With green eyes and striped dark fur, 1-year-old Piper can be found trotting around Kitty Cat Cafe and Adoption Lounge (KCC) in Peabody, waiting to find a forever home. Before coming to the cafe, Piper had a hard life as a pregnant stray cat. She was taken in by PALS Animal Lifesavers, but when it was discovered she had feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), she couldn’t stay. She had no place to go — until Kitty Cat Cafe took her in.
Cats like Piper are who owners Uri Harel and Cora Ducolon strive to help at the cafe, which gives cats another chance at finding a loving home.
“We both really, firmly believe that having an animal in your life is a human right, it just is,” Harel said. “To have that kind of comfort and that kind of joy and that unconditional love from an animal is something anyone who wants to should experience.”
The cafe is a non-profit organization, so all money that comes in goes to the cats, he said. Reservations are required for entry, and there are always fewer people allowed in than there are cats.
“The way we do ratios is — let’s say we have nine cats — max is eight people, and less in the afternoon because cats get tired out,” Harel said. “We only do four appointments a day so as to not overwhelm them.”
Guests are welcome to bring coffee and treats from local bakeries. But before entering the room with the cats, they must sanitize their hands.
The cafe is fully booked through December.
“We’re not opening up more slots. We don’t want to overwhelm the cats, and we’re all volunteers so we don’t have employees,” Harel said.
Inside the main room is a separate area for cats who are more shy and need more time to adjust. All new cats must be quarantined for 48 hours, so there’s a separate room for them too.
“[The quarantine room] has its own HVAC system, its own exhaust system, and we use it to bring in cats, but also if there’s a cat who’s sick or has an illness, we can bring them in here and watch them so it doesn’t spread,” Harel said.
Because they are considered a shelter, the cafe has to be cleaned thoroughly each day to meet state guidelines. Anything that can collect fur is washed daily. A donor installed all new HVAC systems as well.
“I have to tell you, the state has been amazing. They’ve worked with us; they helped us get through all the regulations,” Harel said.
Opening a cat cafe is something he and his wife have wanted to do ever since visiting one eight years ago in San Francisco. Since then they have traveled the world visiting different cat cafes.
“Along the way we found some mentors,” Harel said. “They really helped us with all the logistics. How do you help with Shire cats? What cleaner do you use? What’s your payment process? How do you deal with donors? So all these different things.”
Then, about a year ago, they decided to just go for it, he said. The next steps were finding rescue partners, going to the state and finding a town to be based in.
“Then it was finding a landlord who will let you bring cats in and trust you to do that. So our landlord was great. He took a chance on us,” Harel said.
Kitty Cat Cafe and Adoption Lounge partners with PAWS Wakefield and PALS Animal Lifesavers in Salem.
Sandra Perry, feline and adoption coordinator at PALS, said, “I thought it was an amazing opportunity to collaborate given the fact that we have cats and he has a unique environment for cats to reside and for cats to get more visibility from an adoption point of view.”
Piper was originally at PALS, but when she tested positive for FIV, she could not stay at the shelter. FIV has a bad stigma around it, she said.
“Because of this opportunity, Piper is living her best life at KCC and is currently serving as an educational ambassador to show that FIV cats can coexist and thrive with other healthy cats,” Perry said.
Currently, Kitty Cat Cafe offers yoga with cats along with their regular appointments, but Harel and Ducolon are looking to do more.
“We might end up doing paint night with cats or movie night with cats,” Harel said. “The next thing we’re working on is working with local senior centers to have a senior van come once a week and have senior citizens have a chance to have time with cats.”
It’s been really “heartening” to see people who can’t have cats at home come spend time with the cats at their cafe, he said.
“It’s just such a nice, chill, therapeutic kind of place. People have been really kind and like either donating or just giving their time helping with the shy cats … it’s been really lovely,” Harel said.
