If Jeremy the Manager was my boss, I would be fired.

I showed up to this interview disheveled, drenched in sweat from the muggy New York humidity, and late, courtesy of either a car malfunction in my Uber or a higher power punishing me for not taking public transportation.

When I finally arrived at CitiPups in New York City for our interview, Jeremy the Manager — clad in one of his famous ties — was stoic. You could tell by the way he stalked around the room, sniffing my bag and refusing to make eye contact: He wasn't angry with me, he was just disappointed.

Credit: Molly Flores

This, it seems, is emblematic of his typical managerial style.

"He's very assertive. He's very focused on the task. He's very confident. He's a natural born leader, and he's very wise," Emilio Ortiz told Mashable. Ortiz works at CitiPups and runs Jeremy's social media accounts, of which the feline boasts more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok and more than 263,000 followers on Instagram.

Credit: Molly Flores

All that said, Jeremy "could be a little nicer." But it's his managerial prowess and unbothered demeanor that makes Jeremy so beloved by fans — and launched him into internet fame. Just look at TikTok, where the #JeremytheManager tag has over 2 million views and counting.

You can buy fan-created Jeremy the Manager laptop stickers on Etsy, and if you search him on Pinterest, his posts flood the feed. New Yorkers and tourists visit him every day at the Manhattan pet store and bring him gifts — art and collars and treats and sometimes just pets. Ortiz says that CitiPups might even start selling its own Jeremy merch. It's pretty clear: Jeremy is one of our generation's Famous Cats.

Credit: Molly Flores Credit: Molly Flores

Like Grumpy Cat and other internet-savvy felines before him, people love Jeremy because he's pretty sassy. In his videos, he's telling people what they can and cannot do in his store, courtesy of a voice-over by Ortiz. He is particularly demanding of one of the employees, Oliver, which he shows by knocking over his pens and scowling over his work. But, most of the time, he stays relaxing in his cat bed on the CitiPups counter, prepared to greet guests and ensure no mice overstay their welcome on the grounds.

Go to any of his most popular videos, and you’ll see a deluge of comments approving of his managerial tactics. But he wasn't hired specifically for this job — it was a promotion of sorts. Jeremy was rescued along with a few other cats to help manage the store's rat and mouse problem in the early days of the pandemic.

"Jeremy actually got the job done and got rid of the rats," Ortiz said. "So as a joke, we put a little tie on him and gave him employee of the month. Ever since then, it has taken on a life of its own."

Yet, his fame hasn't increased sales at CitiPups, Ortiz said. Some animal rights activists argue that isn’t such a bad thing, since they claim CitiPups gets its dogs from puppy mills — and CitiPups' fight against that argument has played a role in Jeremy's stardom.

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In 2021, Ortiz posted videos on his TikTok account @pup_daddy to show his work at the store and remove some of the stigma surrounding buying a pet directly from a store instead of from a breeder or rescuing from a shelter. The drive was punctuated by a bill moving through the New York State Legislature that would ban the sale of dogs (and cats and rabbits, which CitiPups doesn’t sell) at pet stores. The intent behind the bill was to crack down on high-volume breeding facilities known as puppy mills.

"The video didn't really gain steam," Ortiz said. "And then I made the same video, word for word, from the perspective of [Jeremy's] account. And it got hundreds of thousands of views. It [encouraged] thousands of people to send emails and [sign] petitions."

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The comments on these videos aren't all in agreement. Some people show their support for Jeremy, and others say they love Jeremy but can't condone this kind of messaging.

"Love the cat, love the idea but no breeder is a responsible breeder," one commenter wrote. "So many animals in shelters, so many euthanized daily. I’m happy about this bill and hope it becomes national. Partner with animal rescues and shelters and adopt out and just be a normal pet store that sells pet products."

Ortiz told Mashable that CitiPups gets their dogs from reputable breeders. He says they go on trips to visit the breeders and ensure none of them are from mills. But some activists and politicians, including the then-Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris who sponsored the bill, argue that responsible pet stores don't exist.

"Even if there are individual pet store owners that are trying to do the right thing, the way the industry works is when they're getting mass-produced animals from breeders, often outside of state, they tend to be from the mills. There's not a pet store that is unaffected by that," Sen. Gianaris told local New York news station Spectrum 1.

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A 2020 investigation conducted by the Humane Society found that many New York pet stores obtained puppies from unscrupulous breeders — including at least two dogs that were linked to CitiPups.

The bill was signed late last year, and it will go into effect in 2025. But CitiPups plans to continue fighting it by supporting other pieces of animal-friendly legislation that would soften its effect. Recently, another bill was introduced and that would allow pet shops to continue running so long as they source dogs from breeders that have established breeding limits and do genetic testing, among other requirements.

"Right now we’re focused on getting this bill through," Ortiz said over email of the new bill. "It’s really painful for us to think about our family’s business being taken from us. It’s hard to envision a future where we’re forced to stop doing what we love and helping people find the right dog for their life."

Credit: Molly Flores

He says he understands the fear and concern that the dogs are mistreated before they reach pet stores, but he ensures CitiPups doesn't source their dogs from puppy mills.

"The puppies are happy, they're healthy, and people rave about us," Ortiz said. "We have really close connections with the breeders we get our dogs from, and we are transparent about it."

Credit: Molly Flores

It seems clear that Jeremy has nothing to do with any of this. He’s just a good manager. Can you separate the art from the artist? After all, Jeremy, for his part, was rescued — not that you can really tell.

I hadn't visited CitiPups before Jeremy's tenure, but I can't imagine the space without him. He seems as integral to the shop as the bones of the building. Everyone who walks in makes a b-line for him, whether they knew they'd see him or not, as he sleeps on the counter, hangs out in the window display, or weaves between the shelves of dog toys and accessories. He's inviting to guests, only playful when encouraged, and rarely — if ever — shows any true signs of anger.

He's a good cat. And, even if his home is riddled with one of the most vigorous political fights a cat can take part in, he continues to elicit joy from everyone who crosses his path — online and off.

Credit: Molly Flores