Local Spotlight: The Cats of the Boardwalk

The cutest tourist traps in Myrtle Beach

Photo: Cats of the Boardwalk — www.catsoftheboardwalk.org

Get down to the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk early — before the arcades wake up, before the first coffee line forms — and you'll meet the locals almost nobody talks about. A tabby holding court on the railing by the SkyWheel. A black cat slipping under a ramp like he pays rent. An orange one watching the gulls from the dune grass, unbothered by the whole world.

There are more than 40 of them living along the Boardwalk and the Promenade, roughly between 3rd Avenue South and 15th Avenue North. Most visitors walk right past. A small crew of Myrtle Beach volunteers does not. They call themselves Cats of the Boardwalk, and for the past year they have been quietly trapping, fixing, vaccinating, and looking out for the beach's feral, stray, and abandoned cats — one cat at a time.

The crew's reported count stands at 50 cats helped this year, 79 all-time — the adults trapped, fixed, vaccinated and returned home, the kittens carried out of harm's way and into the adoption pipeline, and every adult out of the kitten business for good.

The Boardwalk at sunrise — the cats' home turf. Photo: Myrtle Beach Unlocked

Born here — because somebody dumped their grandparents here

The first thing to understand about the Boardwalk cats is that this is home. Most of today's cats were born right here on the boards. Their parents and grandparents were the ones who got dumped at the beach years ago, unfixed, and the litters just kept coming.

That history is exactly why hauling the cats off doesn't work. Animal folks call it the vacuum effect: clear out a stretch of territory that has food, shelter, and hiding spots, and new cats move into the empty space and start the cycle over — often faster than before. The Boardwalk will have cats. The only real question is whether it has a fixed, vaccinated, managed colony, or an endless kitten season.

The answer is TNR

Cats of the Boardwalk runs the humane approach used all over the country, and the one the ASPCA recognizes as effective: trap, neuter, return.

Volunteers humanely trap a cat and take it to the crew's veterinary partner — Fix-A-Friend, a nonprofit spay-neuter clinic in North Carolina that the crew describes as the kindest, most compassionate outfit they have ever worked with. The cat is spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and given a small flat tip on one ear — the universal sign that says "this one's already been done," so nobody traps that cat again. Then the cat goes right back to the exact spot where it was picked up.

Back home. Fixed. Vaccinated. Done having kittens.

That ear tip matters, so look for it next time you're on the boards. A flat-tipped ear isn't an injury — it's a badge of honor. It means a cat is part of a managed colony and somebody is watching out for it.

One rule never bends: kittens are not TNR'd. Trap-neuter-return is for adults — kittens and friendly cats take the rescue road instead, through Animal Control to the Humane Society. The work shows up in the numbers. Founder and president Laurie Peterson and her husband Ron Peterson started trapping in November 2025. By October 12, 2026, the crew passed 40 cats helped for the year. A week later it was 44, then 46 — and the count is still climbing, because the calls keep coming from other colonies up and down the beach.

Meet a few of the residents

The crew knows these cats the way you'd know neighbors — because that's what they are. Their website keeps "Pawfiles" on the regulars:

• Sir H.A.L. — the solid-black tomcat with amber eyes who ruled the colony behind the Yachtsman Resort at 14th Avenue Pier. The colony's feeder believes H.A.L. sired many generations of Boardwalk kittens. In October 2026, after Laurie had spent the better part of a year trying to isolate the adults at that colony, H.A.L. was finally trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and returned — with Ron presiding over the release like a little ceremony. Sir H.A.L. shall sire no more.

• Bodhi — a gray tabby of the Yachtsman/Pier 14 colony, and not the stripe you'd expect: his coat falls in a soft, draped pattern instead. Named on October 7, 2026 by Anna, a 10-year-old visitor from Maryland who met Laurie while they were both watching him on the ramp. Bodhi is still unaltered — and right now he is the crew's most wanted. Laurie has spent the past week earning his trust chin scratch by chin scratch and working on getting him safely caught; the crew's Facebook group has the photos and video of the campaign. When his turn comes, he'll go in, get fixed and vaccinated, get the ear tip, and come home.

• Mittens — a sharp-dressed black-and-white longhair tuxedo, neutered, often spotted lounging near the Gay Dolphin with his friend Remy.

Photo: Cats of the Boardwalk — www.catsoftheboardwalk.org

• Remy — a spayed calico longhair, about two years old, and a favorite of volunteer Brandy Brown, who admits the reason freely: "I love her fuzzy buns."
• Mama — the queen of the Boardwalk, a spayed tabby usually spotted around Dirty Don's.
• Sharkey — an ear-tipped calico named for her spot by Sharkey's, where the managers are glad to have her keeping the rodents honest.

And then there are the ones who traded the boards for a couch. Mia, renamed Helian, went home with Jasmine, a server at Dirty Don's. Mufasa was trapped with a serious injury the crew caught in time, and now holds down a sunny windowsill. Danny, a long-hair gray tabby, and Shadow, a shy black longhair found near the Tin Roof, both came off the Boardwalk into homes. Babydoll and Reuben made the jump too.

