Whether you’re a cat owner or a cat lover without a feline friend to call your own, this cafe in Chapel Hill, North Carolina should be your next weekend plan
Cat Tales is a two-story cat cafe that is full of cats that you can spend your time with during their opening hours. Katy Poitras, who is the founder of the cafe, says that they have “a lot of people who come because maybe one member of the family is allergic to cats, but the rest of the family wants to spend time with cats.”
But it’s not just all playtime and petting fluffy cats – you can adopt them, too.
Find Your Purrfect Match
As long as you’re older than 7, you can get to know each of the cats in a cage-free lounge area that encourages free-roaming. The lounge allows cats to display their true personalities, which enables guests to get to know them on a better level than they would if they were adopting a cat online.
When cats are comfortable with a space, they think of it possessively and won’t pay much attention to a few humans wandering in and out. Cat cafes often have rules that ask guests not to pick up the cats, but to let them come to you, instead. You could easily form a bond with any of the cafe’s cats this way because it opens up time for trust to build – even if you’re only there for a couple of hours!
If you do come to the cafe looking to adopt, you don’t have to make the decision right away. Come back later to see if the same cat that caught your eye is still available or give yourself a chance to fall in love with another furry friend.
Stop in and Support the Cafe
Is adopting a cat not what you’re looking for? That’s not a problem. The seating area for guests gives you more than enough room to play with or just watch the cats as they go about their day. By visiting the cafe and ordering drinks and food, you can still support an important cause.
Katy stresses that anyone can visit. “It’s $10 a person for an hour of cat time during the week, and $12 on the weekends. You come in with your friends, a date, by yourself.”
For anyone not familiar with cat cafe prices, that is a very reasonable charge.
Cat Tales is partnered with the non-profit organization Independent Animal Rescue. They work with the Triangle region of North Carolina, which helps provide homes for hundreds of cats and dogs every year.
Did you Know?
The first cat cafe opened in Taiwan in 1998 before the concept took off in Japan. The majority of US-based cat cafes partner with local shelters and animal organizations to house adoptable cats instead of having permanent kitty residents.
These cafes often have a limited menu. The menu at Cat Tales consists of a huge variety of drinks, plus a handful of different gourmet ice cream sandwiches and popsicles.
