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The Fresh Patch Podcast - Where Good Pets Get It.
Welcome to the Fresh Patch Podcast where we talk about everything, from dog training, to potty talk. It's time to save your rugs, and get REAL! Fresh Patch has been featured on Shark Tank, Oprah and the Today Show. We're here to discuss why every pet owner should have real grass and the benefits that come with it. So sit back, relax, grab some treats and cuddle your furry friend, you won't want to miss an episode!
The Fresh Patch Podcast - Where Good Pets Get It.
How Frame Your Feline Transformed Cat Furniture Forever
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When Kristina and Brian Vermeer found themselves hiding an unsightly cat tree every time guests came over, they knew there had to be a better solution. Their stroke of genius came when they merged their love of art with their cats' need for vertical space, creating wall-mounted frames that cats naturally love to inhabit.
"Frame Your Feline was born from a problem that plagues cat parents everywhere – traditional cat trees are functional but frankly, they're eyesores," explains Christina during our conversation. What began as a household hack quickly revealed itself as a revolutionary product when their cats immediately gravitated to the frames, staying for hours at a time. The reason? Cats feel secure in the frame's box-like structure while enjoying an elevated perch to survey their domain.
Their Shark Tank appearance may not have resulted in a deal, but it launched their company into the spotlight. The sharks missed what cat enthusiasts immediately understood – this product transforms cat furniture from something you hide to something you proudly display. Through continuous innovation, the frames evolved from handcrafted wood pieces to recyclable, non-porous materials that can be easily sanitized, making them perfect for homes, shelters, and cat cafes alike. The interchangeable artwork panels that slide behind the frame create multiple revenue streams while allowing pet parents to customize their decor.
Beyond creating beautiful, functional cat furniture, Frame Your Feline demonstrates a deep commitment to feline welfare. Christina regularly photographs shelter cats in frames, capturing their personalities in a relaxed state rather than cowering in cages – dramatically improving their adoption prospects. As board members of Mission Meow, the couple has helped direct over $200,000 in grants to small feline-centric organizations, supporting everything from emergency medical care to trap-neuter-return programs.
Ready to transform your cat's life and your living space? Visit FrameYourFeline.com to browse their collection of frames and artwork panels, including their new Masters Collection featuring famous artworks. Your walls – and your cat – will thank you.
Thanks for listening to the Fresh Patch podcast brought to you by Fresh Patch. We hope you enjoyed the show. Give us a like or a follow, or shop all of our real grass supplies at freshpatch.com. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Youtube, Reddit
Meet Fresh Patch and Frame Your Feline
Speaker 1Welcome to the Fresh Patch Podcast, where we talk about everything from dog training to potty talk. It's time to save your rugs and get real. This episode is brought to you by Fresh Patch, featured on Shark Tank, Oprah and the Today Show, and here are your hosts, Drew and Gabe.
Speaker 2Welcome everybody to the Potty Talk Podcast. My name is Gabe, I'm the partnership coordinator and I'm here with my amazing co-host over here.
Speaker 3Well, thank you so much. I'm Adriana, the social media and partnerships manager here at Fresh Patch.
Speaker 2And we have a couple of very amazing guests today.
Speaker 4I'm Christina. I'm one of the co-founders of Frame your Feline. The Cat Shelf Reimagined.
Speaker 5And I'm Brian Vermeer and I am the other co-owner of this fabulous, wonderful company and uh, and that's holly, but you'll see many amazing real quick.
Speaker 2I just want to give us a shout out make sure to subscribe to the potty talk podcast. Um, you can follow us at fresh patch on twitter, instagram, uh, tiktok, facebook. I'm missing some, but like all the all the main platforms how old is holly?
Speaker 4um, she is about three. She's a rescue from the lang foundation. Um, our cat, frosty, had passed away and the rule at the time was when a cat passes away, you get two kittens so we adopted holly and her brother jolly. They were named something different, but in honor we named them holly and jolly did you guys get them around christmas time?
Speaker 4uh, no, well, frosty, you know, is obviously a christmas name, so uh he passed away in january and and then, like I, couldn't wait very long so so it was during COVID and I was like we're going to get these kittens and at that time you just drove up to the building and they ran out with a cardboard box of kittens.
Speaker 2Good luck.
Speaker 4If it doesn't work out, we'll see you in 30 days.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3They're like what are we doing? Like a cat drive-thru.
Speaker 5See, I grew up a dog guy.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 5I didn't. I didn't know what a cat was until I met her. Oh wow. And then, oddly enough, we now have a cat business because, like like someone at your company.
Speaker 4His mom was allergic. Yeah, she has stayed with us with like a half a dozen cats. She's been fine.
Speaker 5You know what the allergic excuse is? That it's just a lame excuse. Nobody and I've said this before it's a fresh to you guys over at Fresh Patch. Okay, the only thing that they're allergic to is the ugly, disgusting catchery, the carpeted, catcheryed the carpeted catchery full of dust dander yeah, last night's dinner for sure.
Speaker 2yeah, my, I grew up my dad had a crazy cat allergy, so I never had the chance to like really be around cats until, like you know, I started going to my friends houses and like seeing them and you might be on to something there. You might be on to something there.
Speaker 5I think we need to send you a frame and a cat, yes, Can you send me a frame and a cat?
