On Clear The Shelters day, we sent three cats to their forever homes. Then we had a long distance adoption, where one of our cats went to Pennsylvania. And Earl got adopted as well.

That brought the number of cats at The Cat Cafe down to seven. San Diego Humane Society worked hard to find us cats that would work well in our environment, and they did a great job.

First, The Cat Cafe received Lucy and Ethel. These names are fitting because Lucy and Ethel were so similar in the show I Love Lucy. And that is true for our pair of sisters. Both Lucy and Ethel are house panthers, which is what we call black cats at The Cat Cafe.

They also are similar in appearance. It’s tough to tell the two of them apart, but fortunately, they arrived in the summer. During the summer, Ethel tends to overgroom herself. She’s been seen by vets multiple times for this, and they’ve found nothing wrong with her. So we just have to get used to seeing Ethel with the lion cut she gave herself.

The second set of sisters, Samantha and Chloe, arrived the next day. These two are brown tabbies with white feet. They are a bonded pair, which means they cannot be separated for any reason.

Samantha is a little more outgoing and she’s a little more svelte than her sister. She started interacting with customers at The Cat Cafe on her first day with us. She’s got an adorable little meow which she uses to solicit attention.

Chloe is a little more shy and she’s a bigger cat. Like Samantha, she is an inquisitive cat, who likes attention and loves to return affection. You’ll have to approach her more slowly, but when she feels comfortable with you, she loves to head butt your hand.

Come on by and see the new arrivals at The Cat Cafe. We have 11 cats who are waiting to meet you!

 

We generally don’t get kittens at The Cat Cafe. But since we’ve done well with bonded pairs, San Diego Humane Society decided that they would bring a couple of bonded kittens in to join our group. They will join another new arrival to bring us up to an even dozen cats.

We can tell that the people who named these two kittens are baseball fans, but we just aren’t sure about their choices in team names. One of the kittens is named Dodger, and the other one is named Mariner. Really? We realize that the Padres haven’t made the playoffs in a decade, but those two teams, who are either the closest division opponent or MLB’s “protected rival?” And what happened to Angel, Giant, and Athletic?

Regardless of their names, these two kittens are adorable. But they are shy, and that is why they are at The Cat Cafe. We’ve had a number of shy cats become customer favorites and get adopted, and we’re hoping that Dodger and Mariner can join the other shy cats who went to good homes.

Dodger is a black and white cat, who gets along well with other cats, especially his brother. He seems to be the more inquisitive of the two, wandering around and soliciting pets only a few minutes after arriving.

Mariner is all black, and he’s a little more cautious. He seems to take his cues from his brother, and watches him very closely to see what to do.

Both of these kittens are going on five months old, and they have been without a home for close to three months. This is a long time for a kitten, and they really deserve a home. It will have to be one that’s calm and quiet, with no dogs and only calm and gentle children. They are a bonded pair, and even though the teams they were named after are in different leagues, they will not be broken up for any reason.

These two kittens are joined by Honey Bear. She’s a three year old brown tabby who’s on the petite side at eight pounds. Honey Bear made her way to San Diego Humane Society after being part of a home since she was eight weeks old because there just wasn’t enough time to properly care for her. Since arriving here, Honey Bear has started to explore the cat retreat, and it’s likely she’ll be out in the playpen soon.

Come visit The Cat Cafe to meet these three new arrivals and the other nine adoptable cats we have here!

It’s been a busy time for adoptions and new arrivals at The Cat Cafe, which is why we haven’t posted a lot recently. It seems like the lineup of cats is constantly changing.

We sent a few customer favorites to new homes recently. Pocahontas, Simba, Nightshade, and Boyd all went to good homes recently. And a couple of cats who hadn’t been around as long, Disney and Levi, also went to good homes.

There are currently ten cats available for adoption at The Cat Cafe, and that number may change quickly because there are people interested in quite a few of them. If one of these cats catches your eye, make sure you call us to see if they are still around.

