'They can see the personalities of the cats': Saskatoon café helps get cats adopted in a unique way

There’s a café in Saskatoon that can prove it’s heads and tails above the rest.

Kira Keating loves cats but the building where she lives doesn’t allow them, so she’s a regular at The Purrfect Cup on 2nd Avenue.

“I have to come live vicariously here, but that’s fine. I come once a week,” Keating told CTV News.

For her the chance to sit and read a book while surrounded by felines is the cat’s meow.

“Somebody said they were going to the cat café and I said ‘the what?’ I was so excited because I had been to one in Japan years ago and thought it was a cool idea,” she says.

She doesn’t have to travel far for this café. The downtown business opened about a year ago, and while it lets people come in and paws a while with more than a dozen cats at a time, it partners with the Battleford’s Humane Society. All cats here are up for adoption as a result.

“All the cats are socialized all day with people and other cats, and they’re used to the hustle and bustle. People get to see them in their natural environment. At shelters they’re in their cages, it’s hard to see them when they’re couped up,” Sydney Sylvester, Owner of The Purrfect Cup said.

Since they opened, they’ve had 75 cats adopted according to Sylvester.

“People have said that they love coming in there so they can see the personalities of the cats and they’ll choose one that meets their needs as a family for their home,” she says.

Keating is usually here on Mondays and admits she has seen people come in who don’t like cats initially, but warm up to them because they are friendly cats here.

“There was this family the parents and boy and the dad was like ‘I don’t like cats.’ They’ve come in a few times and at the same time as me and the dad is like, ‘maybe we could bring this one home,’ ” she says.

Sylvester started the process to open the café in 2019 after seeing one in the U.S.

“The city zoning department was not too keen on the idea. They wanted us to be in an industrial area which would have made it a lot more difficult,” Casey Swatlowski, director, The Purrfect Cup said.

Thanks to a couple supportive city councillors, they were able to open the café which sells coffee and snacks and charges a $10 admission for adults and $8 for children.

“That’s what covers their food, litter, wages and rent for our space,” Sylvester says.

With a name like Sylvester, this business owner knows she’s in the right business and admits they’ve just scratched the surface on this concept and hopes to expand their space in the future.