Rural Frazee YouTube feed closing in on a million views

By Robert Williams

Editor

Four felines who live in rural Frazee are the biggest online stars in the Frazee-Vergas area and have gained national attention as the YouTube livefeed Up North Cat Condo.  ¶  The Condo is the creation of Kevin Mohn and he employs his family in everything from cat care to online technical support as the cat’s YouTube channel barrels to eclipsing one-million views having reached 600,000 in only three months.  ¶  “It really blew up when my sister Angie (Olson) posted it randomly to a feral cat Facebook group and 500,000 people liked it,” Ashley Mohn said. “That’s where it started. They said we’d like a live stream and we said, okay!”  ¶  WJON radio in St. Cloud was first to publicize the cats and the story was quickly picked up by  multiple state and national outlets including MPR and Good Morning America.  ¶  “I think the country was just ready for a feel good story,” Kevin said.

Everything began with the appearance of Such-A-Good-Mama, Mama for short, who was feral and pregnant.

“She was kind of lingering close, but she wouldn’t get too close,” said Kevin.

The family dog Ellie, who has since passed, was still around the house and the actual Cat Condo was originally a dog house.

“We didn’t know if she had a disease or if she was starving so I went to town and got a can of cat food, opened it up and backed off and she came up and scarfed without breathing,” Kevin said. “She was starving to death.”

Kevin’s wife Jill took over feeding duties and a week later Mama was looking much healthier.

“And then one day, I looked and there were three heads popping up over the riverbank—they were her kittens,” Kevin said. “Little by little because of feeding they would come and go back over and now they’ve stayed and they’ve just been getting friendlier.”

The kittens were not used to being around humans or being handled so it took a while to warm up and get used to the Mohn family.

“I don’t know if they’ll ever lose it, but they’ve sure come a long way,” Kevin said.

Expenses rose when Lila contracted a urinary tract infection (UTI).

“That was really expensive cat food,” Kevin said. “She was tipping over and getting really weak.”

Nobody could catch Lila to get her any treatment, but one of Ashley’s indoor cats had a UTI in its past and they were able to get the recommended food and nurse Lila right back to health.

The cats were still living outside and utilizing a sand-floored, unheated garage on the Mohn property in the winter. It took about a year to get them comfortable enough for the move to the cat condo.

After Ellie passed, the family had an unused dog house and Jill proposed transforming it into something for the cats.

“We both agreed and it was just sitting here,” said Kevin. “I just stared at it and pondered a little more than I probably should have. I thought, well, cats like to be elevated. Since I had the height I put another floor in there and since I’m putting in the floor I might as well put in a deck. That way, I can tie it in and it’s strong. I can stand on that thing and it won’t break off.”

The cats police smaller vermin like squirrels and chipmunks that would try to invade the condo.

“They’ve gotten all the chipmunks,” said Ashley.

The cats gift the Mohns with dead mice on their front stoop, while the Mohns make sure all the food is cleaned up each evening to keep larger varmints like skunks and raccoons away.

Ideas about upgrades to the cat condo are numerous. Kevin has drawings of eight different potential condos, something he creates during coffee time.

“I enjoy the creative process. Once the hedge it’s in gets all green, there’s a little spot I’m going to jet out through it from the  house and make a little 18×24 platform with three windows,” Kevin said. “I’m going to put a window on the floor and tint it…and put a bird feeder under it. They’ll be right on top of the birds but the birds won’t see them.”

Kevin also uses drive time when he is in his semi to come up with either current upgrades or completely new concepts of the cat condo.

Other new ideas include merchandise and strapping GoPro cameras to the cats’ collars.

“It’s all about what people want,” said Ashley.

The cat’s favorite treats are freeze dried minnows.

“I give them a little more than I should maybe,” said Kevin.

“I do too, it’s hard,” said Ashley.

It is easy to overfeed the cats as the response from viewers has included all kinds of gifts, monetary donations for food and anything a cat could need from collars with their names to the current logo on the front of the condo.

A flag post with seasonal flags that appears in the bottom left corner of the screen on the YouTube feed was also a gift from condo fan Sergeant Sassy.

With such popularity can come constant requests, some that don’t really make sense.

“People kept saying they need a scratch post…they have so many trees,” said Ashley. “I promise you they each assigned a tree to themselves.”

“It’s interesting to hear the comments and the ideas but you can’t go after every one,” said Kevin.

The YouTube channel has voluntary moderators for the chat and the mods are joined by followers to keep a wary eye on the condo at all hours of the day.

“There are people watching this thing all night long,” Kevin said. “Anything out of the ordinary, they make a time stamp and then you can go back and see what it’s about. They’re watching the house for us and when I get up I look to see if there is anything interesting that happened.”

“One time I got a call at 2 or 3 a.m., from one of our moderators saying there’s something really wrong,” said Ashley. “It’s getting really cold. I was here all by myself.”

Heat lamps were added and air conditioning is in the works for this summer. Keeping the cats comfortable is top priority.

“Every weekend it got better and it was fun to see them in there, but it was also a feel-good thing,” said Kevin. “Knowing that they are warm and now they feel safer, that’s even more rewarding.”

Prior to the live stream going up, Kevin and Jill would often check on the cats in the wee hours of the morning.

“Before YouTube, we’d have the light on and to me it was a surprise because I didn’t expect feeling so good when I looked out at two in the morning and it’s 70 degrees in there and they’re stretching and going on,” said Kevin. “It’s the best melatonin there is and we would go right back to sleep.”

Another big surprise was the amount of other people’s cats that watched the Cat Condo feed.

“Soon all of our Instagram and Facebook were full of their cats watching our cats from Japan and Australia, South America and all these places,” said Ashley.

“What’s very strange is what started out to keep some cats from freezing and it blows up into something you never were aware of,” said Kevin.

An unsung hero in this whole process is Casey Jensen, Cat Condo’s Technical Support Specialist. Jensen set up and maintains the live feed camera and has plans to add collar GoPro cameras to the cats to get a feline look at the daily shenanigans of Lucy, Lila, Larry and Mama.

“Everybody has a part in this,” said Kevin.

The live stream was what initiated a barrage of mailed treats, toys and condo amenities.

“It was pretty quick,” Jensen said. “As soon as we started getting people coming on there they were all we want to send you something from Amazon, so we got a wish list.”

The cats area also finding ways to help others.

It’s a great thing for people who are retired or in nursing homes or hospitals or trying to recuperate,” said Kevin.

“We have multiple people going through chemo and watching it,” Ashley said.

“It’s something they can get involved with and they can chat with other people,” Kevin said. “It’s a wonderful thing.”

There is a fifth cat, Tom, or his internet-created moniker Big Bob, that lingers around the condo.

Big Bob is assumed to be the brother of Mama, who is currently on the outs with the rest of the cats, who keep him at bay.

“Bob is a big boy and they took off after him here a couple weeks ago; Larry wasn’t in the mood for that. He went out and the other three followed…and then there was a noise,” Kevin laughed.

Bob may be the benefactor of a second Cat Condo, if Kevin can determine which of his prototype drawings is going to come to fruition.

“I’m still tweaking but it’s getting closer,” Kevin said. “I want them to last a long time.”

The cats have Paypal and Venmo accounts @UpNorthCatCondo. All donations go to food, treats and care for the cats and their condo. Search “up north cat condo wish list” on Amazon for more condo needs. On YouTube subscribe to @UpNorthCatCondo.