Chico Cat Cafe

10/29/2026

10/29/2026

🎬 THE BLOX DIARIES: DAY 1 — Before Everything Changed

Here we are in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on our very first day of filming The Blox Season 24!

Yes, that's John beside me! ❤️

Although we traveled to Tulsa together and he joined me for this first interview, John was adamant that I take center stage. Chico Cat Café had been my dream, entering The Blox had been my idea, and he wanted me to have the opportunity to tell that story.

(Which was incredibly sweet of him, although I might have appreciated having someone else share the nerves! 😂)

I arrived with three years of hard-earned lessons from running Chico Cat Café and a head full of ideas about what I wanted to build next.

My goal was to turn everything I'd learned into something that could help other entrepreneurs, especially those dreaming of opening their own cat cafés.

I thought I had a pretty good idea of where I was headed.

Spoiler alert: I didn't. 😂

Looking back at this interview nearly a year later is fascinating. I'm watching a version of myself who was still trying to figure out what came next, completely unaware of how much my thinking and professional direction would change.

But on Day 1, I was simply excited, nervous, and ready to soak up everything I could.

And having John there cheering me on made the whole adventure even more special.

Here's a little glimpse of where the adventure began! 🐾🎬

And yes, watching myself on camera is still a little surreal. 😂

10/29/2026

Remember when John and I went off to Oklahoma for a little entrepreneurial adventure? Well... IT'S SHOWTIME! 🎬🐾

The Blox Season 24 has officially premiered, and your very own co-founder, Jodi (moi!), is one of the 100 entrepreneurs featured in the competition!

Some of you may remember following my daily reflections from Tulsa last November, when I shared what I was learning about storytelling, community, fundraising, and building a sustainable business.

At the time, our café had recently closed its physical location, and we were exploring what the next chapter of Chico Cat Café might look like.

I went to The Blox with a dream of taking everything we'd learned over three years and helping other cat café founders start their journeys with the benefit of our experience.

But I came home with something I hadn't expected: a whole new way of thinking about how organizations operate, grow, and sustain their missions.

Those lessons inspired months of brainstorming, new ideas, pop-up adoption events, and attempts to find a different way forward for Chico Cat Café.

As you know, we ultimately made the difficult decision to close permanently.

But the experience—and the extraordinary community that supported us—helped shape what came next.

More than 350 cats found homes through Chico Cat Café, and none of this adventure would have happened without all of you. ❤️

To celebrate the premiere, I have written a special edition of my LinkedIn newsletter, The Outpost Observer, sharing the story behind my Blox experience, including the lessons that changed my thinking and how they continue to influence my work in animal welfare today.

📖 Read my story: https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd.in%2Fgmn5MbZT&urlhash=7yac&mt=wu-aXIgCgNz8dVQxnelqiKWVHJ-ttqXW90rgSpa9TtwKR-zl1CP7jDGbrWsk5EmNOKz1-NeBUDZAsBIs4WKrFq9AeZSEjfHaYJZs94bJzoPAF1H_mpW8Y6Jyudcc0uf8X5kv73EBd_Y--Ai3g79gMy-_l-RTqPQQXrtaz8Wc5ug5ClCkpMpX1_E_epuQwE8znc4&isSdui=true&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAsu145xEQYWakvVz6x45AA%3D%3D
🎬 Watch The Blox, Season 24, Episode 1: https://www.betablox.com/episode/welcome-to-the-entrepreneurial-battleground-s24e1

We hope you'll watch, cheer me on, and enjoy seeing a little piece of Chico Cat Café's history on screen! 🍿

And if you followed my original Tulsa updates, we'd especially love to hear from you. Who remembers those posts? 🐈❤️

Thank you for being part of a story that continues to mean so much to us.

Please SHARE, LIKE, and WATCH if you love cats and what Chico Cat Café did for our community 🥳🫶👀

With love and gratitude,

The Chico Cat Café Family 🐾

A new cohort walks in confident. Season 24 starts when lessons turn into live decisions and the first Blox-Off waits after dark.

