Miss B. Ripple - store mistress at Backyard Birds. She has lived in the store since she was adopted from Marion County Animal Control. Her job is looking pretty, sitting in the front window after hours, catching mice, greeting customers, and shedding. She is a perfect shop cat now serving us for 8 years. Peanut bags are her favorite throne. It is obvious how she got her name, and I bet you can tell me what the B. stands for! She answers to Miss B or Ripple.

Pogo - store cat at Habig Garden Center. Pogo was adopted after being banished from an employee's grandmother's home for bad manners. She scratched the sofa. So now she gets to reign over the northeast corner of 52nd and College. Pogo loves people and is quite vocal about it. She roams the shop. Hunts varmints, and welcomes all who love plants and gardening.

Toni Kanaan - Good luck charm at Agrarian, 49th and College. Again where there is grain, cats are a necessity. Toni was a walk-on at her owner's house on race day. Andrew's favorite driver is Tony Kanaan so he dubbed her Toni. The irony is that Tony went on to win the race that day. Her name stuck. So Toni lives at Agrarian, works and greets customers. Not looking like she's missed a meal. She's not to be confused with a stuffed chicken.

Here's Thunder, longest running employee of the month. Pak Mail on 62nd Street hired him at 2 years of age because of his fantastic resume. He is a rehome and totally appreciates living onsite. Thunder, like all BR cats, is a model retail citizen. He sits in front of the cash register to greet customers and accept as much attention as possible.

Sad update - RIP: Thunder served well.

Feral cats are part of the Broad Ripple scene too. Thanks to the Pawn Shop, a colony of cats are being well cared for. This is Nacho. He started at Backyard Birds as a kitten but ran away before he got adopted. He is living a sweet life at the Pawn Shop.

Jack is our senior cat. He lives and works at Chelsea's in Broad Ripple. He loves the gifts, jewelry, and décor that he gets to supervise. This 15-year-old cat has only one eye. As a kitten Jack was injured, and the options to fix his injury were to sew his lid shut or implant a prosthetic eye. Now his real lens covers it so he can move his eye but he can't see. Along the way he felt the need to jump from a counter to the floor and broke a leg. He now sports a pin in his leg. Hopefully Jack has seven more stages to his life and will retire well as the Chelsea closes its doors.

If you need a cat fix, stop at any of these Broad Ripple retailers and enjoy a purr, a pet, and take home a bit of fur. I apologize if I have missed other felines of Broad Ripple. Contact me at The Gazette for the next bios of cats.