Earl is a two year old cat who weighs around eleven pounds. He’s a little shy, but once he gets to know you he loves to solicit attention. And he has a very cute meow, which is something we have gotten to hear quite a bit when we’re working after hours.

On the other side of personality is Kirby. This guy loves people. After five years living in a good home, this 13 pound boy had to be surrendered because the person who was caring for him was going into hospice care. He’s friendly and playful, and loves getting pet.

Rocky is two, and he’s a little skittish. You’ll see Rocky quietly enjoying himself, and then when something startles him, he will propel his 13 pound body across the room very quickly to get to his safe spot. But if he’s familiar with you, he loves to give head bonks.

Finally, there’s Theodore. He’s an inquisitive cat, who may be a little too inquisitive for his own good. He’s four years old and eight pounds, and he loves to play. Sometimes, he wants to play when the other cats don’t want to, so he has received a few swats to tell him to back off. Don’t let that scare you away. He’s become a fixture in the cat playpen at The Cat Cafe and he’ll be happy to welcome you in.

Come on by and visit these kitties at The Cat Cafe and enjoy your Tortie Tuesday!

When we talk to customers at The Cat Cafe, one of the things we hear the most is that they wish we had better options for parking. This is the challenge of any business in downtown San Diego. It’s tough to provide parking, paid or unpaid, for customers. It’s a commodity that’s in high demand.

We’ve told customers that if they can’t find street parking, parking can be found at a paid parking lot at the intersection of Second and Island or there’s free parking available at Horton Plaza.

We didn’t like this, and we’ve been working with the property owner to come up with a solution for this. What we agreed to do is to open the lot next to The Cat Cafe for parking. It will cost $5 per hour, cash only. If you want to take advantage of this, please come in and let the barista know that you’re parking your car. We’ll note the time that you came in and charge you appropriately when you leave.

The Cat Cafe has also been interested in reducing our environmental footprint. That is why we have a discount of $0.25 for those who use their own mug and offer a 10 percent discount to those who bike here.

And it’s why when the makers of okocat contacted us, we were very happy to start using their litter. Instead of being made from strip mined clay, okocat is made from fallen timber and unused lumber. Another attribute of okocat that appealed to us is that there’s a lot less dust than with clay litters. In the relatively small space that we’ve got for our 12 cats, the less dust the better.

Here at The Cat Cafe, the transition from clay litter to okocat has gone very well. As with any change in litter, it needs to be done gradually. We’ve put okocat in with the clay litter, and the cats, after investigating the new litter, have taken right to it.

Those of you who have visited The Cat Cafe know that we keep the litter behind a closed door to keep the smells from you. Using okocat has helped reduce those smells and that’s another reason we’re happy to have started using it.

Interested in checking out okocat for yourself? We have coupons for $3 off any of their litters in any size. Come visit The Cat Cafe, take advantage of the parking, see how okocat works, and try it at home.

As always, if you have any questions or comments for us here at The Cat Cafe, we’d love to hear them!

At The Cat Cafe, we are always looking to partner with organizations that help us meet our goal of finding homes for adoptable cats. Obviously, the most prominent partner in this is San Diego Humane Society, who provides us with the cats as well as food, litter, and medical care when needed.

We’re happy to work with other organizations that help us reach our goal and that is why we are pleased to announce a partnership with Petcube. Petcube is a home camera and social network for pet lovers. Through this partnership, you will be able to take a peek inside The Cat Cafe and interact with our adoptable cats during our public Petcube hours.

It’s really easy for you to see what’s happening in The Cat Cafe during our public Petcube hours of 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM daily. Here’s what you do:

• Download the free Petcube app, which is available in both Android and iOS versions
• Search for one of our two cameras (CatCafeSD and CatCafeSDFront)
• Get to see our friendly adoptable cats in real time

It’s not quite as nice as actually being here at The Cat Cafe and being able to interact with our adoptable cats in person. But if you can’t make it in, you’ll get the next best thing

We’re also happy to announce that by using our special promotional code, Petcube has generously agreed to provide The Cat Cafe with a portion of the proceeds. Please use the code “petcube+thecatcafe” when you purchase your Petcube to help us in our mission of finding homes for adoptable kitties.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Petcube for yourself after seeing how it works at The Cat Cafe, you can do so here. Don’t forget to use the promotional code when you make your purchase. Also, by using this link, customers within the United States will receive free expedited shipping. International customers will receive free standard shipping.

