Sip and Play With a Cat for a Day

If someday you were to walk down Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York, you may see a little white building at the corner of Montague and Hicks Street with frisky or sleeping cats and kittens in the window. This is the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, a temporary non-profit home for adoptable cats from all over NYC. People can visit with prior reservations, a $10 ticket, and a donation and/or $5 cat treats to give the cats. You can get there by taking the 2, 3, 4, 5 or R subway trains to Court Street-Borough Hall Station. They used to actually serve food there, but the pandemic shut that down. Inside, you can see a long counter, a glass case, and many cat beds and cat hammocks in the window. In the back are couches and a wire enclosure for rabbits and guinea pigs. Besides that, the place is swarming with cats. There are usually so many cats there’s barely any room to walk. (Okay, I did exaggerate that, but there are still a lot of cats there.)

Last weekend, my grandma and I went to the cat cafe to interview some volunteers and visit the cats. When we got there a couple of volunteers answered three pre-written questions, and I wrote down the answers. Here is what they said.

Q:  How do you know the new owners will take good care of the cats?

A:  All people who want to adopt go through a screening process, kind of like a background check, and have people vouch for them and say they’ll take good care of cats.

Q: How do you adopt cats at the cat cafe?

A:  Go on the Brooklyn Cat Cafe Website, then fill out a form, and the staff reply with a cat(s) that are the best fit for that person. Adoptions usually happen quickly.

Q:  What advice would you give to someone adopting a cat?

A:  Definitely research how to take care of cats. Also, you should adopt in pairs because cats living with no other cats tend to be lonely and depressed. Ask questions from Cat Cafe volunteers and friends with cats.

So head on down to the Brooklyn Cat Cafe! Remember, those cats need YOU!