The Purrrfect Cup: Wyoming’s First Cat Café Opens in Casper

Me-ow. It was certain to occur. The one factor higher than a cup of espresso is a cup of espresso when you’re sitting subsequent to a cat. Anyone, someplace, realized this and the very first cat café was created in 1998, in Taipei, Taiwan. It was referred to as ‘Cat Flower Backyard’ and it began a development that finally made its method to America.

All through the succeeding years, an increasing number of cat cafés popped up round the US and it was solely a matter of time earlier than Wyoming bought considered one of its very personal.

It is referred to as ‘Whiskers and Meows Cat Café and, because the title implies, it is half drink-shop, half cat rescue.

“Cat cafés began in Japan within the ’90s and so they had been actually massive there,” The proprietor (who, at the moment, needs to stay nameless) acknowledged. “It is one thing we have at all times needed to do.”

Lastly, this yr the proprietor mentioned, they determined to take an opportunity. However they needed to do their analysis first.

“We traveled a ton this summer time, visiting a number of cat cafes in Florida, Hawaii, California, Washington State, Colorado, Montana, and extra,” the proprietor mentioned. “We most likely visited about 20 cat cafés this summer time.”

With a purpose to begin a profitable enterprise, it is essential to check what works and what would not work. For Whiskers and Meows to achieve success, it will take greater than a espresso pot and a pair kittens.

“We knew there wasn’t something like that right here,” the proprietor mentioned. “And we needed to carry one thing sort of distinctive to Casper. It is positively a distinct adoption course of. It is an animal sanctuary the place cats are free roaming, so you will get to know their personalities a bit bit higher. It is not like in the event that they’re in cages. Cats act so much totally different in a cage than being out and having the ability to work together with people. We’re working carefully with Metro Animal shelter and our purpose is to rescue them once they’re at capability. We’re a no-kill animal shelter.”

Being that it is not simply a shelter, but additionally an institution that can even be serving foods and drinks, there are different rules that should be put in place.

“We had a couple of massive obstacles,” the proprietor mentioned. “Clearly the well being division was considered one of them, as a result of there aren’t any cat cafés in Wyoming. It would not exist. So we needed to work diligently with them to sort of write issues. It is positively doable, there are about 150 of the within the U.S. However, so far as Wyoming goes, we’re the primary.”

In fact, being the primary of something means that there is a sure studying curve. Errors might be made, to make certain. However that is very a lot a DIY mission, each step of the best way.

“We needed to take the house that we had been leasing and fully renovate it,” the proprietor revealed. “So apart from the body of the wall, myself and my youngsters really did the entire building. We sheet rocked, we mudded, we taped, we painted. We did not do the plumbing. I am certain I might have YouTubed that however we did not try this. However we did do the entire adorning and the format. They’re in fully separate rooms. The café is on one facet and the cat room is on the opposite. You should purchase meals and drinks and also you’re allowed to take it into the cat room. It’s very as much as you. We’ll additionally do personal occasions. We even have our first personal occasion this weekend for a celebration.”

The purpose of Whiskers and Meows isn’t just to supply a cool place to hang around, pet a cat, and drink an Italian Soda (Whiskers and Meows serves an assortment of distinctive drinks, although they do not really serve espresso). The principle precedence is to guarantee that these cats discover properties.

“Our purpose is to undertake and foster them till we are able to discover appropriate properties for the cats,” the proprietor mentioned. “And we’re not a primary come-first serve adoption company. We’re a best-fit adoption company.”

One of many targets of Whiskers and Meows is to supply schooling and consciousness about cat adoption as properly.

“Most significantly, we simply need to carry consciousness to loads of the problems that individuals have in having the ability to take their pets with them,” the proprietor mentioned. “We additionally need to supply that interplay earlier than adopting a cat. As a result of loads of cats are returned to the shelters after they’re adopted as a result of individuals do not get to know them first, and their personalities are fully totally different once they’re in an open setting.”

However the place do they get the cats to place within the café?

“Once we first began out, our purpose was to work the Humane Society and Metro,” the proprietor mentioned. “Metro was at capability; I feel that they had, like, 125 cats or one thing. So we’ve about 5 rescues from Metro and we have taken in a couple of different rescues from folks that have simply referred to as. We had one particular person referred to as a few woman who simply handed away and had this cat her complete life. They went and cleaned out her home and so they simply threw the cats exterior. These cats have been home cats their complete lives and now they’re dwelling on the streets. They don’t know.”

So, Whiskers and Meows exists to not solely educate, not solely to seek out properties for cats, however to seek out the proper properties for cats.

“I simply need individuals to know that it is a protected house for them to go,” the proprietor mentioned. “You do not have to undertake the cats. Clearly, the entire cats that we’ve in there are adoptable, however should you simply want a spot to go and hang around, we’re there.”

Whiskers and Meows is open 11 a.m. to five p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday-Friday, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturdays. It is positioned at 4010 S. Poplar Road, within the Dawn Buying Heart.

For extra info, you possibly can go to the Whiskers and Meows Cat Café web site at this hyperlink or take a look at their Instagram web page or their Fb web page.