Club also helps Carrollton’s animal communities including the Fur Babies Cat Cafe, Humane Society and other organizations.

“We are trying to partner with [Fur Babies Cat Cafe] and fundraise money for them and anything they may need,” said Arnold. “So we just want to raise money and fundraise for cats, pretty much.”

One of Cat Club’s first club activities involved making cat toys to donate to the cafe.

“We’re also thinking of growing our own catnip and partnering with [the cafe] to sell and fundraise money there,” said Arnold.

Arnold and Jones hope to grow the club even more to unite UWG cat owners and animal lovers in general. Still, cats will most likely remain the poster animal of the group.

“A lot of people in our club have cats but not everybody. They either like cats or want to get a cat,” said Arnold. “We have a lot of people who foster cats. One of the girls just fostered some that went to Furbabies.”

Cat Club does everything they can to dote on not just their own cats and internet cats but also the many pets in the Carrollton community still waiting for homes.