Speaker 2Because I want the cat. She's been looking for a cat.
Speaker 3Yeah, oh, we should connect after.
Speaker 5Posters that are becoming available. We have so many. We have too many cats.
Speaker 2We're sending one your way we have so many, we have too many cats. We're sending one your way. Perfect, we need an office cat.
Speaker 3We were just talking about this like you do? We have dogs around here, but we don't have any cats you do need a cat.
Speaker 5Well, we'll definitely talk after the show amazing.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, that's, I love that. Perfect, okay, cool. So we have some questions for you guys today. If we could just want to get started with it, adrienne, if you want to take the first one.
Speaker 3Yeah. So I mean I remember which honestly wasn't that long ago, watching your episode on Shark Tank, so this feels a little full circle moment right now. But how did you guys start know, frame your fleet, your feline, um, and like just where did this idea come from?
The Origin Story of Frame Your Feline
Speaker 5because I mean, now you've, you know, said brian like you were a dog person, so, um, well you, yeah, you quickly realize the the way of the cat and the love of the cat. Once you have one, it's like a tattoo you get one and then you get more and more and then pretty much you're just covered in cats, which is pretty much our situation right now um so how yeah?
Speaker 4we were living in, uh, an apartment in la in the miracle mile, and our hair my. Our hairdresser had gifted us this ugly powder blue carpeted cat tree and the cats did love it. They would sit in it and look out the window. Um, and as they used it, it started to look more and more ratty and then a cat would like throw up on it and Brian would haul it down the stairs, rinse it off with the hose, let it dry, bring it back in and we'd go. What is that smell?
Speaker 4It's like the smell of formaldehyde. So then people would come over and we'd hide the cat tree in the closet because it was so ugly. And we had our son and we bought our first home in the Ant because it was so ugly. Yeah and um, we had our son and we were. We bought our first home in the antelope valley and are you okay?
Speaker 4yeah we're getting closer yeah, we bought our first home and we were like we're not bringing that thing with us. We put it on the curb. Some lady across the street took it and put it outside in her backyard and my dad is an art collector and had given us a piece of art from Ronnie Wood, from the Rolling Stones and it's of Rod Stewart and it was beautifully framed and we were at the time like really into like this term, catifying, catification. I've got a cat here.
Speaker 4He wants to be part of the show too, and we were like, how do we create like a cool wall that incorporates art, but then our cats, and how do we give them the vertical space that they need? So Brian was like, do you mean like frame our cat? And I said, yeah, that's what I mean.
Speaker 5So that's going to ring to it and then sketching everything out and having this great idea. And then who do you go to when you have a great idea? You go to your dad so I went to or your mom or your mom. But I went to my dad because my dad is an engineer and he's also like a woodworker I mean, he's like great at it. So we told him about this idea and he's like hmm, that's an interesting idea.
Speaker 5And then that was pretty much it. We had the conversation and we never talked about it. Then, like two months later, he came back and he's like hey, I've got something in the mail for you guys, don't open it up.
Speaker 1Don't open it up.
Speaker 5Don't open it up and then that was the first prototype of frame, your feeling and we so we opened up the box. We opened the box, stalled it in our garage, like all entrepreneurs do and we had our cat frosty be the first cat ever in a frame and we put him in it and he's in it. But it was more square and it was kind of small, so his head was kind of like this and we were like we got to go bigger.
Speaker 5We really got to work on the aspect ratio to make it like true art, and so we went bigger.
Speaker 5and then bigger, and then finally found that sweet spot of dimensions and and the cats? We weren't sure how they were going to react. We installed it right here in our living room and we just sat back within five minutes boom, it's occupied. We didn't have to do it, we didn't have to show them, they just naturally got up in it. But what? The amazing thing that we discovered was that they wouldn't just get in it and get out, they would go in it and then they would be in there for long periods of time because they feel like they're in a box.
Speaker 5Yeah, cats love that security of feeling like they're in a box.
Speaker 1Even though it's open on all sides.
Speaker 5But they feel protected it's.
Speaker 4Kevin O'Leary who said when are they in the frames? And we're like all the time we come out in the middle of the night and record them sleeping stretching out. In fact we have a huge black feral foster right now that we saved um before he was going to get off at lancaster and he will not come out during the day, but at night. He's just spread out here. It's fun to see this cat, who's really scared, just so happy and comfortable I'm sure.
Speaker 2uh, some of your house guests get a little jump scare every once in a while, you know. Yeah, see the cat.
Speaker 5Yeah, well, we do have a funny story, because when we first had it up, we were testing out the concept. We were testing out the concept. Right, we had it on our wall and we had this like Halloween party at our house and we forgot to tell people like, oh, we're working on this kind of side thing yeah. And one of our friends was walking by and then, like like, saw the cat in the frame and was like what that?
Speaker 1What am I looking at Right?
Speaker 5Like, like he had to. He walked up slowly. This cat is moving, he's like moving, he's like. So it's really funny and um, and that is a great reaction.
Shark Tank Experience and Challenges
Speaker 4I was like yes, oh yeah, sorry, like am I a hogwarts right now with all these yeah, people started to take out their phone and we're like no, no, no, no, you can't take a picture, you can't tell anyone. This can't go anywhere. You're now part of the club and you'll see what's going on behind the scenes with this frame.
