As you know, in about a month, the streets of downtown San Diego will be filled with superheroes, zombies, stormtroopers, and others just enjoying the show for Comic-Con. During Comic-Con, we here at The Cat Cafe go to a reservation only system. We simply cannot accommodate everyone who wants to visit our cats with 130,000 additional people downtown.

As in prior years, admissions to interact with the cats at The Cat Cafe will be available for purchase. We are holding the price at the same level as last year. So, for $15, you will get a food or drink item and half an hour with the cats.

Spots will be available starting at 8:00 AM, and go for 30 minutes. We will then give the cats 15 minutes to relax without people being in the playpen, and we’ll begin the cycle again. The last spot will begin at 3:30 and end at 4:00.

Last year, most of these time slots filled up and we had to turn people away. So please make sure you avoid disappointment and book your spot early to get the one you want. For those who want to try to get in without a reservation, we cannot make any guarantees. You are welcome to show up and purchase a spot, but we can’t promise you that there will be one for you at the time you want.

Also, during Comic-Con, The Cat Cafe will suspend adoptions. Putting a cat in a carrier and taking them to a car is stressful enough. We believe that doing so with an additional 130,000 people on the streets could turn even the most mild mannered cat into a feline Hulk.

The Cat Cafe appreciates the understanding of our year round customers during Comic-Con. We simply can’t run using our normal procedures with so many additional people wanting to visit us. Once Comic-Con is over, we’ll return to our normal procedures.

May was a busy month for us here at The Cat Cafe. We had a number of fairly large conventions at the San Diego Convention Center, and then we had the long Memorial Day weekend. That meant a lot of people visited us, and because of those visits, we were able to send eight cats to new homes.

One of the highlights of the month was when we sent one of the first cats who arrived here from The Rescue House, Andrew, to his new home. In something that shows you just how tightly Andrew can weave his way into your heart, his foster showed up to help us adopt him out and to say goodbye to him!

And we also found a home for two fifteen year old bengal cats. Iris and Gizmo were customer favorites, so we’re sad that they left us but we’re very happy that they went to a person who will make sure they’re very happy.

Not only did we have a lot of customers visit us, but we had generous customers. That’s how we raised $292 to help The Rescue House continue their work of helping cats in need. The Cat Cafe is extremely grateful for the generosity of our customers.

We wanted to also tell you about a new arrival at The Cat Cafe. Sunny is the latest cat to join us. He’s a two year old orange tabby. And he’s a very mellow and calm cat. Most cats complain when they get in a carrier, and they really hate car rides. Not Sunny. He didn’t say a thing during the ride to The Cat Cafe. And he hopped right out of the carrier when he arrived.

Sunny is still getting used to things here, so you won’t see much of him. When you do see him, he’ll greet you with head bonks and his unique meow.

We here at The Cat Cafe want to thank everyone who adopted in May and our generous customers. We hope to see you back again soon to meet Sunny and the rest of our cats.

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!

It’s very rewarding to find homes for bonded pairs. They tend to spend more time here at The Cat Cafe, because it takes a while for someone to be willing to take in two cats at one time. We don’t mind. We’re happy to have the cats in a home like environment until they find a home of their own.

We already have the bonded pairs of Brandy and Gibbs as well as Boo and Herkie here at The Cat Cafe. A third pair joined them here. Please say hello to Della and Madga.

Della is the older of the two, at a little over two years. She’s also the less active of the two cats. Don’t take that to mean this calico is not friendly. She takes a little bit of time to warm up to people she doesn’t know. But when she does, she loves to play with these people. Della will chase balls around, swat at wand toys, and give you reminders that fully grown cats still love to play. And like most cats, Della will find a sleeping spot here at The Cat Cafe when it’s time to recharge.

One year old Magda is much more active than her older friend, and loves to run around testing boundaries. She’ll find a way to turn the most mundane things into toys — including the litter box! Magda must have plenty of interaction from both people and cats. When she gets that interaction, she will reward you with a very sweet and cute meow. She does have a quieter voice, so you have to listen carefully for that meow. It’s well worth the extra effort.

These two cats are not related, but they’ve developed a mother-daughter relationship. And they will have to be adopted together.

