— By Jackson West (@jacksonwest) |
While the Crowdtilt fundraising effort got off to a bit of a rough start, you can now pitch in a few or a few hundred dollars and help create create KitTea, “one of the first, well, probably the first cat cafe in the United States,” which co-founder Courtney Hatt hopes to open in Hayes Valley or the Mission.
The cafe will be using an ongoing reservation system to keep the space manageably calm for the fostered felines, so now’s you’re chance to book early. Fellow co-founder Benjamin Stingle told the Business Times that the team is hoping to have the first month or two booked in advance.
Look, people, America needs to close the cat cafe gap with China and Russia or we’re all doomed to globadorable irrelevancy. Vladimir Putin is clearly crazy, don’t think he isn’t coming for your kittehs next. If the good people of San Francisco can’t collectively come up with a $50,000, interest-free loan to sell attachment-free companionship to desperately lonely cat people, we may have already lost.
You have thirty days. Make the right choice.
Comments (16)
In Japan there are two types of cat cafes, the kind that cater to cat-lonely people and the kind that cater to shelter cats. The former uses pure-breed young cats as entertainment and contribute to the shelter problem. The latter is non-profit and encourages visitors to adopt the cats of any age and type; hopefully this cafe in SF will be like that, alas it’s a for-profit venture. Use your Crowdtilt money and donate to SPCA instead.
It is a for-profit venture, however according to their site and funding campaign they’ll be working with local rescue organizations and an SFSPCA-veteran consultant.
but they tend to help mostly young cats get placed
Hi there, ALL of our cats will be up for adoption, and we aren’t using pure-bred young cats as entertainment. The cats will be lovingly cared for, and we are working with non-profits to facilitate their adoption. Think of KitTea as a halfway house – not a shelter, not a foster home, not a forever home - just a comfortable place that a cat can live while they’re still looking for a forever home!
I personally don’t like one of the organizations behind it (Wondercat Rescue), they don’t even have a number to contact for adoptions and are highly disorganized. their page: https://www.facebook.com/wondercatrescue just seems like a giant pet photography ad and they rake forever to get anything together if god forbit, anyone actually wants to adopt a cat.
Oakland has 2 great organization working on a cat cafe too, check out this progress video and make this cat cafe happen instead, the woman in charge (Anne) really cares about helping cats get placed in good homes and is very easy to work with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHEi1XdIRmk&feature=youtu.beyou can help them here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cat-town-cafe
make the right choice.
Hi there, Wonder Cat Rescue uses Petfinder to help facilitate adoptions. http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=CA1021
It’s an organization that fosters cats and kittens, so the cats aren’t all in one place - many are placed in homes scattered through the Bay Area. You work with the volunteers there to find a cat that is best for you and your home. Also, all of the cats on Wonder Cat Rescue’s Facebook page are actually up for adoption. They hope that by taking high quality photos of the cats, they can help attract attention and place them in homes faster. We’re really excited to work with them, and hope you can change your mind about their organization.
-Hannah (I work with the KitTea folks)
I went through petfind and it pointed me to you guys. You guys were not receptive at all or even sounded like you wanted to help faciliate an adoption. I am well aware that the cats on your FB page are for adoption, but it’s really no good if you don’t reach out or repsond. I have worked with Cat Town and they are just a delight and very helpful. Here are some helpful hints:
1) have a number to call, a centralized person that handles all your forms, social media, contacting.
2) actually give information from foster parents about when to schedule appointments and be upfront about the cat(s) needs.
3) be helpful and and SEEM LIKE your end goal is to help these kitten/cats find good homes
Achooo!!!
Regarding Wondercat Rescue, I’m going to assume that “omnomnom” has not spent much time volunteering in the animal rescue community. I can’t speak to Wondercat in particular, but most small rescue groups are volunteer-run, by dedicated people with jobs and other responsibilities, and can indeed be rather disorganized. As one might assume, their focus is on the animals and not necessarily on a slick web presence or customer service (even though those things may arguably help encourage adoptions). However, slamming a local group b/c you have a weird chip on your shoulder about your experience with them is just sort of a jerky thing to do. I’d suggest that you redirect that energy into volunteering at the SF SPCA or whatever rescue organization you may view more favorably. Or, you know, mastering spelling.
haha real cheeky. you mad cuz Oakland might get a cat cafe first bruh?
Officially my favorite intra-Bay beef of all time. WHOSE CAT CAFE IS THE REALEST???
They’re not considering space in the Dogpatch? Sounds fishy. Just someone’s pet project.
Free-roaming animals and food service? Permitting must have been a nightmare. Although in Entrepreneurship 2.0 the attitude is basically “fuck permits we dont need that shit” so whatever, I guess.
There’s all this coverage on KitTea, but I think Oakland’s Cat Town Cafe deserves more media attention!! Especially since unlike the others, they are certified non-profit… Only 37 hours left for their campaign!! And because they are non-profit, all contributions are tax deductible!!! (they email you the receipt right afterwards, convenient!)
Not only that, but the rewards are much more generous than KitTea anyway :V I can’t wait for my hooded sweatshirt + 12 cup voucher!!!
http://indiegogo.com/projects/cat-town-cafe
Also, there are a lot of spots in SF that aren’t BART accessible, but I have high hopes that CTC will be quite accessible and in a good area.
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