A Canadian cat café, Catfé, has run out of cats! They’ve all been adopted. Great. Success. But you can’t have a cat café without cats so they had to shut temporarily. The café is in Vancouver and it the city’s first (and only?) cat café. The owner is Michelle Furbacher. She has to be a great cat loving lady,
At the outset, this cat café decided to be a kind of cat adoption agency. A cat café is a great place to meet and interact with cats: warm and inviting. You are bound to get some bonding going on which will lead to the cat café customer asking if she/he can adopt.
“All cats at Catfé will be available for adoption, with a focus on getting cats out of shelter cages, rather than taking them out of foster homes,” (Furbacher).
I love the mentality. It is focused on cat rescue/adoption as a major part of the objectives of the café. I wonder, though, if this is the standard for all cat cafés; to actively promote cat adoptions because, as has happened, if the adoption process proves to be very successful you need a good supply of rescue cats from a shelter. Perhaps this is the last of their worries. Most shelters are full and overflowing.
However, you could understand if a cat café didn’t allow adoptions because the bottom line is that they are meant to be profit making businesses. You can’t give away the company’s assets all the time! But hey, it is so nice to hear about this. Anyway, I am sure that allowing adoptions is a good business decision as it brings in customers wishing to adopt and have a chat with friends over a coffee at the same time.
Customers and cat lovers of this establishment don’t have to be too concerned as there will be a new intake of kitties in the not to distant future. Eleven kitties were adopted in the first three weeks after opening. This story is a great one and something cat rescue organisations might like to take note off.
It begs the question whether cat rescue organisations should open cat cafés themselves if they have sufficient funds to do so, as a great place to “market” cats to the public. Is that a weird idea?
It also proves that the environment in which potential adopters meet their future cat companion is important. If it is relaxed and pleasant – therefore conducive to adopting – the cat will be more relaxed and therefore more desirable and the potential adopter will be more likely to adopt. It makes me wonder what the ambience of the usual meeting place, where person meets cat, is like in cat rescue facilities. Are they always pleasant?
“When they’re in such a big space like this they get to really explore and claim their own territory, and really show their personality,” Michelle Furbacher said about her cats
Also it gives rescue cats the chance to socialise and get used to humans again if they were unsure.
This is such a nice story of successful cat rescue. This café works with the B.C. SPCA (British Columbia SPCA). It would be nice to know what they think about this. They need praising too – enlightened thinking and a nice business collaboration.
