[playful, plucky strings] - It started as just, let's pick up some cats for fun and decorate our house.
[plucky strings] - Then there's more cats and more cats.
Pretty soon, we're driving for cats.
– Angela: Shawn Redner and Hilary Siegel-Redner hope to have a cat collection like no other.
[door closes, ignition catches] - Hilary: We travel all over the state of Wisconsin.
We've driven up to Ohio and Iowa.
- I saw cats for sale in Peoria, so we're going to Peoria.
Everywhere I go, I'm always looking for cats.
– Angela: Shawn is the one who came up with the idea.
- No, she was not on board.
- I was not on board.
[laughing] When he first said it, I go, "We're doing what?!"
He goes, "Yeah, let's go collect some cats and have some fun."
- I'm kind of cat-obsessed.
- Yes.
– Shawn: That's Squeaky.
And this is Bear.
- The license plate on his vehicle is CATMN.
[bright rock music] - Angela: They've been collecting cats since 2020.
– Hilary: 90% Of the figurines come from thrift stores.
– Shawn: I can scan a shelf from 20 feet and see what looks like a cat.
- If we know that that price is a little too high, we feel bad, but we leave the cat behind.
Otherwise, if it's something meaningful, something cool, something different, then it's definitely in our budget whether we can afford it or not.
[laughing] - Angela: Three years later, nearly every inch of their home is covered by cats.
- So, [chuckles] right now, our house is completely full.
– Angela: Their house in Menomonee Falls, the one with 'MEOW' on the front, is now Redner's Rescued Cat Figurine Museum.
- 'Cuz this is a museum.
We just sleep here.
- Pretty much.
- That's pretty much it.
Until you come see it for yourself, it is only then when you realize what I'm talking about.
– Angela: Everyone can realize what Shawn's talking about on the third Sunday of each month when the museum opens for tours.
- The tours are amazing.
- That was the very first thing that we bought, and we had no intention of the museum happening.
- If it's a cat, we have it here at the museum.
- All these cats were found in their frames at various secondhand shops, and if they were loved once, we can bring 'em home and love 'em again.
It's just like a little escape from the world 'cause we need more things to make more people happy.
[cat chirps, purrs] - Angela: With so much love to give, these figurine fanciers actually lost track of how many cat collectibles they've acquired.
- I'm gonna say in this house, there's probably roughly about 4,000.
- Oh, no.
- Would be a guess.
- I would say roughly 5,000.
I'm gonna go up a thousand from him because on my off time, I did count.
However, as of last night, we added a lot more.
- They'll need to keep adding to reach the Guinness Book of World Records.
- I should research that a little more because that is something I would like to break.
– Angela: The record?
21,300 unduplicated cat items.
– Shawn: I think we're about a quarter of the way there.
– Angela: The goal now?
Moving the cats to a permanent location that includes a coffee shop where resident felines can be adopted.
- We know that there's a big cat population that needs help, especially the shelters that try to take care of them.
- That's when the idea for the museum came as using it as a vehicle to help raise money for the cat rescues around the Milwaukee area.
- Hilary and Shawn have eight rescued cats of their own.
- Come on, kitties.
[making kissy sounds] Come on, Panda.
Come on, Jack.
[hearty meow] Oh, there he is.
[cat chirps, meows] - Angela: Furry friends and fragile figurines don't always mix.
- This is the only room in the house the cats are not allowed into.
I gotta show you this.
This is Kashka.
She's from Kazakhstan.
She is probably one of my favorite ones.
She's very elegant.
I know that's weird, but she's phenomenal.
– Angela: They want the museum to become a favorite destination for cat lovers.
– Hilary: It's unique.
No one is gonna have a house filled with cat stuff and different kind of cat art on our walls.
And why not?
I know how much it meant to him, and so, I went along with it.
It's cool.
It's very cool.
- If we can get the caf, and the Guinness Book of World Records, and the museum all in one building, I will have the world's greatest cat figurine museum.
[warm, snappy rhythm]
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