In recent years, Comic-Cons, various anime conventions and other themed conventions where fans of a certain subculture gather to share their love, spread their passion and spend their money, have become sprawling, high-profile events in whichever cities they are hosted in. In Seattle, a different kind of convention took place the weekend of Nov. 1-2. Sea-Meow Con, the “premier cat convention of the Purrcific Northwest,” was a chance for feline enthusiasts to meet up and engage in everything cat-related..

This year was the fourth year of Sea-Meow Con, which is hosted by the Seattle Meowtropolitan Café, the oldest cat café in Seattle. It was an opportunity for cat lovers everywhere to unite and share love for their cats. While on the smaller side for a convention, it still welcomed around 7,000 people over its two-day runtime and hosted a number of artists, artisans, animal rescue organizations and more.

The event’s main draw was the various booths that came to sell and advertise their cat-related goods and services. The event hosted 101 such booths, which included watercolor art, cat-themed ceramics, a giant cat butt and accompanying game, kitty face paint, motorized litter box companies and many more. 

Braden Duncan, known online as Clockwork Art, was the artist behind one of the booths at the convention. Duncan is also an alumna of the Cornish College of the Arts and meowchant coordinator for Sea-Meow Con. She draws cats in steampunk, macabre, mystical and comic styles, using her own cats at home as her subjects. 

While Sea-Meow Con is much smaller than other conventions she attends as a full-time artist, noting that it is one of her favorites. When there are weekends with multiple conventions being held, Duncan has a hard time choosing one convention over the others.

“It’s such a hard question because every show has its own flavor. I’m a crazy cat lady. I have always had an affinity for cats my entire life, and the people that come through this event are just so excited to be here. They’re so supportive,” Duncan said.

Alexandra Brodt, another artist who sells at Sea-Meow Con, reaffirmed that the convention punches well above its weight class and is always exciting to attend.

“While it is a smaller convention that I wouldn’t normally fly out for, because I’ve cultivated such a lovely local following here… it’s worth it for me to come out,” Brodt said.

Some of her successes locally at Sea-Meow Con can be attributed to her character, Catcus, a cat-cactus hybrid she created over eight years ago. Though it started as an enamel pin, Catcus has sprouted a plushy, various drawn works, a theme song and soon a picture book. 

While the convention has lots of fun things to buy, it also hosts various cat-welfare organizations that use the convention as a platform to raise funds, spread awareness and educate people on how best to participate in feline welfare.

PDX Cat Trapper is one such organization. They are a trap, neuter, return (TNR) organization from Portland that came north for the convention. What they and similar organizations do is essential for maintaining healthy cat populations. Their work spaying and neutering ensures that fewer cats are abandoned or euthanized at shelters, and they also vaccinate cats to protect them from diseases. 

Karen Jealous, the founder and director of PDX Cat Trapper, shared that since the pandemic, TNR operations have suffered.  

“There’s a lot of Wild West TNR behavior up here. We came out [last year] and we had such a great time and we met a lot of people. We were able to spread the word and educate a lot, and so then we came up again this year,” Jealous said.

The event isn’t only exciting for the people tabling. Many attendees brought their cats with them, like Jeffery Li. He came to the convention accompanied by his cat, Olivia, who sat on his shoulders and received attention from many convention-goers throughout the day. Li shared that he didn’t need to train Olivia to sit on his shoulders.

“She found this spot by herself, and I honestly can’t move her. If I try to, she would just crawl right back,” Li said, “It’s a little bit like being a celebrity for people who bring in a really cute cat here.” 

Andrew Hseih, the founder and director of the Meowtropolitan Café and Sea-Meow Con, shared that the convention was even more successful than he could have hoped. The enthusiastic attendees were Hseih’s measure of success. He hopes that in 2026, the convention can grow even bigger and better.

“I would love to break some sort of Guinness world record that’s related to cats… the idea is like, biggest cat hairball or the most cat pictures [on a] wall. Something like that, that was never done before and that can get the community together,” Hseih said.