July 28, 2026

Ravi the Pennsylvania Capitol Cat

“He gets more visitors than I do”: Rep. Jessica Benham on life with a cat at the statehouse.

If you want a friend at the Pennsylvania Capitol, you’ve got to meet Ravi. Ravi, in fact, is a cat.

The seven-pound cat has no title and no legislative agenda. But a few days a week, he goes to work with Rep. Jessica Benham. His schedule includes greeting visitors, watching the hallway from his favorite window, convincing people to play with his feather toy, and soaking up all the attention from lawmakers, staff, and guests who stop by Room 219.

During COVID, when Rep. Benham needed someone to watch him, she brought him to the office. What began as a way to solve a very ordinary problem became something neither of them expected: Ravi became part of the daily life of Room 219.

Over time, he became more than Rep. Benham's cat. People started stopping by not only to meet Rep. Benham, but also to spend a little time with Ravi.

We spoke with Rep. Benham about how a cat ended up becoming one of the most unexpected parts of life at the Pennsylvania Capitol.

Editor's note: The conversation below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

"He gets more visitors than I do"

The state legislators have many meetings throughout the day. I have a lot of people who come to see me to talk about the issues they're dealing with, and projects they could potentially work on. But what might surprise people is that he gets more visitors than I do. They just stop by and see him. Sometimes it's because they just want to say hi to the cat. Other times, it's because they're having a rough day and need a little bit of that sort of comfort.

How Ravi changed the office

I think that any time there are animals in an environment, it tends to reduce stress levels and makes people smile. It can make really difficult work a little lighter. So he's good for that.

The first time we held a birthday party for him in the Capitol was when I realized just how big his fan club was. As folks dropped by throughout the day, I think it's hard to realize just how many people there are that love and appreciate having him around.

So we threw up a birthday party in the first one, maybe three or four years ago. And all of his fan club is in one room celebrating his birthday. I think that was the moment where I was just like, oh, so many people that love this cat.

Ravi at work

It's been interesting to watch him change because he's starting to age. When I first got elected in 2020, he was six years old. I got sworn in in 2021, and at that point he would have been five. He's 10 now, and so he's officially a senior cat. He slowed down a little bit. When he was younger, when I first started bringing him, he had a lot more energy. He'd run around a lot more, so he'd be jumping up on staff and being very, very playful. He still has those moments. He still loves to play and will often encourage visitors to play with his feather toy with him. He's very persuasive when he's running for playtime.

These days, you're more likely to find him in one of two places. He has a favorite spot in a window where you can see the entire office and look out my office door to see anybody who's coming in. He loves to sit there because he can tell when he has visitors who are coming. On days where he's feeling particularly in need of human affection, he will actually make his way out into that little kind of entryway of the office. There's like a little waiting room area. He will sit out there and watch the door, hoping that somebody comes in to pet him. So that's his general orientation. It's focused on when humans will come and pay attention to me.

The only cat at the Capitol

There's a dog at the Capitol. But he's the only cat at the Capitol. There are a number of my colleagues who bring their dogs, but I think most cats don't tend to be as adaptable, maybe as dogs are. I think plenty of cats can be outgoing and interested in people. We've got to all think about cats, but still love to greet people at the door and things like that. But it definitely takes a special cat to be comfortable doing that in a space that isn't their home, and that has lots of chaos and uncertainty.

He travels really well in the car too, and a lot of cats don't. So that's probably why he's the only one at the Capitol, though I definitely have encouraged some of my colleagues who said, oh, well, I might think about bringing mine. I'm like, the more cats, the better.

” It definitely takes a special cat to be comfortable doing that in a space that isn't their home, and that has lots of chaos and uncertainty.

The cat and the politics

Oftentimes, people are uninformed about what it means to declaw a cat. For a cat, it involves removing the finger up to the first knuckle, and it can cause significant behavioral problems. I have Ravi very well trained to scratch only things he's supposed to scratch. Having a cat who's got his claws around and is really well behaved changes the way people think about banning declawing and the House Bill. When folks see that and learn about what scratching means for cats, and that it's not a destructive behavior, it's a social behavior. It's a communication of like, hey, I was here. So definitely having the counter out.

Why animals in public places matter

I think a lot of people associate places like the Capitol as really important, super important places. It's really fancy and intimidating; it's stressful. So having a cat there is a nice reminder that elected officials are humans too, and that the state Capitol is a place that belongs to all of us.

I think it's a two-fold benefit. There are the folks who work in the Capitol, who view him as a space of comfort in a place that is stressful and demanding as a job, and then there are the people who visit the Capitol, maybe for the first time, who see the cat in the hallway and feel less intimidated.

Sometimes, Ravi likes to walk on a leash, so I'll walk him around the halls, and when people come and see him, they'll be like, "Oh my goodness, there's a cat in the Capitol." It makes this space more welcoming and accessible to people.

And then for the folks who work in the Capitol every day, who know that there's a cat. I've been on the floor for votes, and I'll come back to my office. And sometimes, it'll just be somebody sitting on the couch in my office with Ravi, and they'll be like, "I've got a really terrible day, and so I just had to come see him, and I told him all about my day, and I had him, and we snuggled, and now I feel better."

” Having a cat there is a nice reminder that elected officials are humans too, and that the state Capitol is a place that belongs to all of us.

Ravi’s performance review

I think that he would say he's done a really good job of being there for people when they needed him. He collected quite a lot of pet supplies to donate to the local Harrisburg Humane Society this past year, so I think he'd be proud of doing that as well.

He'd probably say that he could have a little bit more energy these days. He definitely recognizes that he's slowing down as he ages. Sometimes I watch him, and he'll have a day where he maybe pushes himself a little too hard, and then the next day you can tell he's just exhausted and he kind of sleeps in the window all day. So he'd probably say something about how he needs to balance his energy bubbles, maybe a little bit better when he's working, making sure that he's not spending too much energy one day and then not being able to work effectively. Then that's probably a good lesson for all of us.

I think at the end of the day, he loves coming to work in the Capitol. That's part of why I keep bringing him.

I've had him since he was 12 weeks old. He was less than a pound at that point. He was very, very strong and very sick as a kid. And that's probably why he's so people-focused, because for the first several months of his life, he was like hand-fed and babied and so cute and tiny and small and adorable. And so, he's full-grown now, but full-grown for him is just seven pounds. So he's a tiny little guy; he's my little baby.

For Ravi, going to the Capitol is more than just a routine. It's where his friends are. When the legislature was on break and he stayed home, Rep. Benham noticed that Ravi missed the visitors and the daily stimulation of his unusual workplace. After all these years, Ravi is not just a cat hanging out at work. He has become a part of the community that has grown around him.

We want to thank Rep. Jessica Benham for taking the time to share Ravi's story with us. You can follow Ravi’s adventures on Instagram and TikTok.

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