Remembering Montel: Yellow Dog Eats’ feline

On Yellow Dog Eats’ Manager Jon Kaczmarek’s bad days, he would take a moment and go outside. 

Montel, a black cat that made the restaurant her home 16 years ago, would make her way to Kaczmarek. 

He would pet her and instantly feel better. 

“She’s a cat; she doesn’t judge,” he said. “It’s just that nice comfort of a pet, somebody on your lap and somebody that’s not going to yell at you, you know?”

It’s that comfort and love Kaczmarek, staff and restaurant guests will miss most from Montel, who died June 25. 

“People already miss her, and I miss her presence just being outside,” he said. “You would go out there, and she would welcome you.”

According to Kaczmarek, Montel’s father was aggressive toward her, so she would hide under the deck at the restaurant. 

More and more, she would show up at the restaurant and hang out on the patio or under the deck. 

“She was here most of the days,” Kaczmarek said. “At least four to five days out of the week, she would be here.” 

When she was younger, she was a hunter. 

“She would hunt, which is weird, because she got all her food for free and never had to hunt for anything,” Kaczmarek said. “She would leave us snakes. She would leave us lizards. And she would leave us small rodents sometimes. It’s like when cats bring home their trophies.” 

Kaczmarek said every morning around 8 a.m., Montel showed up at the back door of the restaurant, meowing for food. He said they would feed her chicken breasts, because she didn’t like cat food.

Between her feedings, she would hang out at the picnic table the restaurant has outside. That was her favorite spot.

“People who would sit on that picnic table, she would jump right up on the ledge, and she’d just come right up to your lap and would start making biscuits (kneading her paws into you),” Kaczmarek said. 

He said as Montel aged, she became even more loving.

Kaczmarek said besides the food and staff, customers would come in for Montel. 

“Montel kind of leaves an impression on everybody,” he said. “They still ask about her — not on one or two occasions. It’s a lot of people.”

She even has a mailbox on the patio where people can leave her messages and drawings. 

“She would get letters from kids,” Kaczmarek said. “We actually didn’t make that mailbox until there were so many letters that kids would draw and write notes to Montel.” 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaczmarek said one of the staff members found her outside meowing for help. 

She couldn’t move. 

After taking her to the emergency vet, they believe she might have had a stroke. 

She then was moved to the building next door, which also is owned by Yellow Dog Eats. She lived there for three to four years before passing. She developed kidney failure         as well, so they started feeding her medicine. She liked the medicine, but toward the end of her life, staff members were just giving her treats and whatever else she wanted. Kaczmarek said she was fed like a king. 

Now, in the next couple of weeks, staff will receive new shirts with her face on it to carry on her legacy. 

She has a memorial at the bar and one in the building next door, with her favorite treats, cards, pictures, her bed and her ashes. 

“She lived such a great life,” Kaczmarek said. “I feel happy to have many years with her. She’s loved, and she is missed.”