Those adoptions follow a set path, and it's one the crew is careful about: Cats of the Boardwalk does not foster or place cats itself. Kittens and friendly cats go through the Myrtle Beach animal control officers — Officers Trott and Lauren are the names you'll hear, and the crew will tell you plainly this work doesn't happen without them — to the Grand Strand Humane Society, which fosters them, socializes them, and adopts them into homes. COTB's job is the trapping and the fixing; the Humane Society's job is the happily-ever-after.

One morning behind the Yachtsman

If you want to see how this actually works, a recent operation at the Yachtsman and Pier 14 was a master class.

On October 12 and 13, Laurie and Ron removed four kittens from behind the Yachtsman Resort, working with a veteran feeder the crew calls the Cat Whisperer — a man who has been feeding the beach cats for about seven years and has earned their trust one meal at a time, to the point that cats come running when he calls their names. Officer Trott picked the kittens up and took them to the Humane Society to be fostered and adopted out before winter.

Two of the four kittens rescued from behind the Yachtsman, October 2026. Photo: Cats of the Boardwalk — www.catsoftheboardwalk.org/news/4-kittens-14th-ave

Five days later, on Saturday, October 17, the crew was back at the Yachtsman at 7 in the morning with traps set — and that's the morning they finally got Sir H.A.L. himself.

Laurie will tell you the hardest part isn't the trapping. It's everything around it. "The biggest obstacle to trapping cats at this location is finding ones hungry enough to fall for the bait," she says — pointing at the empty plates and half-eaten piles of food scattered around by well-meaning feeders. There's also the map: she is not permitted to trap on city property, and she won't set a trap on private property without the owner's permission first. Every new colony starts with knocking on doors.

And the Yachtsman colony still isn't finished. At least three more tomcats there need the TNR treatment, plus a momma cat and one kitten who are still on the crew's list. Laurie plans to be back soon, Cat Whisperer at her side. Kitty Kitty, the Yachtsman deck regular. Photo: Myrtle Beach Unlocked The Yachtsman also has a regular the neighbors call Kitty Kitty — the tabby in the photo above, a fixture on the deck and ramps around Pier 14, and the star of MBU's Boardwalk cats video. Cats of the Boardwalk is fairly sure Kitty Kitty is one of two colony cats whose Pawfiles aren't published yet — Precious, or the Original Screech. Either way, Kitty Kitty belongs to this stretch of the boards — and this crew keeps an eye on every cat on it.

The people doing the work

Behind the cats is a small, stubborn, all-volunteer team:

• Laurie Peterson, founder and president. The main trapper. Her rescue roots run deep — before Myrtle Beach, she fostered more than 150 dogs with rescue organizations in San Diego and Oklahoma City. Her line about this work explains a lot: "Interesting fact: I used to be highly allergic to cats. I believe God had a new purpose for me in mind and took that away."
• Ron Peterson. Laurie's husband and the other half of the founding team. Twenty-five years in the Navy as an Electronics Technician Chief, then years teaching electronics maintenance. These days his discipline goes to the cats: checking traps at all hours, making sure every set is right, and holding down the quiet overnight work — every trapped cat gets a towel, food, water, and a calm place to rest before its morning trip to the vet.
• Isabelle Sender. Retired to Myrtle Beach in 2017; a chance meeting with Laurie in 2025 turned her and her husband's soft spot for the beach cats into a job. With 25 years of media experience, she handles content and communications — she's the reason the cats' stories get told so well. She and her husband have adopted Boardwalk cats of their own, Danny and Shadow.
• Shannon Lee. Runs the group's Facebook group from Hubbard, Ohio — a self-described travel addict, cat mom, and public-health grad (University of Pittsburgh, Class of 2019) who plans to make Myrtle Beach home.
• Brandy Brown ("Bee"). Raised on a family farm in Monroe, NC, and a Myrtle Beach local for 31 years. Seven years on the Boardwalk crew, after years in elementary school food service and PTO work. Her favorite Boardwalk cat is Remy — see above, re: fuzzy buns.
• Jonathan Deane Taylor. The tech heart of the outfit — a retired financial-industry application developer in Forestbrook who builds the group's branding and the website the cats' stories live on.

When passersby spot the Petersons at the beach with cages and food and ask what they're doing, Laurie lights up: that's not an interruption, that's the opportunity to educate the public. "The support of the community has been awesome," she says — and without it, she couldn't keep up the pace.

It isn't just the Boardwalk anymore

The calls keep coming from beyond the boards, and the crew keeps answering:

• In August 2026, residents and a tourist flagged a big colony around 11th Avenue South and Ocean Boulevard — as many as 30 cats, including new litters. The crew trapped Oreo, a tuxedo the residents were thrilled to see come home, plus three more adults in about an hour, and got two of three hiding kittens into a carrier as the rain started. The adults were fixed and returned; the kittens went to the Humane Society for adoption.
• In September, Laurie personally trapped a gray-and-white tuxedo male near the 11th Avenue South beach access, drove him to a Fix-A-Friend clinic, and returned him home neutered and vaccinated.
• In October, a Facebook post about kittens spotted near an abandoned utility hole at 28th Avenue North brought Laurie and Ron out twice — the second time with traps, as promised — and all four kittens came out of a site headed for construction. Their momma didn't take the bait that day. Laurie left a trap behind for her.
• Also in October: a dehydrated, starving juvenile tabby abandoned in the Walmart parking lot on Seaboard Street got lucky. A recent transplant named April found her and called COTB; the kitten spent a safe night at Laurie's home, and Officer Trott delivered her to the Humane Society the next day to be fostered and adopted.

