Jennifer Morozowich has a different idea for a living space. It would have the smell of French vanilla or freshly baked treats. There would be cozy chairs with cats to cuddle next to.
“I’m a business person and I’m a huge cat fan,” she said. “So … I came up with the creation of Kitty Cat Café.”
Morozowich was inspired to open up Toronto’s first cat café after reading an article about one in Vancouver. Her goal is to have that comforting atmosphere a café, while trying to find homes for homeless cats.
“I partnered with Team Cat Rescue (in Toronto) and they’re an organization that pull cats from high kill shelters and they’ll be providing the cats for the café,” she said. “We’re looking about eight to 10 cats in the café at any given time so we’ll be having adoption drives monthly and all of the cats also will be taken care of by a veterinarian.”
The concept of a neighbourhood cat café started in Taiwan in 1998. Nadine Spencer operates a cat café in Montreal. It’s called Le Café De Chats.
“A lot of people won’t accept or tolerate animals where they’re living and a lot of students come over for a short amount of time and are unable to take on the responsibility or their room mates are allergic,” she said. “The cats living in Le Café De Chats are adopted from the owners themselves. Unlike Morozowich’s planned Kitty Cat Café, Spencer is not looking for other homes, just for but they do interaction with customers.
“Cats are very therapeutic,” Spencer said. “Everybody loves kitties and they put a smile on your face.”
Crystina Aued has been fostering both cats and dogs since 2006. She’s not sold on the idea of the cat café idea.
“Not all cats can handle an environment like that and after a while might get unhappy and for all you know animals will fight,” she said. “If they didn’t try to get cats with different personalities it would be so pointless because the point is to get cats adopted and if they only pick really friendly cats it won’t be helping all animals find homes.”
Currently, Morozowich is having trouble finding a landlord to rent her a space for her cat café. But that’s not stopping her. Her mind’s-eye view is the cat equivalent of the TV show “Friends.”
“Something with couches and lounges and opportunities for people to have naps. If they want to nap with a kitty, they can go in a separate room and hang out and have a little snooze. There’s nothing better than having a purr in your ear.”