If you have any questions about this partnership, please let us know. Thanks as always for your interest in The Cat Cafe!

The number 52 isn’t necessarily a special one. It’s not a round number, like 10, 25, 50, or 100. It’s not considered a lucky number or an unlucky one. And if you’re a math geek, it’s not a prime number or special for any other reason.

But there are 52 weeks in a year. And when we first opened up The Cat Cafe, we were hoping to adopt out one cat per week. That would mean we adopted 52 cats out over the course of the year.

Well, we definitely exceeded our expectations and our goals when it comes to cat adoptions. We’re not at the end of June yet, and we have adopted out 52 cats. We cheated a little on the 52nd cat adoption, because it went to one of employees. But we figure that’s okay, because we sent a couple of kitties to San Diego Humane Society who later got adopted there after spending some time with us.

Our 52nd adoption is definitely something we’re very proud of here at The Cat Cafe. Hitting our annual goal with more than half the year left is awesome. But we are not going to stop trying to send cats to good homes.

And a lot of thanks goes to those of you who have supported us. Whether you’re one of the 52 who adopted a cat or you’ve come in for the coffee and kitties, you’ve helped make this possible.

Soon, there will be more cats from San Diego Humane Society for you to fall in love with and hopefully adopt. And we will definitely introduce you to these cats when they arrive. We are also thinking about potentially increasing the number of cats we have in the playpen.

We’ll keep you posted on all of these things but we definitely are celebrating meeting our annual goal for adoptions at The Cat Cafe way before December 31!

Take a break from the crowds of Comic-Con and relax with our friendly and playful cats between your sessions. After long lines and crowds, Comic-Con visitors will definitely want to enjoy the benefits of the simple act of petting a cat.

As a business located just a few blocks away from the Convention Center, The Cat Cafe welcomes Comic-Con attendees. And to make it a more enjoyable experience for our Comic-Con visitors, we’re happy to announce a special.

Throughout the duration of Comic-Con(July 9-12), for $20,  customers will be able to visit The Cat Cafe, obtain merchandise exclusive to The Cat Cafe, enjoy a drink or food item, and spend 30 minutes with our friendly cats. Attendance at these sessions will be limited to a maximum of 15 customers.

Typically, The Cat Cafe does not take reservations. However, due to the expected demand for space in the playpen to interact with our cats, we will for the duration of Comic-Con. Spots are available for booking throughout the duration of the event and they will go fast. We strongly encourage customers to book their spot (click to be taken to the booking page) as soon as possible to avoid the disappointment of not being able to visit us.

If there are spots available for a session on the day of the event, walk in customers will be able to purchase a spot for $25.

For those customers either attending Comic-Con or living in the area, we will of course continue to offer award winning coffee from West Coast Coffee Roasters and Cafe Virtuoso for purchase. Our locally baked cookies from The Cravory and pastries from Bread & Cie will be available as well. Bottled water, sodas, juices, and other snacks will be here for customers also.

We’re really excited to give Comic-Con attendees the chance to relax for a few minutes between sessions and to enjoy a little purr therapy. If you have any questions, please email us.

When The Cat Cafe first opened, our goal was to average adopting one cat out per week. Over the course of the year, that would give us around 50 adoptions. Finding homes for 50 cats would mean that San Diego Humane Society would have space to take in 50 additional cats, which would literally save lives.

I’m very happy to say that we’re way ahead of the pace we wanted. We’ve been open with full hours since January, and The Cat Cafe has sent 50 cats home.

The 50th adoption was for a very sweet and fluffy girl named Abby. She was only at The Cat Cafe for a short time before she went to her forever home. Her personality and playfulness was evident right from the start, but hidden from our customers because she took some time to come out of the cat retreat. When she came out, she went home fast.

