The Katbox

The Katbox was a website that hosted furry webcomics. It once had a World of Warcraft guild and a Steam group, both named Bought the Farm. The site's home page was a portal to various comics, 26 at its latest -- not counting "bonus comics," which were set in the worlds of the main comics and tell stories that would otherwise remain unseen in the main narrative. The web address now redirects to Kemono Café, one of two sites that took over hosting many of the webcomics from The Katbox. It is now represented on that site as the 'KatBox Inn'.

Early years: 2004 - 2009
The Katbox was founded by SoulKat, co-author of the site's first comic Las Lindas, which went online in September of 2004. It was joined in May 2005 by Nekonny's Caribbean Blue. A year later, the first page of Avencri's The Eye of Ramalach was posted in January, with regular updates beginning in March.

The total number of Katbox comics remained at three for the next several years. A fourth comic, Things Will Be Different, joined in November 2008 but was officially cancelled in January 2009 because the artist had lost interest. In October of that year, Running Wild, created by Jesonite ("Jeso") joined, but was canceled in February 2010. Katbox forumites referred to the "curse of the fourth comic."

Rapid influx: 2010 - 2012
In January 2010, Eye of Ramalach author Avencri began work on a second comic, Tina of the South, which was updated by donation. At the time of launch, it was treated as a "bonus comic" in site formatting, as Las Lindas had a number of bonus comics which were also updated by donation. However, unlike the Las Lindas bonus comics, Tina of the South told an independent story, and future site updates showed it as a top-level comic on the site's portal page.

On April 1, 2010, as part of a tradition of sitewide April Fools Day pranks, the number of Katbox comics abruptly jumped to 14. For the 11 new comics, each had one page posted, usually by different people (two, iMew and 88mm Neko, were drawn by Nekonny, author of Caribbean Blue). Over the course of April 1, most of the new comics were abruptly cancelled, with site staff feigning surprise. Two of the comics actually became established, however: iMew began donation-based updates in May, and Anthronauts began weekly updates in June.

Like Tina of the South, iMew was an independent creation of an existing artist, and was also treated as a bonus comic before receiving its own portal-page icon. When iMew concluded its run in September 2013, it was the first Katbox comic reach an official end.

Following the April 1 prank, the site homepage was restructured to reflect the new comics. With the addition of Anthronauts and iMew, and the recognition of Tina of the South as an independent comic, the site comic count jumped to six.

Changes: 2013 - present
In early 2013, Nixie began a second comic, Fungus Farm, which ran until June and was interactive. Anthronauts was rebooted at this point as well, and relaunched in July. The original version of the series remains archived as Anthronauts: Alternate Reality.

On February 17, 2014, two more comics joined The Katbox, UberQuest and Our World. Upgrades to the overall website also began.

On September 6, 2014, SoulKat announced on the site forum that Swashbuckled was being dismissed from the site because Mastergodai, the primary artist, was no longer interested in working on the project. On November 9, 2014, Nekonny and Mihari completed Caribbean Blue, which had run for nine years and 326 pages. It was the second Katbox comic to be completed, following iMew.

The site's policy for NSFW content was revised in the fall, separating the site's general PG-13 atmosphere apart from more mature material.

Ownership of The Katbox was transferred to ID in 2014.

More comics joined The Katbox in 2015 and 2016, including Peter & Company, Desert Fox, Itsy Bitsy Adventures, False Start and Mousechievous. Nekonny also began two new webcomics during this time, Paprika and Practice Makes Perfect. Nixie started another webcomic as well, called Debunkers.

On June 8, 2017, the webcomic Oasis joined The Katbox.

On June 24, 2018, Kuurion announced on the site forum that the webcomic Our World has officially been retired.

On September 30, 2018, the webcomic Eorah joined The Katbox.

On November 16, 2018, the webcomic Truck Off: The Treasure of the Horde joined The Katbox.

The Katbox began undergoing site upgrades in early 2019. Some of the webcomic pages were mirrored to the old Katbox After Dark site so people can still view them. As of mid-2019, the majority of the upgrades have been finished.

On May 15, 2019, ID announced on the site forum that the Katbox Forums will be permanently closing down in June due to a decrease in activity as many people are now in contact with each other through social media.

2016 malware complications and website reconstruction
In the latter part of 2016, The Katbox experienced a virus which installed mail scripts and sent spam messages across the internet as well as generating numerous error logs which caused significant problems. It was also blocking legitimate e-mails from the website. An investigation found that this was apparently a local issue and it was not affecting computers of any site visitors. After unsuccessful attempts at cleanup and the web server being unable to help, the staff decided to erase the website and rebuild from scratch although many pages were already backed up.

All active webcomics have been re-posted online as of late July 2017.

Katbox After Dark
On August 5, 2017, ID announced on the site forum that a new adult section of The Katbox called "Katbox After Dark" has been created. The first webcomic to be added to Katbox After Dark, False Start by Bone, took place in early August 2017. A second webcomic, The Sprawl by Snowdon, was added on September 28, 2017. Four days later, the webseries of Olivia by Kadath was added. Katbox After Dark continued until overall website upgrades began in 2019.

The former Katbox After Dark section hosted some of the webcomics through mid-2019 while the main sections were undergoing upgrades.



Website closure
On July 20, 2019, ID announced on the front page and Patreon site that The Katbox will no longer be hosting webcomics. Over the next few months, the hosted webcomics would be transferred over to other webhosts if a co-host site isn't already running. The front page for The Katbox temporarily remained as a hub for directing viewers to those webcomics the website once hosted. ID thanked everyone for their longtime support to The Katbox. Those who wish to continue their support for the webcomic artists may do so through their respective Patreon sites.

There are two web portals recently created that will now host a number of webcomics previously hosted by The Katbox...Kemono Café and Studio Khimera. As of 2020, the main web address for The Katbox redirects to Kemono Café.