Speaker 2So yeah, that's really interesting. That kind of leads into, like, my next question of like, when you guys came up with the idea, was it always something that you thought of as like a potential business, or was it something that you wanted to do, like just for your cats, and then kind of realize that, oh, people love this kind of thing?
Speaker 4when we we are.
Speaker 2We are serial entrepreneurs okay, but not in this space at all.
Speaker 5No, not in the cat world, gotcha, this one's going right to you yeah, um, they're good actors. I'll tell you what they love being on camera so, so yeah, when we, when we first put it up in the house and then the cats took, immediately took to it, and just seeing our cat in the frame, it gave me, honestly, it gave me goosebumps. I was like this is incredible, like this is amazing. And we both looked at each other and the first thing we said was, oh, this will be on shark tank.
Speaker 4Oh, yeah we'll get this on shark tank and and what and? Well, the thing is is like, because, as cat parents, like we always buy these things for our cats that are so cute and they fall they fall apart or they don't like it on. It throws up on it. It's made out of cardboard or the cat hates it they don't use it.
Speaker 5We bought a 450 cat exercise wheel oh yeah, I've seen those yeah, it is. It is cat repellent. No cat wants to be in our fosters.
Speaker 4They're like no, which we use like lasers and treats and it doesn't you know, but we're like this looks really beautiful, but it's super solid, it's safe yeah in a small space, it's just four screws that go into your studs.
Speaker 4It's not this whole like huge monstrosity taking up a big footprint kind of thing, but the when you said, oh, did we think about this being a business? We were like, yeah, you know, we know there are so many products out there for cats in 2019. Uh, because we had this alpha beta version before then. We actually went to cat con with our son, jackson, who was about to turn three and we had a little show for him called jackson asher super adventures.
Speaker 4It's on youtube. And we went to cat con doing research for frame your feline to see is there anything like this? You know the patent and the trademark. And we didn't find anything. And shortly after that we were like, yes, this is something we're really interested in. And then that's when Brian's dad came up with the concept of the artwork panels that slide in and out. We were like, oh, this is the multiple revenue stream here. This is what the sharks will love. This is the chef's right.
Speaker 5So yeah, we, because originally we were like, oh, just the frame, and yeah, put it up. But then, like my dad, you know, brilliant, he goes you, you need art behind there, you know, and we're like oh yeah, so they're now now the now your cat can hang out with the birds right and your cat's like part of the art piece.
Speaker 2You know when you're in there.
Speaker 4That's so cool, yeah but the one thing we never like really thought of in the beginning was scaling the product, because Brian's dad was making them one at a time by hand out of wood.
Speaker 4There was a really nice picture of him in his workshop that we had on display during Shark Tank, but it was edited out and then also, when we launched, we did have limited knowledge in this space because we had only ever had a few cats and we didn't realize that cat cafes and cat restrooms really need something that can be sanitized easily.
Speaker 4So, the company has changed, where we were making these one at a time by hand out of wood, and now we have a mass manufacturer based in the USA. It's very important to us that we stay in the USA, and now it is a fully recyclable product that can be sanitized easily.
Speaker 5Yes, non-porous.
Speaker 4Non-porous, non-toxic, yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah, that's it. Oh sorry, go, go ahead.
Speaker 5I was just gonna say it's a progression. You know you, I'm sure your first patch of grass was probably like dry patch, right? Yeah, yeah, I mean it was a lot.
Speaker 2It was a lot, it was a lot closer to sod in the beginning, and then we started to kind of say, hey, like, oh, what if we did a dirtless soil and kind of built our way up to like where we're at now with the wax line boxes and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, it definitely takes time and yeah and after iteration sadly, most people don't understand that I'm sure after dark tank.
Speaker 4You guys went and read like the comments of people online, the keyboard warriors, oh my gosh, we still to this day.
Speaker 2It's yeah, it's insane. Yeah, oh yeah. You guys get some of that as well, some negative feedback, I mean people asking you know why is brian wearing hot pink?
Speaker 4it's our company colors, the pink and yellow why is? He holding a glass of wine. Well, that was edited out. Where was our son? That was edited out. He came out as a cat.
Speaker 4You can see it in some of the promo photos from abc um. And then you know people not understanding that cats need vertical space and they're like I hate cats, I hate this product and we're like or they hate cats because the cats are destructive. Well, the cats are destructive because if they're in your house and they're bored and they can't jump up and they don't have something that you can scratch the bottom of this there's carpet on it. So you know, it was kind of interesting, but we have thick skins, you know. Yeah, you have to. It's not our first rodeo, but some people, or many people, are like I love this, oh, my God, where Some people or many people are like I love this, oh my God when has this been?
Speaker 4Why didn't I think of this?
Speaker 5Oh my goodness, On one level we're geniuses.
Speaker 2On the other level we're just weirdos.
Speaker 5That's always how it goes.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5What can you do? You just got to take it.
Speaker 2For sure, absolutely. I mean we definitely have gotten better and better like kind of addressing those things now. So, um, like you said, that's another thing. That's like a work in progress and you just get better and better out over time and you know, well, we do, we do stand-up comedy and like in the, in the real world, in the real world I could. I now that you say that, that makes total sense you see what's going on right, absolutely so.
