Cat cafes have become a great place for people to have fun playing with cats. But one cat cafe in Adelaide, Australia is going the extra mile by helping its patrons adopt the cats they play with at the cafe.
Unlike most cat cafes, the MeowMe Cat Cafe doesn’t charge patrons to play with their cats. Access to the room where the cafe keeps up to 15 cats at once is free with the purchase of one of the cafe’s desserts or pastries.
While patrons sip a coffee or wait for their order, they spend time with the cats. But unlike most cat cafes, they are also encouraged to find one that they may want to take home to be their new pet.
The MeowMe Cat Cafe has partnered with a small non-profit group called Paws & Claws Adoptions that cares for abandoned animals. Together, they try to find new homes for the cats in the cafe.
“We want to try and help the rescued animals as much as possible,” says cafe co-owner Yvonne Wong. “In the cafe, we have a lot more traffic than a lot of these adoption shelters so it is much easier to get people in to meet the cats.”
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In the short time that MeowMe Cat Cafe has been open, more than 80 of the cats in the cafe have been adopted. Wong believes the cafe provides the perfect environment for people to find a cat they like and would be comfortable taking home.
“People are able to really interact and get to know which cat they want to adopt as they have more time with them,” explains Wong. “We don’t want people to commit to adopting a cat just by a picture, actually come in and get to know them.”
What Wong and the MeowMe Cat Cafe are doing is a refreshing twist on modern cat cafes. Instead of trying to turn a profit off the cats, the goal is to find a proper home for cats that need one.