We recently introduced you to a bunch of cats who joined the clowder at The Cat Cafe. We don’t have as many to introduce you to this time, but we think you’ll like the latest additions to our clowder.

Lila spent most of her life living on the streets. She managed to find her way to the right home, because when the people living there saw her looking hungry and sad, they knew they had to help. The Rescue House gave her the care she needed to recover, and then her personality showed up.

One of the first things you will notice about this five year old girl is her meow. She sounds like a tiny little kitten even though she’s a fully grown cat. And when she wants to play, you’ll hear that cute meow. She enjoys playing with wand toys. Lila will also pounce on balls and may even drop one at your feet to tell you she wants to play.

Lila likes other cats, and she does well with dogs. She doesn’t like small children. She’s not mean to them, but she finds a way to escape those that visit The Cat Cafe.

The Rescue House raised Ron from the time he was a kitten. When his adopters decided they couldn’t keep him, The Rescue House brought him to The Cat Cafe. After arriving here, this one year, two month old boy started seeking attention. He loves interacting with people.

Ron likes sitting on cat trees when he’s not chasing toys around. He also will solicit attention from people he likes. And if Ron really likes you, you may get a treat when he hops in your lap. He gets along well with the other cats here at The Cat Cafe. And he’s fine with respectful children.

Come on by to meet the newest members of the clowder at The Cat Cafe or to say hello to a favorite who’s been around for a while!

We’ve had a lot of cats coming and going here at The Cat Cafe lately. We sent Andrew, Brandy and Gibbs, who had been here for a while, home. We also adopted out a cat who didn’t spend much time here, Ava. During the time they were here, we enjoyed interacting and playing with these guys. So it’s always a bittersweet moment when we send a cat home.

But when we send cats home, we get new cats in. And the five new arrivals are sure to put a lot of smiles on people’s faces. All of these five cats have similar stories. First, caring people took them in as kittens. Veterinarians treated them, and then after a while they found their way to The Rescue House. After various stops, they made their way to The Cat Cafe.

Diva, Jesse, and Monkey all took a long trip to get to us. A kind person found them in Imperial County when they were kittens and took them in. This person raised them to adulthood, and then contacted The Rescue House to see about getting them help to find a home for them. They are all about a year and eight months old.

Diva loves getting pets and attention once she gets to know you. She’s the most reserved of the three but she’s still sociable. She’ll hop into laps of people she likes, and loves to get her purr motor going when she’s happy.

Of the three cats, Jesse likes to talk the most. He’ll let you know when he’s in the mood to play, which is most of the time. And if you don’t listen to his meow and give him the attention he wants, he’ll put his paw on your leg so that you can’t ignore him.

The most active of the group, Monkey chases around virtually any toy you show him. He has quickly become a customer favorite here at The Cat Cafe and probably won’t last long. Make sure you interact with him before he’s adopted!

Our other two cats that just arrived were part of a trap, neuter and return program in El Centro. The veterinarians preparing to neuter them noticed they were sick. And so they spent additional time with people to properly recover. After that happened, the person taking care of them decided to find them a home inside. The Rescue House stepped in, and then they came to The Cat Cafe.

Both Erik and Groucho are young adults, at a little over a year old. And they both have very playful and fun personalities.

You’ll find Erik taking in the scene, relaxing, until he’s ready to play. And then when he plays, you’ll see why the doctors said that the residual scarring in his eyes doesn’t affect his ability to see. He loves to pounce on toys and wands and he’s always looking for things to play with.

Groucho, if you can believe it, is even more brave than his brother. Within two days of arriving here, he managed to climb up to the top of the Eiffel Tower replica. He also managed to figure out how to get down without any help.

The five cats who arrived at The Cat Cafe will definitely put a smile on your face. Come meet them and enjoy spending time with them and the cats who have been here a little longer.

Since The Cat Cafe opened in January 2015, we’ve completed 235 adoptions. We enjoy all of these, but some of them are special because of the cats who get adopted. As you know, it’s difficult to adopt out senior cats. Even fewer people want to adopt a bonded pair. Then when a bonded pair are a breed that requires extra attention, it’s tougher still.

Which is why we’re very happy about the latest pair of cats adopted from The Cat Cafe. Gizmo and Iris are a pair of 15 year old bengal cats. They started at Coronado Animal Control, and then made their way to PAWS of Coronado. PAWS of Coronado knew we had experience with bengal cats, and they contacted us to see if we could help.