Speaker 5So you know, listen, we're as comedians and we go up on stage yeah you know you're gonna be able to take it if somebody heckles and somebody. So having somebody online hide behind their keyboard and say stuff, I'm just like, whatever Like yeah, this is easy.
Speaker 2Exactly yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent.
Speaker 3Yeah, honestly, it's like the people who are either not you know, for us it's like a dog person or a cat person. You know they don't have pets or anything like that and they're the ones that are honestly making the negative comments versus you know the people that respond well and resonate to your product. You know they get it because they have a cat, they have a dog or a pet. So you know, anyways, those comments hold more you know validity to them than you know the negative ones.
Speaker 4There, there is this one woman on YouTube who has a show where she flips the switch and goes and talks about the products, and I've actually reached out to her because she, like, hates our product and doesn't understand. She has a dog in the background and she like really was digging into us and I'm like, hey, we should. You know, let's schedule a time and we will.
Speaker 4Um it's, but it's interesting. She's like, oh my gosh, like you can go online and get all these cat shelves for you know, whatever. And I'm like, scroll down on the page that has one star. It has you promoting, like you know, or this like mushroom cat tree. Like I'm sorry, I'm an adult, I don't need a mushroom cat tree. Like I'm sorry, I'm an adult, I don't need a mushroom cat tree.
Speaker 4Yeah, so it. It's funny. I always want to go hey, let us know when you know you invent something. But I think before being on shark tank and having it air, I think sometimes we did sit back and go oh my god, that's such a dumb product. Oh, this is that of course yeah you know a stain that cleans out every drop in your makeup.
Speaker 2Whatever you know and now we're like oh no, we get it yeah, oh yeah, no, definitely that's, that's hilarious. Yeah, no, it's, it's. It's so easy, like you said, just to sit back and be like just pick apart things, but once, once you're kind of like doing it for yourself and you're you're putting yourself out there, like you understand, like you said well, I think, I think, whoa geez, that's not an earthquake, that's a cat.
Speaker 5Oh, um, we love it so quick. So you know, uh, one of the it's, it's I don't think people understand at home and you know this, you're in the tank for 40 to 60 minutes, you're in there for quite a bit of time and you're doing back and forth and they're yelling over each other. They're heckling you maybe, of course. Now Lori Grenier said in the episode a silly comment about price point and our whole thing was hey, our numbers are artificially low because we couldn't keep up with the demand, because we can only make them one at a time. We were changing to our manufacturing process, but we kept telling them that, hey, our numbers are artificially low, it's not a problem of our price point. And she threw out this arbitrary number of what we should sell it for, which was absolutely insane.
Speaker 5And I remember on the show I was just like what? They'll never air this. We were driving home. We were like they'll never air this. They'll never air this. We were driving home. We were like they'll never air that little bit because it just won't make it. Won't let her look good, right, yeah.
Speaker 2Oh, totally, and then.
Speaker 5Then we see the episode and they like revolve the whole episode in the eight minutes around that.
Speaker 2And I'm like wow, yeah, oh man, what Crazy. So you know, but hey, that's television Absolutely I was going to say it's all entertainment at the end of the day.
Speaker 5So you know you got to get some grace they wanted live cats in the studio and they're like do you think they'll stay in the frames? We're like no, no.
Speaker 4No, because they're not. They're not dogs, they're cats. They're not dogs and they're gonna. My cats do a thing called mind mapping. They're like is this studio my new home? I should go over here, I should smell over here. What does it sound like when I jump, when I'm gonna go back here in 20 minutes, what's gonna?
Speaker 4be here just mind mapping. So you know we had fun with that, like I was like I'm not ever going to stress out about that um, our cat Skippy love, they love it. So yeah, our cat Skippy, he was with us when we did all the producers run through from home and this was the frame that he was in when we got to set. It was a little farther back because I was supposed to be able to go like this to get him.
Speaker 4He wasn't supposed to be able to jump five feet down, but it was attached to the floor yes so it was like drilled in for safety and we couldn't move because the cameras, and I'm like, well, it might be a beep show, but we'll just figure it out yeah, that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 2Um, did you have another kind of follow-up question, like on the shark tank, sort of?
Speaker 3um, I mean, I guess there's always like things, like you said, that gets edited out. You're not? Yeah, you know things don't air. So I mean, is there any like funny, like tidbits? You know that we the audience didn't see while we you were on shark tank are we allowed to talk about that?
Speaker 5I don't think. I don't know if we're allowed to. I don't want the abc attorneys coming at us something that we can say.
Speaker 4I will say we shot on september 13th and we yeah friday friday the 13th oh yeah, for those of you who are watching Shark Tank, doesn't go, okay. Bye guys, your air date is blah, blah, blah. It's Friday. Don't call us. We'll call you and we'll give you three weeks notice, so we're like, okay, maybe it'll air before Christmas and we were dealing with things behind the scenes with our manufacturer and we were dealing with things behind the scenes with our manufacturer.
Speaker 4and then, uh, and so we're like, maybe it's better if it doesn't air then. And then we're like, when does the season end? We're like, oh my god, the season's ending like in two months. Oh gosh, are they gonna call us? How can this not air like it was? Just there was so much going on, right, I had jury duty on a Friday and I got, and I came home and Brian's like we got the email, you know, and and then we're like it's, it's uh, it was airing on good Friday.
