Austinite Plans City's First 'Cat Cafe'

[TexasTowelie]

Cat lovers may soon have a new Austin hangout: Plans are underway for the city's first cat café.

The idea for what Rebecca Gray is calling the Blue Cat Café is still in the early planning stages. She hasn't secured a location yet, but Gray envisions a space where people can play with adoptable cats while grabbing coffee or a bite to eat. She hopes to open sometime this year.

The concept of the cat café is hugely popular in Japan: The country has around 150. The establishments have experienced a surge in popularity in the U.S. over the past year as well, with cat cafés opening for business in New York, Portland, Denver and Los Angeles.

“I knew about them from surfing the net and seeing blogs and seeing them happening in other countries and I thought ‘Man, that would be so awesome, especially here in Austin,’” says Gray, a self-proclaimed “cat lady.”

Read more: http://kut.org/post/austinite-plans-citys-first-cat-cafe

[shenmue]

1. Squee!

[SheilaT]

2. Excellent!

Too bad it's in Austin, only because I don't live there.

Right now my life is without cats and will remain this way (other than the neighbor's cat who likes to visit and has been known to spend the night) but someday I will be a crazy cat lady. I've got my eyes on one of those starter kits already.

I've also told my sons that if someday I need to be put in a nursing home, try very hard to get one with resident cats.