Kitty Korner is a new feature where we profile our feline friends from New Carlisle. 

The Miami-Valley Fanciful Feline Award-nominee “JoJo” is best known for her elegant struts in front of the on-coming Edgebrook Dr. traffic, her frequent visits to the Security National Bank drive-thru window where she is bestowed with various treats, and possibly one or two late night ruckus romps through multiple Cambridge Court trash cans during the summer of 2009 when she was still a young kitty.

JoJo was born on August 15, 2007 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Karen Polis, who manages a children’s camp, and Gary Polis, who works in construction. She has two older kitty-brothers, Ben and Blaine, and has Scottish Fold, as well as some Calico, British Shorthair, and Bengal ancestry.

Before Jojo became the show cat that she is today, she was involved in a year’s worth of strict obedience training . Her career began when she traveled to a Dayton Cat Fancier Cat Show at the age of 2.  After completing her first clicker training session, agents told her owner that “it was the best clicker-training session by a 2- year-old feline they had ever witnessed,” and tried to convince her owner, Karen that she needed to spend the summer in Manhattan. After leaving the agency, JoJo was spotted by a Midwestern agent in the midst of shooting a Friskies ad and asked to take her picture. The next day, that agent followed up with her and invited her to the studio for a photo shoot. Again, the agents were highly impressed and strongly urged her mother to allow her to spend the summer in New York City. As fate would have it, she did, and subsequently appeared in commercials such as MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16” and played a role in the movie, Pet Sematary 4 (unreleased).

Shortly thereafter, her owners’ careers forced her and her family to move to New Carlisle, but she was still able to land a small role in the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2009), and in smaller movies like The Poker House (2008) and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011).

Her big break came in 2012 when she played Catalina in Mrs. Henderson’s Cat, which landed her two Miami-Valley Fanciful Feline Award nominations. Shortly thereafter, she went on a brief hiatus to focus on her toilet training skills, some professional show cat obedience, and enjoy some alone time on quiet Edgebrook Dr. where her family had grown comfortable.

We caught up with JoJo at her home between training sessions. Her owner Karen tells us, “…we don’t want Jojo’s fame getting to her head and all too fast. It would be a darn shame to see her become some one-hitted wonder like that Jinxy from the Fockers.” When asked where she sees JoJo in 5 years, Karen replied “JoJo has always been a fan of Lucky from the long-time running TV sitcom Alf. We would like to see her eventually in one of those type of long term gigs. I think that is where she would be most happy. She doesn’t hold a name like JoJo for nothin’!” Later Karen revealed that JoJo was named after the family’s favorite R&B singer Joel “JoJo” Hailey from the popular 90’s group, K-Ci & JoJo.

JoJo is working on a current Hollywood project that we are told is a “game-changer,” but Karen was reluctant to comment on any details. When asked about the rumors surrounding JoJo’s trashcan vandalism allegations from 2009, Karen remarked, “There is no evidence that ties JoJo to any of that nonsense. Besides, can’t a kitty just kitty it up once in a while?”

If you know a cat or local cat owner from New Carlisle that you would like to see featured in our Kitty Korner just drop us a purr at:
[email protected]

Meow!