Speaker 4So we're like how did we have a viewing party either on a Friday?
Speaker 2night at a bar.
Speaker 4It's kind of hard Cause that's like one of their busiest nights and three weeks notice. And then how do we know that we're going to have people who are going to get together, because some people don't do anything on Good Friday.
Speaker 1Yeah, right, or the whole weekend, yeah.
Speaker 4So we were like, oh, I don't know how this is going to go, but we were able to put together an awesome viewing party. It was in the perfect space, the perfect amount of people, with like 75 people friends in our community, cat rescue people, the local paper 80 people there.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4And then one one day brewing and we did have like raffles and stuff for the people from local businesses.
Speaker 2And then when they said I'm out like the whole everybody's, that's awesome, yeah, you had a little crowd to get you guys people from local businesses and then when they said I'm out, everybody's like, boom, that's awesome. Yeah, you had a little crowd cheering you guys off.
Speaker 5That's super cool. Yeah, it was fun. I'm sure you felt the same way, but everybody who works behind the scenes on Shark Tank is absolutely top notch the best. I mean, it's such a great. There's such great people Like everyone. Except the sharks when they say when you're out there.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, we've heard from our founder, Andrew that there's like he's still like we were on in, I think, 2015, and he still keeps in contact with a lot of Shark Tank people. They have like groups and and stuff like that, and so it seems like a really, really cool culture behind it, which is awesome.
Speaker 5Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah it was. It was really great well at cat con.
Speaker 4There were other alumni there, so nathan and sterling, who had the dating app tabby that they got I think, they saw that on and then um brook fountains uh, that amazing that is actually cat amazings owner, so he has a new venture, oh cool, so yeah, so it was kind of cool like you're alumni, you're alumni yeah, man, that's so awesome.
Rescue Efforts and Philanthropy Work
Speaker 2So, like, what has it been? Like, what's the aftermath for you guys? Like, what has it been? Like, what's the aftermath for you guys? Like, what has it been since Shark Tank? What have you, what changes have you seen in the company?
Speaker 5essentially, Well, it's, it's hard to go. It's hard to go grocery shopping. Especially when you're dressed At people who walk over to me because I wear this pink suit everywhere I go.
Speaker 2That's great marketing, that is fantastic marketing.
Speaker 5No, I mean, it's been fantastic. We knew when we were doing the show. When we knew that they were basically out within 20 minutes, we didn't care. We were just like we just got it air, that's all that really because we knew, like cat people will get, will understand and get this, oh yeah, yes. So so that was the only thing like we didn't, we didn't care, we knew, we knew our people, we knew our people we knew which sharks that we wanted to do a deal with and we were hoping to enlighten them.
Speaker 4But they were really like I know everything, you know nothing, get out of here, kind of thing. And we were like this is really weird because we've done research and we know three of them have been involved in pet products and right made a ton of money off of one, and you know, we know one of them loves things that are demonstrable on television and you know, in the seasons, and so it was a little weird. But we are like the goal is to air and it did. But when we see our people like when we've had we had an event at the Pasadena Humane Society, like the week before it aired, and we were telling people we have an air date on shark tank they're like oh my god, this is amazing, you guys. And then at cat con we now have one of our pull-up banners mentions our appearance. Yes, let him sit here and uh, and people are like I saw you guys.
Speaker 4and then this one guy's like put your camera on. It's like boom. Mark Cuban oh wow, you know, mark's brother is a big cat person. So it's fun to see people like cheering for us.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 4And seeing the growth, we did have some we had like a negative thing that turned into a positive thing with our manufacturer, because right after we shot shark tank, our kickstarter money came in and our manufacturer said, hey, we just got acquired by a really big company and we're moving and there's going to be all this weight and lag and delay. And we're like, oh my god, oh no. So we we kind of told some people in our network like what's going on and we now have a manufacturer that's here in the Antelope Valley.
Speaker 3So we have, oh, okay.
Speaker 4So good for you guys.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 4Yeah, so it's all, it's all working out. You have to trust the process. Oh yeah, even when you want to rip your eyelashes out, you know you want to rip your eyelashes out.
Speaker 5You know, definitely, yeah, there's, as an entrepreneur, there's always things coming flying at your curveballs and you're you know you gotta dodge and weave and you know, uh, at the end of the day you just have to trust that it'll all come together, as christina said, and it does. The master, oh yeah, that's, that's a new category of ours. So on our website we have like the different frame styles people can choose and then and then we have artwork panels that they get to select from, and so we just started the masters collection, so we've got monet oh nice brand renoir I saw.
Speaker 2I saw the mona l Lisa up there earlier. Yeah, I'm a big DaVinci guy, so that was cool to see. Oh good, of course.
Speaker 4So we're all excited about that, because people we didn't have access to that before, so now we have access to that. So that's a nice bit of company growth as well.
Speaker 3Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4When you're on Shark Tank, everybody on the planet who has a business service that they think can help you, they reach out to you. So we've had like some really cool meetings and then we've had some weird meetings. But we love collaborating and bouncing ideas off of people. Hey, if somebody from a really important company wants to run some ideas through, you know we're like we're here for it.
