Cats and Coffee
One thing I learnt whilst in Edmonton, Alberta, is that cats and coffee certainly go well together.
I was lucky enough to be travelling around Canada with a self proclaimed crazy cat lady. So you can imagine my excitement when we discovered the Edmonton Cat Café on Whyte; a place where you can enjoy free hot beverages with every $15.00 admission into the café, home to 9+ rescue cats.
Cat Café on Whyte works alongside SAFE Team
, which is volunteer based, no kill, registered non-profit charitable rescue. The cats rescued or surrendered at the café are all available for adoption and range from sex, age and temperament. In total since the café opened in 2017, a total of 113 cats have been adopted out. On average most cats are adopted within 2-3 weeks of arriving.
As a pet parent of an adopted Animal Welfare League rescue cat (Gidget or Gidgmee or Gidgmanna, depending on the day), I can honestly say that this model or way of adoption is absolutely incredible.
Firstly it allows the cats to have ongoing socialisation; Whilst I was in the café, there were 6 other people there; a couple in their mid 30’s, two teenage girls and a mother and her 8 year old daughter. 8 out of the 9 cats were happy to climb all over the café patrons, play with them and eat treats that could be purchased for $1- $2 before entering. There were toys available, cat hidey holes and plenty of couches. The whole environment was peaceful and allowed the cats to 
be relaxed.
I distinctively recall when choosing our cat from the pound, the majority of cats were not sociable and did not want to engage with humans, which I can imagine makes it hard for families selecting their future pet. These cats however were enjoying the company of humans.
The other benefit of having this rescue double as a café is that you can slot it into your normal day’s activities. I’ll be honest, I LOVE a good café coffee and I would typically spend an hour at a café socialising, reading or doing work. How incredible would it be to have this café as your ‘local’ and every day you could give back to the animal community by giving some much-needed butt scratches and snuggles to a bunch of rescue cats?
