Meet Chubbs, a Genoa barn cat who found local fame during COVID-19 pandemic

GENOA – Emily Fowler, a seventh grade English and language arts teacher at Genoa-Kingston Middle School, said her class began as usual on Wednesday, with a warm-up writing prompt.

Fowler said Wednesday’s specific prompt for her students to provide a written response for was, “If you could be any animal for the day, which animal would you be and why?” She said one student chose Chubbs the cat, an area barn cat who has made a name for himself on local social media groups within the last year.

“And it just caused this very excited, passionate conversation about Chubbs the cat and what he brings to Genoa,” Fowler said with a chuckle. “So we just had a good conversation about Chubbs and how great it must be to be that cat, wandering the town.”

Lucas Bright, Fowler’s student, said he chose Chubbs as the subject of his writing prompt because he would love to walk around town as the cat and make friends with people and other animals. Bright said he was familiar with Chubbs from social media but he later met Chubbs while at a friend’s house.

“It was like eight or nine o’clock and we were just playing in the yard, and then we just heard leaves just crunching behind us,” Bright, 13, said. “And then we turned around and there was Chubbs.”

Bright said he thought meeting Chubbs was a good experience.

“I mean, he’s a nice cat,” Bright said. “He was following us around and playing with us.”

Genoa resident Amber Hopper said she was hanging out at a friend’s house on Easter Sunday when she saw Chubbs roaming around outside.

“We were sitting out on the back porch because it was beautiful outside,” Hopper said. “Chubbs was apparently out for an evening stroll and decided that he would invite himself to sit with us for a while.”

Hopper said Chubbs is a sweet and friendly cat.

“I love seeing him come up on my news feed and I am so glad I got to meet him,” Hopper said. “He truly is the town celebrity.”

Marina Krueger, one of Chubbs’s human parents, said she has always had barn cats on her farm near Genoa’s city limits for pest control purposes. She said Chubbs, who is about 2 years old, and his cat brother Suzy are part of the same barn cat litter and what most people in Genoa may not realize, unless they’re more serious Chubbs followers, is they may have actually seen Suzy around town when they thought they saw Chubbs.

“They look a lot alike,” Krueger said. “And they have similar personalities.”

Krueger said Chubbs really started to go exploring outside of his barn about a year ago and people kept on running into him, thought he was a lost cat and posted photos of him to try to find his owner.

“He went to the barn, he went to Ace Hardware, he went to the doctor’s office,” Krueger said with a laugh. “So the running joke became, when so many people kept tagging us when they found him, that they saw Chubbs.”

Chubbs also has his own Facebook group Adventures with Chubbs, which is run by the Krueger family.

While Chubbs is a barn and outdoor cat, Krueger said she wants to reassure the public that Chubbs always has access to food, water, warmth, is brushed and he knows where home is. She said residents are largely nice about Chubbs socializing with others in the city and it’s only been a handful of people who have gotten vocal about their beliefs about outdoor cats.

Krueger said she doesn’t think Chubbs would like being forced to become a typical domesticated indoor cat.

“If you open the barn door and let him out after being in there for too long, he’s very vocal,” Krueger said. “He loves to be free to roam.”

Krueger said her family has gotten a kick out of the notoriety that Chubbs has gotten.

“It’s cute that you can walk through the town and most people know who your cat is and have run into him and have seen him,” Krueger said. “I think that’s kind of funny.”

Jonathon Brust, mayoral candidate for Genoa, said he hasn’t come across Chubbs while out and about, but he has met him at his home, since he is related by marriage to the Krueger family.

“So I’m distantly related to the cat — I’d call it second cousin once removed,” Brust said with a laugh.

Brust said the running joke has been that Chubbs had a bigger following than the Tuesday election.

“That’s the joy that we have here in Genoa,” Brust said.

Genoa Mayor Mark Vicary said when a business recently burned down, residents quickly put together a fundraiser to help the business out. Along with that, he said having an unofficial mascot like Chubbs with that kind of outreach speaks to the caring environment and small town feel of Genoa.

“It’s kind of a unique little place,” Vicary said.

Krueger said she and her husband Matthew Krueger, now a Genoa-Kingston school board member-elect, have five kids and they have always loved having the cats on their farm property. She said she thinks the kids have found it fun to read people’s comments on social media and hear people say where he’s been.

“So I think everybody has gotten a fair kick out of his personality,” Krueger said. “So that part has brought a smile to our face, that he’s a funny cat. … I hope that it brings laughter and joy to people.”