- You should do what you're good at, and, like, find what you're good at, and stick to it and create something that sets you apart.

With the internet, it's just such a big world, and you have to be unique in some sense.

So eventually it gets out that I have a cat, and she's internet famous, and then it's always, well, which one?

My name Kady Lone, and this is Pudge.

Oh!

Just want you to be, like, right here.

I went to school for graphic design.

Straight out of school I worked downtown, like in a very corporate in house design setting doing, like, collateral pieces mostly.

I worked there for like a year and a half or so, and then they let me go, and decided to take a bunch of pictures of her in my free time when I was unemployed.

I started posting pictures of her on my own, like, personal Instagram account.

All these, like, random people started following me wanting to see more pictures of Pudge, so I just sort of did that, and eventually it took over.

(easygoing music) The merchandise that I started selling for Pudge really started because her fans would comment stuff like I want Pudge on a t-shirt, can you make it for me?

And I was like, well I mean yeah, I went to school for graphic design, I can do that.

She's somewhere in here, I don't remember where.

Oh, there she is!

Peek-a-boo, Pudge sees you.

Cats of Instagram started probably about the same time as Pudge's account started, kinda back when Instagram really hit the scene.

(light rhythmic music) Everybody, like, wanted to be on Cats of Instagram if you had your own cat account.

You hashtagged your photos catsofintagram.

My photo eventually was commented on by the account Cats of Instagram, hey send us your picture, we wanna post it, and I like was really excited, and then sorta the same way that I had some freelance clients contact me, because they eventually found out that I do freelance design work behind Pudge, this guy Eli that runs Cats of Instagram also knew about that, so had me design a couple of Pudge things to sell in the store.

He contacted me again asking me if I wanted to just sort of join Cats of Instagram completely as a co-editor and co-manager of the account.

We've been doing it for about three years now.

When I started, we weren't at a million yet, a million followers, and right now we're at 6.2 million followers, so it's just, it all just grows exponentially.

(Pudge wheezes) I feel like Pudge is like, it's like a whole lot of nothing.

In comparison to Cats of Instagram, where Cats of Instagram really makes all of it's money off of advertisements, Pudge makes her money just off of merchandise.

I don't really take the same approach to advertising on Pudge's page, 'cause to me, Cats of Instagram is like a business, and Pudge is like, I just started it for fun.

Today we're gonna go over to Glam Doll to pick up some donuts, because June 3rd is national donut day.

We're not gonna do the usual just cute pictures of Pudge.

We're gonna stage something special.

Sorry we're like shootin' stuff, but I know you guys wanna-- - Oh, I'm sorry.

- No, I know you just wanna say hey so.

- What a beautiful cat!

Does the kitty like donuts, or what's?

- (laughs) Oh, who doesn't like donuts?

(woman laughs) Donuts have somehow become Pudge's thing.

I like donuts, and so Pudge is sort of just an extension of my personality in a sense.

Hi!

- [Woman] How are you?

- Good.

- Celebrity cat everyone, in your face.

- Pudge is the same as any self employment where the money comes and goes, you know, sometimes it's, like, difficult to pay bills, and other times it's easy, but it's worked.

We're here.

We're home.

(Pudge meows) (laughs) Why are you meowing?

This year I sort of made a move to cut off my last, like, biggest freelance clients that I had, 'cause now that I'm doing both Pudge and Cats of Instagram, it's just like, takes up a lot of my time.

She's just sitting in the middle of the room again.

My favorite thing, probably just the fact that I get to stay home all day with Pudge.

When Pudge was a kitten and was super cute, I had to leave to go work at my, like, nine to five job in an office, and it was really sad, 'cause like, she was growing so fast!

And I just wanted to be around her all the time.

(Pudge purrs) I'd leave, and I'd look up into my bedroom window, and it would be dark, but you could see like the white mustache (laughs).

And it would be like, oh!

I don't think in general cats are going to, like, die down at any point on the internet.

And especially being able to create businesses from social media accounts, I don't think is gonna die down either.

So in this book, it's just a bunch of letters written to people's pets, so I wrote a letter to Pudge just kind of about, you know, what she means to me, and the fact that how it's just so crazy that she's now an internet famous cat, and how my life is so much different.

(lighthearted music)