Cat Café Comes To Chicago, First at a Cat Shelter
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Cat cafés are cool, all the rage, the cat’s meow.
In some cities, there’s a line out the door, waiting to get inside cat cafés . Chicago will have their first cat café this year, and it will also likely be the first cat café located within an animal shelter in America, as the café will open inside the new Tree House Humane Society state of the art shelter facility to open this year.
Cat cafes first took off in Japan, then Europe and more recently in the U.S.
The Chicago City Council today (March 16) passed an ordinance which paves the way to allow for the Tree House Café, which was supported by Alderman Debra Silverman (50th ward).
“Tree House Humane Society has been a great partner to the 50th Ward before it even officially moved to the neighborhood,” said Silverman. “Now that their revolutionary new facility and Cat Café is getting ready to open, I look forward to working with them to find new and exciting ways to benefit the community and provide compassionate care to all animals. I will be first in line for a latte and some quality time with the kittens.”
Located in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood at 7225 N. Western Avenue, the Cat Café will be open to visitors in the first-floor lobby and waiting area of Tree House’s new, environmentally friendly adoption and education center and will include the café, and far more than that the humane adoption space for Chicago’s homeless cats.
Tree House Humane Society’s new digs to open in 2016
This unique coffeehouse will feature full-length glass windows in the serving area with an adjacent sitting room where visitors can have direct interaction with adoptable, rescued cats in a cageless environment while enjoying coffee, tea, espresso drinks, and cold beverages. The Café will also serve beverages to go.
Additionally, the Cat Café will provide another form of fundraising for the organization with proceeds directly supporting their work to rescue and rehabilitate sick, injured, abused, and abandoned cats, which Tree House specializes in – often accepting cats that others will not or can not.
Lots of natural light for the cats, catio’s offer outdoor playtime (in good weather), and lots of vertical space per cat are some of the highlights
“We are extremely grateful to Alderman Silverstein and the City Council for making this dream a reality and for paving the way for cat cafés to operate in Chicago,” said Tree House Executive Director Dave de Funiak. “The Tree House Cat Café will provide a unique opportunity for individuals to interact with our rescued, adoptable cats, ultimately helping more animals find their forever homes and enabling us to rescue even more. As an organization, our focus is to create a compassionate community and transform animal welfare in Chicago and across the country, and the Cat Café is one more way we can accomplish this.”
Construction for the new facility, including the Cat Café, began June 2015, with completion targeted for this year. Added features of the new facility include cageless colony rooms, many with “catios”, and a humane education center.