That's the pattern: a resident notices, the crew responds, the adults get fixed and go home, and the little ones get a shot at a couch.

Teaching the next helpers

The group has also added a lighter tool to the kit: a set of six free games on their website — Find the Cats, Boardwalk Cleanup, Cat Trap!, Laser Pointer, Which Box?, and Pet the Cats. Some of them teach the steps of TNR and why keeping the beach clean matters to cats, wildlife, and people. Some are just for fun. The idea underneath is serious: helping cats starts with understanding them, and sometimes that starts with a game a kid finds on a rainy beach day.

The rule every visitor needs to know

Here is the one thing Cats of the Boardwalk asks MBU to say loud and clear:

Do not feed the Boardwalk cats. It isn't unkindness — it's the law. Feeding cats at the Boardwalk is against Myrtle Beach city ordinance 14-315-e, and feeders risk a $101 fine. More than that, scattered feeding works against the crew: a fed cat won't go in a trap, and an un-fixed cat keeps the kitten cycle rolling. The kindest thing a visitor can do is enjoy the cats from a distance, take the photos, check for the ear tip, and let the managed care do its job. Before heading out, check MBU's current What’s Poppin calendar for the latest verified local plans.

If you spot a Boardwalk cat that looks hurt or in trouble, or you find kittens, don't scoop anybody up. Call the crew at 843-977-CATT (843-977-2288). Mama is usually closer than you think, and the volunteers know when kittens need help and when they need to be left alone.

What's next

The crew's next goal is bigger than any single cat: proper feeding stations and shelters for the colony, of the kind another Grand Strand colony already has. That takes city council approval — Laurie first addressed the council in January 2026 — and MBU will be following it and hollering when there's news.

In the meantime, the wish list is simple and practical. Laurie has a standing question for anybody who hears these numbers and feels overwhelmed by them: "Can you just help one cat?" One neuter is one whole branch of the family tree that never happens. That's how 79 happened — one cat at a time.

How to help

Cats of the Boardwalk is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 42-4280904; IRS recognition effective September 8, 2026). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Here's how to stand with them:

• Volunteer. Trap checks happen early in the morning and late at night, and there's always more to do than two hands can manage: monitoring and checking traps, transport to the vet, events and fundraising, social media and admin. Volunteers must be 18 or older and apply through the form at www.catsoftheboardwalk.org/volunteer.html — the crew trains you and plugs you into the team.
• Buy the shirt. Their T-shirts run $42 for the first, $39 for the second, and $37 for each additional — and every three shirts sold pays for one neuter. Wear it around town and you're explaining TNR whether you mean to or not. (Straight talk, in their own fine print: a shirt purchase is a purchase, not a tax-deductible donation.)
• Fund a neuter directly. On the same shop page, you can donate the cost of fixing one cat without buying a shirt — the most direct dollar-to-difference route there is.
• Donate. Money funds the surgeries and the vet care beyond them. Their site also carries an Amazon wish list for supplies (note: gifts bought through Amazon aren't tax-deductible).
• Adopt — the right way. Friendly cats and kittens go to the Grand Strand Humane Society through the animal control officers. If your home is the happily-ever-after, contact the shelter or local animal-control team first; that's where Boardwalk cats land.
• Spread the word. Tell one visitor this week why the ear-tipped cat on the railing is a success story, and why the food pile isn't. Education is half this group's mission.
• Follow the cats. Cats of the Boardwalk posts daily — find them on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Threads and more. The cats' fans are half the rescue network.

Reach them at www.catsoftheboardwalk.org or 843-977-CATT (843-977-2288).

Know another Grand Strand cat with a story? Tell MBU about it through the contact page. Please share only details you can verify, and do not approach, feed, or relocate a cat that may be part of a managed colony.

Why MBU is standing behind them

Full disclosure, the way MBU always tries to do it: this spotlight is free. Cats of the Boardwalk is a nonprofit, and MBU doesn't charge nonprofits for doing what this page exists to do — pointing Grand Strand folks at the good being done in their own backyard.

And there's a neighborhood reason too. That tabby up in the Yachtsman section — the one the folks there call Kitty Kitty — holds court on the deck like the place comes with the territory, and asks for nothing but a sunny spot and to be left to it. Multiply that one cat by every stretch of these boards and you have the whole story: forty-odd cats, one small crew, and a beach that takes care of its own — cats included.

Whenever you're on the boards and a tabby crosses your path, check the ear. If the tip is flat, tip your cap — to the cat, and to the volunteers who were out there before the coffee shops opened.