We checked with The Rescue House to make sure they would be okay with us taking in a couple of senior bengals. When they said yes, we told PAWS of Coronado to bring the bengals to us. We wanted to get these cats to a rescue group specializing in bengal cats. They would be safe with us until that happened.

Gizmo arrived first. He quickly jumped out of the carrier and started exploring The Cat Cafe. He growled at any cat who came too close to him, but it wasn’t aggressive. As soon as they backed away, he stopped. Gizmo quickly became a favorite of both customers and staff. He enjoyed hopping on people’s laps and climbing on their shoulders.

About a week later, Iris joined us. Initially grouchy because of a recently completed dental, Iris quickly warmed up. Soon, she was like her brother, hopping people’s laps and soliciting attention.

When no bengal rescue group stepped up to take in Gizmo and Iris, we decided that if the right person wanted to adopt this pair, we’d do it. And soon after we made that decision, one of our regulars decided that they wanted to take them home.

Within minutes of these two cats arriving at their new home, they were exploring  everything. They hopped onto their new cat tree, looked out the windows, and started investigating the house. They’re going to do very well in their new home. We here at The Cat Cafe are very happy that we were able to enjoy them while they were here and to have facilitated them going to a great home!

Many of you may remember that we’ve been working to get a sidewalk seating area put in for a long time now. We raised the funds to cover part of the expenses of building this out, and we moved forward. Progress was a lot less rapid than we wanted.

We thought the permitting process would be relatively fast and easy, because that’s what the mayor of the City of San Diego said he wanted. But, fast for a large City is very different than what a small business like The Cat Cafe considers fast. So we had to work through the different layers of bureaucracy in order to get our plans approved.

We finally got the plans for the sidewalk seating area at The Cat Cafe approved in February. We thought that meant we’d quickly have the seating area available for our customers. But then we ran into another delay. This time, it was with the supplier of the fencing material.

The supplier constantly promised our contractor, Balboa Fence, that they’d have the materials in by a certain date. That date would arrive, and the materials weren’t there. So Balboa Fence had to tell us to hang tight and that they’d get the fence in as soon as the material was here.

We’re happy to say this finally happened. And yesterday morning, the work crew from Balboa Fence arrived. It took them a morning to complete the task. It’s funny how the actual installation of the fencing took less time to complete than any of the paperwork behind it.

Now, we’ve got a sidewalk seating area here at The Cat Cafe. We think it looks great. The best part of this is now that when we have lines of people waiting to get in during our peak hours, we will be able to offer everyone a seat. And customers who just want to enjoy their drinks or food without interacting with the cats can do that now.

We want to thank everyone who helped with the funding to build out this sidewalk seating area. And we hope to see all of you here at The Cat Cafe so that you can enjoy it!

We’re enjoying our partnership with The Rescue House here at The Cat Cafe. And we especially enjoy sending the cats they send us to good homes. In the month of April, we sent five cats to good homes. Customers adopted Tessa, Della, Magda, Arlow, and Dora in April.

We were especially happy about Arlow’s adoption, because it meant he was reunited with a fellow alumni from The Cat Cafe. Arlow joined his friend Rue, and the two of them are acting just like they did at The Cat Cafe. They play, run around, and entertain their people most of the day!

In addition to sending five cats home, The Cat Cafe raised $284 for The Rescue House. This money will allow The Rescue House to continue its mission of finding homes for unwanted, homeless, abandoned, and abused cats.

“We’re glad that we’re continuing to send cats to good homes,” said Tony Wang, General Manager of The Cat Cafe. “It’s especially gratifying to reunite two almuni from The Cat Cafe. If Rue and Arlow play in their new home like they did here, they are going to be a very entertaining pair. We’re not sure if their adopters will be able to get any sleep, though!”

With the five adoptions in the month of April, The Cat Cafe has now sent 231 cats home since opening in January 2015. We’re happy that we’ve been able to help enrich the lives of the people who adopted these cats. We’re also happy that we have been able to help free up some much needed space with our partner animal welfare organizations.

Don’t worry, though. We’ve still got plenty of cats for you to hang out with here. Come on in, enjoy your food and drink, and have fun with our cats. Maybe you will join the 231 others who have decided they wanted to take a four legged friend home!