Speaker 3So yeah, definitely yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to see, uh, what masterpieces you guys are coming up with next.
Speaker 4Oh, well, oh, here's, here's something, oh oh this, yeah, this was a cool story. This is a cool story that we can talk about.
Speaker 5We'll tell you a cool story. So there's a gentleman that's part of the show who basically deals with all of the businesses as they come into the show and as they leave the show.
Speaker 5And he's a cat person, loves our product, understands the growth potential of the product. He should be a shark, so he gets it, he gets it. So he really spent a lot of time with us because he took a real keen interest in Frame your Feline, because he really understood how big it could really be. And one of the things he was saying is, like you know, in museums they have a little plaque on the front of the frame that has like what the art piece is Right, and so he's, like you know, it would be great if you had your logo like there, right, we looked into it. We actually went to a museum to kind of see how they do it.
Speaker 1And we were looking at the little like bronze plaques and things like that.
Speaker 5But some of our frame styles are different. Some are curved or beveled or some are flat Right, so it would be really hard to like get it Get a logo Right. Yeah.
Speaker 4And also as cat parents like, we love to take pictures of our cats and make them Insta-famous. And we don't really want to have like a big honking logo taking away from our cat, right. So like kind of meet in the middle.
Speaker 5Right. So in our research, research, going to a museum, you know how they have those little plaques that are next to the art piece and it explains the piece and who the artist is and everything Right. This now comes with every frame your feline set.
Speaker 2Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 5It's an actual art plaque but we have 16 different ones so it's random what they get in the box and they're all really funny with different titles and it talks about the cat and what they are the art. Right, that's so cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's going to be huge.
Speaker 5There are a lot of fun and that's something that came out of doing the show that's incredible. Yeah, no, that's, that's, that's really awesome and it's great because it's got our logo and then a little qr code that goes right to our website. There you go. So now, when somebody sees it in somebody's home, they're like what is this?
Speaker 4oh cool, let me go and it looks like it's in an art gallery. So it's that same art aesthetic. It's the chef's kiss.
Speaker 2Yes, oh my gosh, that's incredible. Yeah, you make me. That's such a good gift, man, I'm thinking like who are my cat friends that I can get this for.
Speaker 4We've had. We have had some growth in the wedding registry, that makes sense. Everybody has a blender. You know everybody has a toaster and you know going with your friends chipping 50 each, and now you have a really great gift that keeps on giving yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2hey, you guys have been absolutely incredible. We are kind of running a little short on time here, but let's finish off with this question here. What has been the best memory of you guys, you know know, starting this company, going through the Shark Tank process, all of it, that kind of the best memory. Yeah, I know it's a difficult question, but Mine would be sharing this with our son.
Speaker 4Our son, jackson, is about to turn nine, on Saturday, and I think it might be pretty cool as a kid to see your parents like doing all of this, like we're not sitting at a desk waiting, staring at the clock and waiting to run out. So Jackson was fully involved in the casting process. He was a performer on our segment. He dressed as a cat and he has a little say goodbye to ugly carpeted cat tree sign. We do like cat con. On Saturday, the first day he was dressed as a cat taking pictures with people. For me I want him to see like hard work pays off and You've got to be focused. What's yours? I think mine Don't copy me.
Speaker 5I'll try to be serious. So there's two moments. There's two moments. One is the first time in our house when we installed it in the house and seeing our cat in the frame, literally, as I said before, gave me goosebumps. I was like this is so amazing. It's amazing when you see your own cat in the frame.
Speaker 1it changes you, it does something.
Speaker 5The other thing that has been really cool and it's been happening every year. We've done three CatCons now and I remember it clearly on the first one and I remember it, but it was a disaster, but I remember, I remember people coming up and saying this is the best thing I've seen at this show.
Speaker 2Wow, that's so awesome.
Speaker 5And we get that three years now. Each year people come up to us and go this is the best thing here. Before it was frame your feline, we were trying to think of a name, and we were thinking of a name Something that was very eye-catching. Something that would get people's attention and they would always remember. So, like brilliant people we are, we came up with this great name.
Speaker 4You're brainstorming other names for cat.
Speaker 5Yes, Frame your. Now we even have the domain name. We were that serious. We were that serious.
Speaker 4And and Brian's parents, who have been involved since day one. They were okay with it.
Speaker 5We were going to sell the shelves for $69.99. $69.99.
Speaker 4$69.99. $69.99.
Speaker 5So this has definitely turned into a potty talk.
Speaker 2Yeah, we're living up to the name.
Speaker 4A different potty talk. I have a friend from high school who's a cat mom and she's an elementary school teacher and this was all during COVID, you know we were brainstorming, having Zoom sessions and stuff. She's like Christina, I'm just telling you, like you don't want little kids who have cats Googling, frame your, and so we were like yeah, and then could we get on Shark Tank with frame, your, I don't know.
Speaker 5Oh, there's that Could we get on Shark Tank with Frame your Back? I don't know, oh, there's that. But we also wanted to talk about our philanthropic endeavors. Yes, absolutely yes.
Speaker 3I mean, I've seen from your Instagram a lot of like Christina going out to a local shelter and doing a lot with fosters. So you know, definitely want to know a little bit.
