Indigenous Entrepreneur Shares Alutiiq Culture And Love Of Cat Toys

Examples of items for sale on Catnip Connenctions’ website. (Photo contributed by Freddie Katelnikoff)

Catnip Connections may be a new company, but its beadwork stems from Freddie Katelnikoff’s childhood — a way to share the Alutiiq heritage with everyone.

The Alutiiq are one of eight Alaska Native peoples.

“When I was nine and younger, my mom would do these intricate peyote stitch pieces, and I would bead along with her as long as I can remember. She would get me started and I would do the easy parts of beading,” Katelnikoff said.

Katelnikoff, who uses the pronoun they, reconnected with beadwork and other cultural practices through the Alutiiq Museum and other resources, such as culture camps, that allowed them to not only learn about their culture but be able to teach it to others, too.

“It’s important to me to carry on my people and practices with beadwork and with naniq carving, just occupying space and letting other Alutiiq/Indigenous people know that there is a space for us,” Katelnikoff said.

Katelnikoff works with business and life partner Melissa Kinney, and together they make Catnip Connections.

Freddie Katelnikoff in standing next to some of their beadwork. (Photo contributed by Freddie Katelnikoff)

When the pair started the business, Kinney said they were already dating and living together for a few years, and they began with handmade cat toys crafted for friends’ pets, which were well received.

Kinney said they then made some more for their own cats and started getting more attention when posting about them online. Soon, the company evolved.

“We started to make more cat toy designs, scored a gig at a local business hosting a vendor day, set up with our cat toys and some other items we had been asked to sell, and it all grew from there,” Kinney said.

Kinney started designing stickers as well, while Katelnikoff got back into beading, learning about jewelry making, carving and skin sewing — all of which became a core part of the business.

“Freddie came up with the name Catnip Connections, and I designed our logo,” Kinney said.

The company sells a variety of cat toys, including ones that look like salmon, Goldfish crackers, items from the “Animal Crossing” video game series, dinosaurs, images from “Gravity Falls” cartoon series and witches hats.

Katelnikoff was always scared to put themselves out there, but making cat toys was a way to do that and learn how to use Etsy and other aspects of running a business. They credit Kinney with being their greatest support.

“I really wouldn’t be here without her, and we both are very driven to keep each other going through anything and everything,” Katelnikoff said. “Melissa is really my greatest support and the same way back. I wouldn’t be where I am without Melissa pushing me to reconnect.”

For Kinney, Catnip Connections provides her with an outlet for her creativity and an opportunity to make whatever she wants and try to incorporate it into the business. She also found the networking aspect of the business to be rewarding in meeting other artists and business owners.

During the times she attended Native Markets as Katelnikoff’s assistant, Kinney had the opportunity to learn a lot about Indigenous culture.

Though Kinney isn’t Indigenous herself, she’s learned she will never know enough about Indigenous cultures, and the best thing to do is keep her eyes and ears open.

“Every tribe, every people, every language and every place has so much history and significance that I’m still only beginning to understand,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot more about the issues that Indigenous peoples still face in our country, important details about racism today that were unfortunately omitted from my education, as these things often are.”

Kinney added that she has a lot of respect for everyone fighting to keep traditions alive, or to reconnect with practices and histories that colonizers tore away from them.

“It’s not an easy fight by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a meaningful one,” she said.

Katelnikoff wants people to know that the Alutiiq people are still here, their language is still alive and there are many resources at AlutiiqMuseum.org for anyone wanting to learn.

Both owners take others’ safety seriously, so they fill their cat toys with 100% catnip and don’t add polyfill due to it being a health risk. Also, their bandanas are button-clasp so pets can get them off if they need to.

Their cat toys, stickers and other products can be found on the Catnip Connections website. They’ll also have a booth at the Main Street Market July 8 in Ritzville and the 36th Seafair Indian Days Powwow on July 14 in Seattle.

This piece originally appeared at Spokane FaVS.

Matthew Kincanon is a former digital content producer with a journalism and political science degree from Gonzaga University. His journalism experience includes the Gonzaga Bulletin, The Spokesman-Review, Art Chowder magazine and SpokaneFāVS. He said he is excited to be a freelancer at SpokaneFāVS because, as a Spokane native, he wants to learn more about the various religious communities and cultures in his hometown.