Last Wednesday at Kasa Café Fitzrovia, Lupin and Rajah, the furry felines that are taking over cat lovers’ social media feeds took over the PadsPass Yappy Hour.
The pair greeted fans and fellow traveling cats at the invitation of PadsPass, a digital pet passport designed to help pet owners manage identification, medical records, and travel requirements—all in one secure platform.
The innovative idea was born from a deeply personal experience. Founder Lauren Anders Brown took 75 flights with her beloved service dog, Paddington. After Paddington’s passing, she welcomed a new dog, Peru, into her life. Navigating the red tape of various airlines and governments inspired Lauren to create a seamless solution for pet owners and international entities.
PadsPass is now in the process of changing pet travel forever and demonstrated how to investors and attendees at the Tenth Anniversary Summit of Animal Health, Nutrition, Technology & Innovation including MSD Health, Boehringer Ingelheim, Elanco, and Zoetis.
One of the key takeaways from the conference was that cat travel has risen 42% since 2020 and Lupin and Rajah are two of those traveling cats.
Lupin, a Russian blue, and Rajah, a Bengal, have become social media sensations thanks to their “crazy cat dads” Jerome and Jacques, who document their journeys through the city on public transportation, amusing unsuspecting passersby with the well-trained cats and their friendly behaviour.
On Instagram alone @lupininlondon has 110,000 followers. The pets’ celebrity is also celebrated on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube and at the “cat cafes” Jerome and Jacques host so that fans can meet Lupin and Rajah in person.
On their adventures on Transport for London, Lupin and Rajah spark smiles and invite curious comments from commuters at every turn. Neither Jacques nor Jerome had had a cat as a pet before. Since Jacques was allergic to many animals, he had never seriously considered it. But after months of research and many meetings with Lupin, all seemed fine.
“One of the things that our breeder told us was that it's possible to try and train a cat, which was very surprising to us because we had never seen it before - we didn't know it was even possible. The thought of it was just so crazy. And I think even then, we both kind of looked at each other as if to say, ‘Why would we do that?’” Jerome said.
Jacques quickly became excited about the possibilities. At the time, he wasn’t thinking about public interaction - his focus was on what would make Lupin happy, and he was confident that time outside was key. The harness training that followed required persistence, and lots and lots of patience.
By the time Rajah came along they knew for sure that it had been the right decision.
“We live in a flat that’s quite high up so we don't really feel comfortable letting our cats free roam, especially with the types of breeds they are. I don't think they'd be safe. So initially, we kind of just wanted to give them the outdoor experience,” Jacques explained.
Pretty early on they met someone while they were out walking who suggested that they document their journeys online. “I love content creation, and I was already kind of filming everything anyway, and I decided to start sharing on Tik Tok and Instagram,” said Jerome. “Within two weeks, we had our first viral video, and the numbers just went crazy from there. We went from like no followers to 10,000 followers within our first month.”
The cats were harness trained separately and introduced to Transport for London very slowly, starting with Lupin.
“We built it up very slowly. We’d have a walk, there’d be a train station and we would just stand inside the station without going on an actual carriage, just to get him used to the environment. And then one day, we felt brave enough to actually take him on the carriage. He was fine.”
PadsPass founder Lauren found the traveling cat duo and was very impressed with their travel skills. She wanted to host her first yappy hour for cats while over for the conference in London. PadsPass hosts monthly yappy hours in Bermuda, so this was a furst - for the location and the species.
IIt was hosted at Kasa Café, a cosy cafe in central London, where attendees from the cat social media scene in London got to hang out with Rajah and Lupin, and hear more about PadsPass. one attendee left the evening with this to say:
"It's been really cool to learn about your business. I am not even joking. I'm gonna go home and tell my partner that guess what? We might finally be able to take our cat away with us instead of leaving him behind."
PadsPass is currently in development and closed for beta testers, but will open up in the second half of 2025. To find out when, subscribe to our newsletter or follow on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or TikTok.
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