Speaker 4Yeah, thank you. So we have. We live in the Antelope Valley and we have two very high kill shelters out here that are part of the Los Angeles County system and a lot of it is. We have backyard breeders, we have people who were never raised to spay and neuter their pets. We have people who dump their pets in the desert. We have like a lot of really high, tragic things going on here and the shelters are burdened and overcrowded. Palmdale is a beautiful shelter but the dogs don't have daily like in-out access they're just in the kennel with other dogs, um, and if the cat or a dog is an owner?
Speaker 4surrender, they don't give them much time because they know no one's looking for them. So that's really heartbreaking. A couple of years ago, some people knew that we lived out here and they were like hey, can you go pull a dog for us and bring it to boarding? It's going to be transferred to a foster or an adopter. And how can I say no, right, so it takes a little.
Speaker 4It takes a bit of time and you got to be patient. When you get to the shelter they're not the happiest people on the planet. Some of them are really nice people and then some of them are just like I'm working. You know it's a tough job, but in the beginning it was dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs. Can you go get this german shepherd, can you go get this rottweiler, can you go get this pit bull? And I'm like, oh my god, these are huge dogs. I was super scared and I gotta tell you, every dog we've ever pulled um, my son, our son, jackson, comes with us a lot. They've always been grateful dogs to get out. Nobody's ever barked or snapped or anything um, and so that's been cool.
Speaker 4But while I was at the Lancaster shelter I met this woman, linda Schultz, and she works, she volunteers, with a rescue called the Feline Underground Network and I spoke to her and I got connected with the rescue head, julie Van Loo, and I said, hey, there's a lot of cats that are like posted on next door that are going to be dumped at the shelter. What if we, if I intervene? Hey, there's a lot of cats that are posted on Nextdoor that are going to be dumped at the shelter. What if I intervene, and I've never fostered a litter of kittens- I've never had six kittens and a mom.
Speaker 4I've never had some of these cats that they say are feral but you bring them back and they're fine. And some you bring back and they're feral. But the cool thing is is through the rescue, what we do is we take their adoption photos in the frames because the cats feel safe and secure. You're not taking a picture of them like hovering, like when you look on the shelter websites. The cats are like in these nests, like who goes, I want that cat, you know, and the cat is like pretty and we have them walk around in the frame so you can show off their markings. Because at adoption events unless you're a desperate, happy kitten, like an adult cat is usually just like sitting there, like get me out of here yeah, but the problem with taking pictures of these cats that need to be adopted.
Speaker 5They look. They look like you took their picture at the dmv.
Speaker 4You know what I mean? We're at walgreens right?
Speaker 5no, you look horrible. We're thinking of creating a new offshoot product called frame a human and then giving the dmv the frames and then just letting the human pop their head in there and get a good shot right I'll play the step for them right, like are you guys in you want to? Come in 33 no I'm in. I'm in, I'll pay whatever so, so yeah, I mean christina christina's been terrific at at doing that. I the only thing I've ever pulled is a hamstring.
Speaker 4I can't no, but brian helps with the photos, and and so then what we do is we upload the pictures of the cats in the frame on Pet Finder. We write some descriptions and then Brian is really helpful in making adoption flyers so at the event, when the cat is in like a kennel, like a cube.
Speaker 4we have this flyer that has a picture of them in the frame and then we have a little QR code that goes to like our YouTube channel, our Instagram channel, where they can see a video. This is what the cat looks like when they're walking around or with the kitten. We'll we'll shoot a video where the kitten is in the frame and we just have like a wand toy and they can see the kitten, you know, move around. But it's.
Future Goals and Collaboration Ideas
Speaker 4We're just trying to give them a great chance at being seen because sadly, there are more cats and kittens than there are adopters and we just want to, you know, get them out and get them seen, and it makes us do we do feel really great about it. Back on Shark Tank, right before I knew Kevin was going to say I'm out, I said before we end, I just and I hate using the word, I hate the word just I just want to say and I went into the whole, like this is a great destination for photos, for adoption, pictures of your cats. And Lori was like aw, I'm out, we're done. Wow, nine months of planning.
Speaker 5Christina hates the word just.
Speaker 4She hates the word. It's like an apology.
Speaker 5You should see the way she shudders when she meets somebody named Justine. She just goes or Justin.
Speaker 2Oh gosh, yeah, I can only imagine.
Speaker 4And then, beyond the adoption photos and fostering, brian and I actually sit on the board of a 501c3 USA-based nonprofit called Mission Meow and I'm going to introduce you guys to Mission Meow after this. But we crowdfund grants that are then given to small feline centric organizations so you know the shelter system. They run off of your tax dollars but, all these little rescues.
Speaker 4They run off of donations of, like recycling money or some celebrity drops a chunk of change or people contribute. You know twenty dollars a month or something like that. But we have given. Now we've just crossed two hundred thousand dollars in grants that we've given in less than three years. So making a difference, helping people get fire alarm systems at their physical rescues or washer dry incubators incubators to help little kittens, you know, thrive, so that that feels really good yeah for us.
Speaker 4And then it's great because when we do have cat con or other trade shows, we all get together as like businesses, and so we're building a community so it's like a nice entrepreneurial ship kind of thing where we're, you know, cheering for them. When we had our Kickstarter last year, people like the two crazy cat ladies and some other people involved in mission meow they donated to help get our everything our goals reached, and so that was you know it's a club and you're not in it, but we need to get you in that club.
