'Cat Cafes'

choi

Carol Pogash, To Spur Adoptions, a Cafe Puts Cats Among the Patrons; Visitors may see it as a playspace for feline lovers, but the intent is serious. New York Times, Dec 16, 2014.
www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/us/ca ... purs-adoptions.html

Quote:

"Going to a shelter to find a cat in a cage 'is heartbreaking'

"$10-an-hour playtime * * * The Cat Town Cafe & Adoption Center [in Oakland, California], which opened in late October and has arranged 52 cat adoptions so far, claims to be the first permanent cat cafe in the United States.

"Cat cafes are well established in Japan, where there are also owl cafes and penguin bars. There, customers are typically people who need their cat fix, because many apartment buildings in Japan do not allow cats; few cafes [there in Japan] serve as adoption centers.

"In the United States, there have been fitful efforts to establish similar businesses in various cities, but health department rules against keeping animals in the same place where food is served have gotten in the way. Demand, however, is fairly obvious * * * So cat-loving entrepreneurs here have largely ditched the Japanese model [of mingling cafe patrons with cats] in favor of a charitable one that separates the cats from the food and emphasizes adoption.

"Cat Town has a liberal return policy. * * * It charges a $50 adoption fee for one cat and $75 for two, and cats with medical issues are free.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest, unless you are a cat person.