Reading and Relaxing at Cattyshack

While June is National Adopt a Cat Month, sometimes, all you need is a quick kitty fix.

My husband Bob Markle and I get ours at the Cattyshack Café, where you can sip your favorite beverage, read a book or digital messages, and play with cats.

Lee County, Florida, is home to more than 250,000 feral cats, many of whom end up at the overcrowded Gulf Coast Humane Society. With such an endless supply of rescue and homeless cats from GCHS and kill lists at other shelters, Cattyshack has arranged the adoption of more than 2,000 cats since it opened in June 2020.

Although the first cat café, Cat Flower Garden, opened in 1998 in Taipei, Taiwan, Japan popularized the concept. Europe’s first cat cafe, Cafe Neko in Vienna, opened in 2012. With stricter zoning and foodservice rules, North America followed in 2014 when Cat Town opened in Oakland, California.

According to That Cat Life, as of May 2024, there are now more than 220 cat cafés in the United States.

Located in the Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero, Cattyshack Café takes in about 20 cats at a time. Before arrival, they are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped, and issued a clean bill of health.

Keeping with the golfing theme, the café gives them a mulligan, a second chance. And for $15, cat lovers get a 50-minute session in the Mulligan Room, where humans, cats, and kittens roam free, socialize, and express their unique cat-onalities.

The entry fee covers the expenses associated with providing a luxurious foster home, which includes but is not limited to A/C, lights, food, water, litter, toys, and comfortable furniture for climbing and sleeping.

Some patrons simply enjoy an unhurried kitty fix while others prefer getting to know a cat before offering it a fur-ever home. Adoption processing fees range from $70 to $150, which goes entirely to GCHS.

In addition to feline fun time, the café offers beer, wine, and a full espresso bar with kitty au lait, catpurrccino, and catte, as well as original concoctions like the Cat Nap, Cheshire Cat Lemonade, and Pink Panther Refresher, and snacks with names like ma-cat-roons. The café also sells merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, and soap.

With well over 200 cat cafes in the country, June is a good time to spend an hour in Purradise or to take the first step in providing a fur-ever home to a favorite feline.