There’s a new place in Cleveland where you can
sip coffee and play with cats. It doesn’t get much better than that.
affoGATO, which opened in January in the
Tremont neighborhood, is the city’s first cat cafe. I hung out there for a
couple of hours on Valentine’s Day, which seemed fitting for a cat lover.
I booked a one-hour appointment online to visit
the cat lounge at 4:15 p.m. Walk-ins are permitted, but reservations are encouraged. A one-hour visit costs $10 on a weekday ($8 for
students) and $12 on a weekend. If you think you’re going to be a frequent
visitor, you can buy a weekday pass, which gives you 10 hours in the lounge for
$49.
I got there early because my previous
appointments that day didn’t take as long as I’d anticipated. That was fine,
though. I enjoyed a cup of coffee, known as a Purr-over, while watching the
kitties in the lounge through the window. The drinks all have cat-pun names,
including French Purr-ess, Cafe Au Lay-on-your-Keyboard and, for tea drinkers,
Kit-tea. There also are baked goods for sale.
Soon it was time for a quick review of the lounge
rules, and then about a dozen of us were admitted for our one-hour visit. You
can bring beverages and snacks into the lounge, but you are not allowed to feed
the cats.
I had watched a big white-and-black cat named
Cruser through the window. He was playing hard to get at first, but eventually
he came down from his perch and played with a few visitors who lured him with a
feather toy.
Cruser
stayed up high while I was in the lounge. A female tortoiseshell
cat named Fireball hid at first, but she came out for
pets with some coaxing. May, a 10-year-old black cat, approached me
and enthusiastically licked my hand like a puppy. She was so sweet, and knowing
that black cats and senior cats often wait the longest to be adopted, I had to
resist temptation. I have a two-cat limit at home.
All the cats in the cat lounge, except for
resident cats Prince and Ash, are Cleveland Animal Protective League cats
available for adoption. As of my visit on Feb. 14, affoGATO
had adopted out 35 cats in the six weeks since it opened. Bios of the cats are
on one wall. Male cats wear a bow tie on their collar and females wear flowers
on theirs.
Many of the cats were willing to play and be
petted during my late-afternoon visit, but some couldn’t be roused from their
catnaps. There were about 10 cats out and about in the lounge when I was there.
When they needed a break, they could escape into an “employees only” area
through a couple of cat-shaped holes. Some never came out of that area.
The lounge is decorated with cute cat-themed art
and accessories and has toys, books and fabulous climbing and perching areas
for the kitties. It is a bright, cheerful and clean space. The three owners are
affoGATO’s only staff, and they have established a welcoming atmosphere for
felines and humans.
Even if you aren’t interested in adopting, you
can support the the cats who are waiting for a home by visiting with them in
the lounge. It’s a fun, affordable way to help homeless animals.
