In just three months, San Franciscans will finally be able to flock to the city’s first cat cafe, KitTea, in Hayes Valley.
The cafe, announced a year ago in January, has finally started construction and aims to open in mid or late April. The owners of the venture, Courtney Hatt and Lisa Tsubouchi, have partnered with the Petco Foundation, as well as adoption nonprofits Wonder Cat Rescue and Give Me Shelter. The Petco Foundation will sponsor the cat play area, while the nonprofits will provide the kittens and cats available for adoption. There will also be a behavioral consultant on staff to make sure the cats stay happy and healthy.
Kittens will be the first cafe guests, followed slowly by a maximum occupancy of 10 adult cats (research shows that 10 is the optimum number for group living, in cats as well as in San Francisco). The cafe will be large enough to accommodate 30-35 humans at a time. And if you get tired of cuddling cats (as if), you can sample the cafe's collection of "exotic, sustainably sourced" teas.
Anyone can reserve a visit once an opening date is announced, or you can become a volunteer— help out by playing with cats, sounds like a win-win. The cafe is also accepting donations through its fundraising campaign, with numerous perks such as experiencing the cafe before the rest of the public.
If you're hankering for some quality cat cafe time before the SF store opens, you can always head over to Oakland’s Cat Town Cafe. With two cafes in the Bay Area, every day can be Caturday.
[Via Eater SF; Photo courtesy of Flickr]
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