Our four-year-old granddaughter’s outing of choice was a trip to Whiskers and Soda cat cafe. For the uninitiated, a cat cafe is a room full of cats containing a coffee shop. This one is run by a local animal shelter. Their hope is that you’ll fall in love and take home a cat. I think most people go to get a cat fix because there is no way they are taking one home.
Tables and chairs fill the center of the room, equipped with cat books and puzzles. Snoozing cats surround patrons on beds, blankets, cushions, and shelves up and down the walls. Kittens are in a separate room in the back. When cats want to take a break, they have access to a room locked off from visitors.
Most of the cats were sleeping. A few came over to see us when we came through the door. One cat was watching a video of birds and squirrels at a feeder. Others sat by the front window watching people come and go. Some jumped up on our table to see what we were doing.
I got a nice purr from a calico in a love seat. A gray tiger stripe curled up in my lap when I sat on the floor, and stretched up to rub his face against my beard. All the others ignored me, sleeping, pretending to sleep, or scampering away to the “cats only” room.
My granddaughter and her nine-year-old sister both enjoyed a hour with the cats. There wasn’t much of a cafe other than sodas in a cooler. One family took a kitten home, and we smiled as much as they did.
Waite for it... 