Speaker 2Hey, we're submitting our application right now. There you go. That's so incredible, I mean definitely.
Speaker 3Love to hear, like you know, other businesses just giving back and other ways you know to support, you know, cats I mean I think there's a lot like we hear a lot about dog stuff, but you know we're learning more about cats as we, you know, venture more into the cat space there, there aren't.
Speaker 4There aren't a lot of resources for cats. That's the big.
Speaker 4That's the big thing, and you know, we want to combat that and say to the volunteers hey, whatever we can donate that can help make your lives easier. You need more modern traps or you need a washer dryer who doesn't need a fire alarm system Like hello? So we really want practical things, Right. And then when the one big wish list I think for 2026 is we want to give a grant to a rescue who needs a vehicle, because a lot of these rescues do tnr, trap, neuter and release right or return and so they have to track these cats and then they get an appointment for 20 cats.
Speaker 4Well, who can fit 20 cats and traps in your car? You can't, you know. So we're we're working to, um, find a rescue that is going to request that, and then we're working to find a rescue that is going to request that, and then we're going to connect the dots because we have now access to, like an organization where you can get a car that's been donated, a vehicle that's been donated. So that will be exciting to see. That's a big, that's a big wish list. I think that will really get you know Mission Meow noticed, because people will be like, wow, they gave away a car. Because people would be like, wow, they gave away a car.
Speaker 5Yeah, christina just said something that kind of spawned my memory. Yeah, something that happened on the tank that I don't think we got the time, did we get to talk about our big, hairy, audacious goal?
Speaker 1No, we didn't.
Speaker 5We're going back on the tank man. I'm going to go back on the tank 27. That's our goal. I'm going to show them Season 18. All right, Definitely yes. One of the things that we want to do, our big, hairy, audacious goal is to at the National Museum, National Zoo.
Speaker 4The.
Speaker 2National Zoo sorry.
Speaker 4Did I say museum National Zoo?
Speaker 5The museum have a big frame installed for a big cat at the zoo. I was thinking that when they will jump in they become art. But I mean the frame would be huge.
Speaker 4Massive. They're made out of the same material We've got to make that happen.
Speaker 2That's such a good idea. That's what we want, and you know what the sharks missed out.
Speaker 4Yeah, totally they missed out on that ribbon cutting it's okay.
Speaker 5At the National Zoo. They on that ribbon cutting. It's okay, it's okay, at the National Zoo They'll cry, don't cry.
Speaker 2Oh, they'll look back. They'll look back.
Speaker 5People call us the ring product for pets. That makes sense. Ring got completely shafted and look at them now. Look at them now. So that's all you can do.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, that's super cool. You need to make sure that happens, because that would be so cool.
Speaker 4That would be fun, you know what we'll do.
Speaker 5You know what we'll do. We'll collab on that big project. I love that. What we'll do is we'll do a fresh patch as the base. A huge fresh patch? Yep, that goes in the frame. We got grass Dude. Be fresh patch. Yep, we can. That goes in the frame. We got grass dude. Be careful with that grass, you know, get you hooked. Get you hooked um, do you tell friends that yeah, I deal in grass?
Speaker 2I yeah, no, I'm like. Sometimes they'll ask. I'll be like, yeah, I'm an online grass dealer out there.
Speaker 3Anyway, I can, it's 420, sometime right somewhere and for sure a lot of our shirts in the back will say got grass, so I get a lot of.
Speaker 5It's pretty funny non-medicinal there you go.
Speaker 2We need to. We need to clarify the asterisk people question like skiing and like, oh, like.
Speaker 3What is that so for sure?
Speaker 5now, is your grass vegan? Is that vegan? Yeah, oh, okay, just want to make sure. I mean, I I don't know whether your grass has to be deboned or not. Uh, before you, uh, give it to the cat.
Speaker 2No, I'm I'm sure it's okay believe it or not, no animals were harmed in the making of our grass together can't get more natural than what you guys do.
Speaker 5But thank you for what you guys do. I think you guys have an incredible product and if you haven't done it already, those watching. If you have a dog, if you have a cat, get yourself a fresh patch. Do yourself a favor. Do your cat or your dog the biggest favor. Get them a patch. They need a patch. Make sure you like, follow and subscribe.
Speaker 2Yes I love that. Thank you so much. And before I get out of here, why don't you guys let the people know how to get your product? We're awesome.
Speaker 5Thank you for asking. Yeah, this is called the plug section, yes, program. Uh, you can find us at FrameYourFelinecom. That's FrameYourFelinecom. Make sure you check us out on all the socials, not on the OnlyFans yet At FrameYourFeline, across all of the platforms. And make sure, if you have a cat we are out to deforest the world of cat trees Make sure you get yourself a frame your feline. There you go.
Speaker 2Thank you, everybody for watching too. Be sure to tune in every week Potty Talk podcast. We're here and we get to talk to amazing people, like we did today.
Speaker 1Thanks for listening to the Potty Time podcast brought to you by Fresh Patch. We hope you enjoyed the show. Give us a like or a follow, or shop all of our real grass supplies at freshpatchcom.