10/27/2026

Happy National Black Cat Day from Noire! 🖤🐈‍⬛

As you can see, our original muse for Babette is still taking her responsibilities as a feline ambassador very seriously. 😹

And while we have your attention, we have a little news to share!

Although Chico Cat Café has closed its doors, my work in feline welfare continues. I'm excited to announce that I've been invited to join the Feline Veterinary Medical Association's Feline Welfare Committee beginning in January, where I will be working to expand resources for foster systems, community cats, rural access to feline care, and welfare communications.

The hundreds of cats we cared for during our three years at the café taught us so much about feline behavior, welfare, and the importance of creating environments where cats can truly thrive.

I'm looking forward to bringing those experiences and lessons into this next chapter.

To everyone who supported Chico Cat Café, thank you for being part of that journey. The café may be closed, but its legacy continues. 🖤

Now, let's see those black cats! Share your favorite photo in the comments! 🐾

10/18/2026

Happy National Veterinary Technician Week!
23 year old me, circa 1997
What in the spiral perm was I thinking?🤣🫣

This is where the Chico Cat Café started to take shape 🫶

09/09/2026

Many of you have followed the Chico Cat Café journey from the beginning, and I’m excited to share where part of that experience is leading next.

I have accepted an appointment to the National Animal Foster Network Advisory Council as its Animal Sheltering, Temporary Care & Reunification Advisor.

During the café years, I learned how deeply an animal’s environment, transitions, daily observation, caregiver support, and individual story shape their experience. I’ll now have the opportunity to bring those lessons into a national conversation about helping pets whose families are navigating a temporary crisis.

I’m honored to contribute, excited to learn from an extraordinary group of professionals, and grateful that the work we began together in Chico continues to open new doors for animals and the people who love them 🥳🐾

08/11/2026

To everyone who ever walked through the doors of Chico Cat Café.

Something happened this morning that I want you to know about, because it belongs to you as much as it belongs to me.

I recorded a podcast episode with Stacy LeBaron of the Community Cats Podcast earlier this year. It aired today. In it, I gave a name for the first time to the way we cared for our cats.

I call it the SAFE Framework.

It is the reason our cats felt safe enough to be themselves. The reason people who thought they wanted a kitten went home with a shy adult cat. The reason a cat we were told was "not adoptable" became someone's whole world. The reason children whispered around cats who had never been whispered to before.

I did not invent SAFE. I lived it, with all of you, for three years. Every cat we knew by name taught it to me. Every volunteer who sat quietly on the floor helped prove it. Every visitor who slowed down for a cat who needed extra time made it real.

The café is closed. But the work you were part of is now going out into the world.

Full episode: https://communitycatscentral.com/episode-677-jodi-belongie/

A note before you listen: we recorded this earlier this year. Since then, I paused the CATS Foundation project I mention in the episode and folded that work into Nine Lives Strategies, my consulting practice. The framework and the vision are still there. They just have a different home now.

If you want to keep watching where this work goes next, I write weekly on LinkedIn at The Outpost Observer. Come find me -- Jodi Belongié, RVT

Thank you. All of you. For everything 🥰🫶🐈‍⬛

“The environment we build around a cat shapes her outcome more than any single intervention we can ever make.”

07/03/2026

Four Years Since the Gopher Hole

Tomorrow night the sky over Tehama County will come apart in noise and light, the same as it does every year, the same as it did four years ago when a kitten too young to be on his own, scared off from wherever he'd come from, went looking for somewhere to hide.

He found a gopher hole beside our barn. We found him the next morning. Wide-eyed. Wild-hearted. Too small to be that scared and too scared to be held.

We named him Independence. Everyone calls him Indy.

He earned the name twice. Once for the weekend he arrived. Once for the year that nearly took him.

