In June, our city announced that it’s getting its first “cat café.” Yes, you heard me right, a cat café.
The new place, Kawaii Kitty Café, is slated to open in December of this year.
“It’s an adoption center fused with a café,” the owner Kristin Eissler told the Philadelphia Business Journal. “You can come in, get a coffee and hang out with cats.”
There will be 10 and 15 cats on-site and available for adoption from Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), one of our city’s no-kill shelters, at any given time.
To get you hyped up about the new café we thought we’d share some adoption success stories from PAWS.
Sabrina
Sabrina didn’t have a safe home or enough to eat, but she kept her tiny kittens alive and made it to the safety of PAWS. Someone found Sabrina on the streets of Frankford and brought her to the city’s animal control facility, where she received food and shelter but faced a whole new danger: it was the height of “kitten season” and the shelter was over-full with moms and litters just like her, with more coming in by the hour. What’s more, she was sick with an upper respiratory infection and her kittens were getting sick too – they could not thrive in the crowded shelter setting. With even healthy litters being euthanized for lack of space, this feline family was particularly at risk.
PAWS’ rescue staff arrived and brought Sabrina and her kittens to the safety of the Grays Ferry facility. The maternity rooms are often the only safe place in the city for vulnerable moms and kittens. Sabrina and her kittens all received weeks of medical attention to clear up their upper respiratory infections and finally started to feel better. Once the kittens grew big enough to be separated from Sabrina, PAWS spayed/neutered them and they were quickly adopted to loving homes. Sabrina was also spayed and moved up to the adoption center so she could start meeting potential adopters. After a few weeks, a loving family visited and were quickly won over by her affectionate personality.
Today, Sabrina is very well loved by her family and doing well in her home. Her kittens are now playful, healthy six-month-olds with long and happy lives ahead in their own adoptive homes. After all she’s been through, she now knows what it’s like to be loved and cared for.
Sammy, Joey and Alex
Newborn kittens Sammy, Joey, and Alex were abandoned at the shelter doorstep in a cardboard box at just a few days old – their umbilical cords were still attached and their eyes and ears hadn’t yet opened. PAWS took them in, gave them urgently needed care, and placed them with foster mom Michaela.
Kittens this young who are orphaned often do not survive, but thanks to round-the-clock bottle feeding they made it through the crucial first weeks. They grew into playful and thriving kittens and each developed their own unique personalities.
After three months in foster care, Sammy, Joey, and Alex were big enough to be spayed/neutered and prepared for adoption. Soon after their surgeries, they each found loving homes with PAWS adopters. Today, they’re fully grown and healthy with their families!
