The Purina One Cat Cafe has come and gone, but it will forever be in our cat loving hearts. New York City’s first ever pop up cat cafe featured cat’achino’s, pastries, caturniture, and adorable (as well as adoptable!) cats from the North Shore Animal League.
The Bronx Chronicle visited the cat cafe late Friday morning, naively thinking that the line to enter should not be too long at this time. After arriving to find two separate lines that spanned the whole of Kenmare Street, I asked the cat-bouncer how long the wait was. 
“Four hours.” he said, turning around to repeat the time so that the rest of the crowd could hear. Two ladies promptly said, “Four hours? We can’t wait that long, we gotta leave.” and left. Everyone else signed but held fast to their spots on line, refusing to give them up.
Once inside we were greeted by the smell of lovely cat’achino’s and lattes which the baristas carefully prepared. Past the 
double doors from the eating area was the cat’s “quiet area” to the left. This is where the cats could go if they needed a respite from the many visitor’s.
Walking down the short hallway towards the cat area was a wall that displayed all of the adoptable cats. By 11 a.m. on opening day (April 24th) two cats were already adopted, by the afternoon of the next day 8 cats were adopted, and within 30 minutes of being inside of the cafe another cat was adopted.
Duchess with one of her new owners.
Duchess, a striking all white 6 month old with a calm demeanor, was being coddled by her new owners. “We saw her through the window and were so nervous that someone else was going to adopt her. We immediately rushed in and asked if she was taken. Now we can’t wait to take her home on Sunday.” said Duchess’ new owners.
Along with watching adorable cats play and sleep, there were plenty of catashion to be seen. Cat enthusiasts adorned themselves in cat shirts, cat bags, cat skirts, cat shoes, and cat jewelry.
While the cat cafe’s hours were from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the line on Friday was ‘closed down’ by 4 p.m. due to the enormous volume of people wanting to enter. Anyone who was not able to make it into the cafe or into NYC can watch the live streamed videos of the cats and featured speakers. Anyone interested in adopting the cat cafe cats can check out their profiles on the North Shore Animal League’s website.
Bummed out that there might never be another cat cafe in New York? Well Last Chance Animal Rescue is looking to partner up with a business, pub, or cafe owner who wants to start their own pop up cat cafe. They are asking for anyone interested to email them at felinefriends@lcarescue.org or visit their website: LCARescue.org.
Follow Us