He came inside that first summer after a pack of neighbor dogs almost finished what the fireworks started. We neutered him, tamed him, and gave him a job: Cat Ambassador at Chico Cat Café. For six months he ran that floor like he'd been born to it. Greeted strangers like old friends. Taught scared foster cats how to be café cats. Chased his own tail with a conviction that had nothing to do with reason and everything to do with joy.

Then, that Christmas, he got sick. FIP. The diagnosis that used to mean goodbye.

We fought for him. He fought back harder. Four years later, he is still here Still enormous. Still completely uninterested in living quietly.

He didn't just survive. He kept becoming something. Barn kitten to café ambassador to, now, permanent uncle to six barn kittens who came after him, one of them with special needs he has never once treated as a special case. He still stampedes through the house like his own weather system (we have lovingly nicknamed his epic running sprees the Indyanapolis 500). He still makes biscuits and self-nurses and vibrates his tail like a rattlesnake when he's thrilled about something only he understands. And somehow the same cat who tore across a room with no sense of consequence has become the gentlest thing in it, especially with the ones who need gentleness most.

A scared kitten in a hole is now the biggest, softest presence in this home. Four years. FIP survivor. Uncle to six. Still the same golden blur who chose us before we ever chose him, and still choosing us, every single day since.

Tomorrow night, when the sky opens up again, he'll have four years of proof that he doesn't have to hide from it anymore. Happy almost-Independence Day, Indy, my hurricane-hearted boy. Thanks for staying ❤️ 🧨 🐈

06/25/2026

After three unforgettable years serving our cat-loving Chico community, Chico Cat Café officially closed its doors in April 2026. This is our official "We're Closed" pinned post for our café page.

Helping hundreds of cats find loving homes, watching friendships form, and creating a welcoming space where people and cats could connect was one of the greatest privileges of our lives. None of it would have been possible without our adopters, foster families, volunteers, staff, rescue partners, and every person who walked through our doors. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey.

As many people continue to ask, we want to clarify that Chico Cat Café is permanently closed. We are not reopening, and we are not affiliated with any new cat café initiatives in our region. Although the café chapter has come to a close, my work in feline welfare, shelter medicine, and improving access to care continues.

You can follow along here:
🐾 The Outpost Observer (LinkedIn Newsletter) – articles exploring shelter medicine, rural access to veterinary care, One Health, and the future of animal welfare:
Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7457066942621921280

🐾 Pawsitive Paradigm (Substack) – essays, stories, and reflections on cats, community, entrepreneurship, and building a better future for animals and the people who love them:
https://pawsitiveparadigm.substack.com

If you're looking to adopt a cat in our area, we encourage you to connect with:
• Neighborhood Cat Advocates: ncachico.org
• Catnip and Cattitude: catnipandcattitude.org

This page will remain online as an archive of our journey, celebrating the cats, people, and memories that made Chico Cat Café so special. From time to time, I may also share updates about my ongoing work in feline welfare, writing, and education.

If you'd like to stay in touch and see what comes next, follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodibelongiervt/ . That's where most of what we're building lives now, including The Outpost Observer newsletter. For those of you not on LinkedIn, Pawsitive Paradigm on Substack comes straight to your email.

Thank you for believing in what we built together. Chico Cat Café may have closed, but the mission that inspires it continues.

With heartfelt gratitude,
Jodi Belongié, RVT, CFVP, FFCP (Shelter, Veterinary)
Co-Founder, Chico Cat Café

04/10/2026

Even though our doors are closed, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on everything the café taught me — not just about cats, but about people, trust, and community.

So much of what we created together in that space came from quietly observing how cats move through the world — how they build trust, how they take their time, how they choose when to engage.

I put some of those reflections into words here. It’s a little different than what I’ve shared before, but it’s deeply connected to everything the café stood for.

If you spent time with us, I think you’ll recognize some of these moments. 🐾

Every leadership book talks about trust, patience, and reading the room. None of them credit cats.