By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published May 05, 2013 at 9:02 AM

There are people who like cats and then there are people who really like cats. The latter might professionally photograph themselves with their cats, feel a parent-child attachment toward them or throw birthday parties to celebrate their special day.

OnMilwaukee.com tracked down some of Milwaukee’s "craziest" cat people – it’s not just ladies, either, there are plenty of crazy cat men out there – and talked to them about their feline affection.

It’s important to note that the people in this article are not hoarders or abusers of cats in any way. Their houses are not litter boxes. They are simply people who really, really care about cats. And sometimes dress them in hand-made clothing.

Monica Thomas, thought she was allergic to cats, but when a former boyfriend’s cat didn’t affect her, she decided to get a furry friend for herself.

Thomas, who is an intern at OnMilwaukee.com, adopted Squeakers and her brother Dilly from the Humane Society in 2008. The relationship took some time, particularly with Dilly, who was a senior cat, but the three eventually fell in love.

Unfortunately, Dilly passed away due to old age, but Squeakers is more alive than ever.

"My life is nuts. I take care of a stubborn elderly person and a special needs child and for the past few years I've done this while going to school. Having Squeakers around keeps me sane," says Thomas, an OnMilwaukee.com intern.

"She was with me through my divorce and other heartbreaks, she help me rest through trying nights when my father was nearing the end of his life, helped me get through many long nights studying and is always eager to greet me when I get home from whatever else I do. That such a small form can bring such huge comfort is truly a miracle."

Thomas, who has volunteered with Happy Endings No-Kill Cat Shelter, is a crafty person by nature, so she has naturally dabbled into creating cat fashion.

"I made them some clothes and hats but neither one liked them. Dilly was gray with white mittens and looked kind of like The Cat in the Hat so I made him a red and white striped hat. He wore it once but grumbled at me with his old man meow," she says.

"Squeakers had a pretty pink and white striped dress for her first birthday but anytime we put her in it she would hide under the bed because she hated it so much, so eventually it got relegated to stuffed animal gear. I also crocheted a birthday hat for her but she didn't keep it on long."

Squeakers will celebrate her fifth birthday on July 8 and Thomas plans to reward her with a well-deserved tuna cake.

"When I say that Squeakers and I have a symbiotic relationship, I mean it. She's my alarm cat, so I'm used to her waking me up. It takes a little adjusting when Daylight Savings Time comes around, but I can easily forgive that in light of how reliable she is," says Thomas. "I'm diabetic and there have been several times that she's woken me up in the middle of the night to alert me that I was suffering dangerously low blood sugar."

Cameron Melzer is a male feline fan who’s not afraid to show it.

"I treat my cat like my daughter," says Melzer. "I talk to her both in English and in her native ‘meows,’ play with her, wrestle with her, hold her on her back like a newborn, blow ‘raspberries’ on her belly. Very often when I feed her, I'll eat a handful of her dry food."

Currently, Melzer has one cat – Tiger – whom he "inherited" when his grandpa passed away in 2005.

"Tiger meant so much to my grandpa, he was mentioned in his obituary. When I brought Tiger home, I realized that Tiger was not a boy, but a girl. Until my grandma passed away in 2011, we had to always be careful to refer to Tiger as a boy," he says.

Does he ever dress up Tiger?

"A few years ago, I managed to peel an orange and keep the peeling in one piece, so I used it to fashion a ‘battle helmet’ for her. I put a T-shirt on her once. Her legs went stiff and she fell over," he says.

Melzer also acknowledges Tiger’s birthday every year, but because she was a stray, no one knows when the day actually is so Melzer celebrates her birthday on the anniversary of the day she came to live with him.

Most of all, Melzer appreciates that cats are so independent.

"They give themselves their own baths and I don't have to watch them poop in a downpour," he says.

The only downfall to cat ownership for Melzer is that Tiger regularly wakes him up in the middle of the night licking his head.

"I'm starting to go bald, so I often joke with people that that's how I lost my hair," he says.



Originally, Julie Krawczyk disliked cats because she was allergic to them. However, in 1999, while at a barn party, she noticed a gravely sick kitten.

"I felt so sorry for her, someone else dropped her and she landed on her back. I just scooped her up. She started purring louder than anything I've heard from a cat," says Krawcyzk. "Long story short, I couldn’t leave her there and she came home with me. She switched me to a cat person and every cat I've saved since owes their life to her in a way."



For many years, Krawcyzk cared for a colony of alley cats in Riverwest. She built them shelters for winter and got them all spayed and neutered and vaccinated through Wisconsin Human Society's Trap Neuter Return program. Today, she fosters kittens people find in their yards as well as for a few local rescue groups. She also consults on behavioral issues.



"I'm the person everyone comes to to figure out how to fix behavior issues. Peeing, scratching, biting, fighting, illness, finicky eating, nail trims, grooming ... whatever, I get every question," she says.




Currently, Krawcyzk and her husband have four, full-time cats. She does not plan to adopt any more.

"You start keeping kittens, you end up on the news with hazmat teams coming out of your house with carriers full of cats. It's very important to set limits and boundaries if you're going to foster and do rescue," she says. "I really don’t want to be on the 6 o'clock news."

Kendall Yahr describes herself as a "dog person" who ended up with a cat in college.



"That cranky old cat somehow swayed my views," says Yahr.

Today, Yahr and her family have four permanent resident cats and three fosters. "The foster cats are very quirky and therefore will probably never leave. But I choose not to add those two numbers together," she says.



Yahr has fostered cats and volunteered at Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue for about a decade.

"I have had hundreds of cats and kittens come through my house and on to their forever homes. I wouldn't trade being a foster home for anything. It is a special gift that I can give," she says.



Yahr, who has a large collection of antique cat paintings and figurines, lives in a very "cat friendly" house with at least one cat bed and cat tree in every room except the kitchen and bathroom. Although she loves cats and kittens, Yahr works to educate people about population control.



"Right now, there are more than 100 cats sitting in small cages at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC). Of the 100, less than half will be reclaimed, adopted or picked up by an adoption partner," she says. "And that blame is on everyone who thought a litter of kittens would be fun. Anyone who thinks spaying or neutering their cat is not needed. Or anyone who moved, and just left their cat behind."


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.