Meet Jeremy the Manager, the famous cat who gets the job done

If Jeremy, the manager, was my boss, I would be fired.

I showed up to this interview disheveled, drenched in sweat from the humid New York humidity, and late, either because my Uber broke down or because a higher power had punished me for not using public transportation.

When I finally arrived CitiPups in New York City For our interview, Jeremy, the manager – dressed in one of his famous ties – was stoic. You could tell by the way he strutted around the room, sniffing my bag and refusing to make eye contact: he wasn’t mad at me, he was just disappointed.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

This seems emblematic of his typical leadership style.

“He is very assertive. He is very focused on the task. He is very confident. He’s a born leader and he’s very wise,” Emilio Ortiz told Mashable. Ortiz works at CitiPups and runs Jeremy’s social media accounts, where the cat has more than 1.2 million followers Tick ​​tock and more than 263,000 followers Instagram.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

All in all, Jeremy “could be a little nicer.” But it’s his leadership skills and easygoing demeanor that endear Jeremy to fans – and earn him internet fame. Just look at TikTok, where the tag #JeremytheManager has over 2 million views and counting.

You can purchase fan-made products Jeremy the manager laptop sticker on Etsy, and if you search him on Pinterest, his posts flood the feed. New Yorkers and tourists visit him every day the pet store in Manhattan and bring him gifts – art, collars and treats and sometimes just pets. Ortiz says CitiPups might even start selling its own Jeremy merchandise. It’s pretty clear: Jeremy is one of the most famous cats of our generation.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

Photo credit: Molly Flores

Like Grumpy Cat and other internet-savvy cats before him, people love Jeremy because he’s pretty cheeky. In his videos, he tells people what they can and can’t do in his store, courtesy of Ortiz’s voiceover. He has particular demands on one of his employees, Oliver, which he expresses by knocking over his pencils and scowling at his work. But most of the time, he stays relaxed in his cat bed on the CitiPups counter, ready to greet guests and make sure no mice overstay their time on the premises.

Watch any of his most popular videos and you’ll see a flood of comments approving of his management tactics. But he wasn’t hired specifically for this job – it was a promotion of sorts. Jeremy was rescued along with several other cats to help deal with the store’s rat and mouse problem at the start of the pandemic.

“Jeremy actually did the job and got rid of the rats,” Ortiz said. “So just for fun, we put a little tie on him and gave him Employee of the Month. Since then it has taken on a life of its own.”

Still, his fame hasn’t boosted sales at CitiPups, Ortiz said. Some animal rights activists argue that this isn’t such a bad thing, since they claim that CitiPups sources its dogs from puppy mills – and CitiPups’ fight against this argument has contributed to Jeremy’s notoriety.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

In 2021, Ortiz posted videos on his TikTok account @pup_daddy to showcase his work in the store and remove some of the stigma associated with purchasing a pet directly from a store rather than from a breeder or rescue from a shelter. The action was interrupted by a bill passed by the New York State Legislature that would ban the sale of dogs (and cats and rabbits, which CitiPups does not sell) in pet stores. The intent behind the bill was to crack down on large-volume breeding facilities, so-called puppy mills.

“The video didn’t really gain traction,” Ortiz said. “And then I made the same video word for word from the perspective of [Jeremy’s] Account. And it got hundreds of thousands of views. It [encouraged] Thousands of people to send emails and [sign] Petitions.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

The comments on these videos do not all agree. Some people show their support for Jeremy, others say they love Jeremy but can’t tolerate this kind of news.

“I love the cat, I love the idea, but no breeder is a responsible breeder,” one commenter wrote. “So many animals in animal shelters, so many are euthanized every day. I am pleased with this bill and hope it is implemented across the country. Work with rescues and shelters and adopt, and just be a regular pet store that sells pet products.”

Ortiz told Mashable that CitiPups sources their dogs from reputable breeders. He says they take trips to visit the growers and make sure none of them are coming from mills. But some activists and politicians, including then-Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, who sponsored the bill, argue that there are no responsible pet stores.

“Even if there are individual pet store owners who are trying to do the right thing, this is how the industry works: When they source mass-produced animals from breeders, often out of state, they typically come from factories. There is no pet store that is not affected by this,” Senator Gianaris told local New York news station Spectrum 1.

Photo credit: Molly Flores

A 2020 research conducted by the Humane Society found that many pet stores in New York were sourcing puppies from unscrupulous breeders – including at least two dogs linked to CitiPups.

The bill was signed late last year and will come into force in 2025. However, CitiPups plans to continue fighting it by supporting other animal-friendly laws that would mitigate its impact. Another bill was recently introduced that would allow pet stores to operate as long as they source dogs from breeders who have set breeding limits and perform genetic testing, among other things.

“Right now, we are focused on getting this bill passed,” Ortiz said via email about the new bill. “It really hurts us to think about our family’s business being taken away from us. It’s hard to imagine a future where we are forced to stop doing what we love and helping people find the right dog for their lives.”

Photo credit: Molly Flores

He says he understands the fear and concern that the dogs will be mistreated before they end up in pet stores, but he makes sure CitiPups doesn’t get their dogs from puppy mills.

“The puppies are happy, they’re healthy and people rave about us,” Ortiz said. “We have very close relationships with the breeders we source our dogs from and we are transparent about this.”

Photo credit: Molly Flores

It seems clear that Jeremy has nothing to do with this. He’s just a good manager. Can you separate art from the artist? At least Jeremy was saved in turn – you can’t really tell.

I hadn’t visited CitiPups before Jeremy’s tenure, but I can’t imagine the place without him. It appears to be as integral a part of the store as the building’s framework. Everyone who comes in makes a B-line for him, whether they knew they would see him or not, as he sleeps on the counter, hangs out in the window, or meanders between the shelves of dog toys and supplies. He invites guests over, only acts playful when encouraged, and rarely, if ever, shows signs of anger.

He is a good cat. And even as his home is filled with one of the fiercest political battles a cat can take part in, he continues to inspire joy in everyone he crosses paths with – online and offline.

Photo credit: Molly Flores