Della and Magda bring us to our full complement of a dozen cats here at The Cat Cafe. Come on in and meet them. You may fall in love with one of our bonded pairs and want to take them home!

One of our favorite things to do at The Cat Cafe is to send our feline residents to new homes. We enjoy having them here, but we also know that sending them to new homes helps our partner, The Rescue House, take in more animals who need help. And one thing that we definitely enjoy when we send a cat home is knowing that we’ll be getting new cats in soon afterwards.

Brandy and Gibbs joined us a few days ago. This bonded pair quickly worked their way into the hearts of the staff and customers. These two have lived together their entire life, and we don’t want to separate them.

Brandy and Gibbs, along with their siblings, had a rough start to their life. They, along with four other kittens, got stuck in a dryer vent. Fortunately for them, maintenance workers saved them! They went to an emergency vet and then found their way to The Rescue House.

Brandy and Gibbs watched patiently when their siblings got adopted. They went to a home last. We don’t know why, because they’re very interactive and friendly. Things didn’t work out, and they went back to The Rescue House. Then they made their way to The Cat Cafe.

Brandy is a little more shy than her brother. She’ll need a little more time to warm up to you. But once she does, she solicits your attention with amazingly cute meows. And then, she rolls over, shows you her belly, and demands affection. She’s also playful, and enjoys playing with string toys. Torties have a reputation for being a little feisty. Brandy defies that stereotype.

Gibbs is a little more playful and outgoing than Brandy. He loves to play with wand toys, and sometimes, he will take the toy from you! He hides the toy in the retreat, only to bring it back when he wants you to play with him. He’s inquisitive and friendly, and loves to get his purr motor going. You’ll also enjoy looking at his unusual coat.

These two cats have been together since their birth, so we’re not going to separate them. At just shy of a year, these two will entertain whoever adopts them for a long time to come. Please come on in, enjoy a little coffee, and meet this bonded pair at The Cat Cafe!

We had a few new arrivals join the clowder here at The Cat Cafe. This brings us up to an even dozen cats, which is the maximum that is recommended in any communal living situation. So, without any more delay, let’s meet the newest members of The Cat Cafe clowder.

Fernando was found by a kind person taking care of a colony of community cats. As you know, most community cats at best tolerate interaction with people. Not Fernando. This four year, nine month guy demanded attention from the person caring for the colony. And after he became more familiar with his surroundings at The Cat Cafe, that affectionate side came out.

When we are cleaning the litter boxes, feeding the cats, or doing work when it’s quiet, he will wrap his tail around our legs and head bonk us until we pay him some attention. Fernando does very well with other cats, and started snuggling with some of the others right away. You know how some cats have to be the only cat in a home? Fernando is the opposite and he will have to go to a home with another cat.

Tessa is a very sweet cat with a sad story. She lived happily in a home where she was loved until her person died. After that, Tessa went to a local shelter. She hated living there, and The Rescue House pulled her from that facility. This seven year, six month old cat loves getting attention from people she likes. And she loves to give sandpaper kisses to people who give her pets and chin scratches.

She doesn’t mind other cats, although she is fine without them. And in the past, Tessa enjoyed interacting with children. Tessa deserves a home like the one she was in. And hopefully, we’ll be able to find her one soon.

The last cat we will introduce you to is a very special one. His name is Rocky, and he’s got a sad story. Somehow, Rocky caught himself on a fence. Anyone who’s seen a trapped cat knows that they will try desperately to free themselves. Rocky did this, and severely damaged his right hind leg. A kind person couldn’t bear to see Rocky suffer and took him to an emergency vet. After evaluating his leg, the vets decided that he needed to have it amputated. They performed the surgery and kept Rocky until he recovered. Then, they tried to find a home for him.

After several months of trying to find him a home, the vets turned Rocky over to The Rescue House. Now, this two year old boy calls The Cat Cafe his home. Rocky loves to be pet, and he loves to play. And if you think a tripod like Rocky isn’t nimble and agile, think again. He hops up onto and down from tables as well as any four legged cat.

Come on by and meet the new cats here at The Cat Cafe and say hello to some of your longer term friends!