We’re really happy that we hit this milestone, and we hopeful that we blow past more of them soon!

While Abby is no longer available for adoption, there are three new cats for you to fall in love with. Maybe you’ll be the one who gets us started on our next 50 cats?

Congo is a nine month old young adult. He’s playful, friendly, and a little rambunctious. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, because he’s like a teenager. He’s a solid kitty, weighing 12 pounds, and once he gets to know you, his purr motor definitely revs up.

Moo Moo is the second tortie in our current group. She’s a little shy initially but once she gets to know you, she’s very loving. Moo Moo is around five years old and weighs ten pounds. She and her brother were surrendered because they didn’t get along with the resident dog.

Tokie is Moo Moo’s brother, and we’re glad to have another set of siblings in The Cat Cafe. He’s a little older, at six years, and he’s a lot bigger, weighing 15 pounds. And he belongs on the website Cats Who Look Like Hitler. How long until he marches right into the Eiffel Tower cat tree?

We love getting new kitties in at The Cat Cafe. For the most part, we only get new cats in when some have been adopted, and that’s why we enjoy it. We had a few adoptions, and that’s why three new kitties joined us at The Cat Cafe.

You’ve met Pocahontas before. What you might not have known is that she had many siblings named after Disney characters. Her sisters are named Ariel, Jasmine, Lady, Elsa and Belle and her brother is named Gaston. We’ve asked if we could have her siblings join her, and that’s exactly what happened.

Elsa and Belle have joined their sister at The Cat Cafe. Like Pocahontas, they are orange tabbies. That makes for a very unusual group of cats, by the way. Around three out of four orange cats are male. In this clowder, there are six female cats and one male cat.

Belle is a little darker than her sisters and she is a talker. She’s also a bit braver than Elsa and you’ll see her roaming the playpen even though it’s only been a short time since she arrived.

Elsa looks a lot like Pocahontas. The way you can tell them apart, for now, is that Elsa has some fur growing back in. Once that happens, you’ll have to look at their faces. Elsa has more white around her mouth than her sisters.

It wouldn’t do us much good at The Cat Cafe to have Tortie Tuesdays without a cat to show off a little tortitude, and that’s why we’re glad that Kelli has joined us. Kelli is a three year old cat who was transferred to San Diego Humane Society because she had kittens.

After caring for her kittens, she’s looking for someone to care for her. She’s definitely got tortitude, and is not shy about telling the other cats to back off if they get too close to her. With people, though, she’s happy and loving once she gets over her initial shyness.

Come and meet the new arrivals at The Cat Cafe. You might fall in love with one and end up taking them home!

Just in time for the weekend, we have three new cats for you to come and interact with. The arrival of these three will take The Cat Cafe up to our full capacity of ten cats. We were able to bring these guys in because Julius and Willow did not spend much time here. They were adopted very quickly!

The group of three kitties joining us here at The Cat Cafe is an interesting group.

The one who has gotten the most comfortable so far is also the oldest one of the group. His name is Phoenix. He’s ten years old, but you’d never know it by his personality. He’s playful and seeks interaction with people. Within ten minutes of arriving at The Cat Cafe, Phoenix was wandering around the playpen like he had been here his whole life. And he’s got a very interesting meow and purr.

We also brought in a black and white cat named Magic. Magic is more shy than Phoenix, but honestly, just about any cat would be. He’s a young adult of two years. And Magic likes to talk. He’s still getting used to his new surroundings, but give him a little time, and he’ll be out and about to talk to you and make you fall in love with him.

The last kitty who arrived in this group is Yoda. He’s a black domestic longhair who, not surprisingly given his name, is a very zen cat. Yoda enjoys being pet and has been known to cuddle up with his people. At four years, he’s got a lot of love left to give and would love to meet you at The Cat Cafe.

Come on by and meet our new kitties, enjoy some coffee and who knows what might happen. You might fall in love and decide to take one of them home!