[symple_googlemap title=”CatCafe West LA” location=”1736 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”13″]
Want to make it a “Caturday”? Head over to the CatCafe Lounge, which officially opens Saturday in West Los Angeles.
It’s the second cat cafe to open in the city — Crumbs & Whiskers began operating on Melrose Avenue in the fall of 2016 — but the first to be operated as a true nonprofit 501c3 charity, according to CatCafe founder and executive director Kristi Labrenz-Galvan.
By partnering with the Los Angeles spay/neuter organization SNPLA, Labrenz-Galvan said her “catopia” at 1736 S. Sepulveda Blvd. will house at least 25 adoptable rescue cats at a time. Guests pay a $25 fee to spend 60 minutes with the felines in the second-floor space, which is dominated by a towering tree-like climbing structure that leads to a “cat highway,” while enjoying complimentary coffee, tea or other beverages.
Labrenz-Galvan said all entry fee donations are fully tax-deductible, with 100 percent of the money going to the nonprofit’s mission of reducing cat euthanasia while socializing cats.
“Trying to adopt a rescue cat in a shelter is often a very stressful experience, for both the cat and the owner,” she said. “Cats are often very reserved and it is difficult trying to meet a future pet through the bars of a cage. At CatCafe Lounge, the cats will be living freely in a relaxing, feline paradise where their true personalities will show.”
Those not looking to adopt can get some “pet therapy” by interacting with the animals, according to Labrenz-Galvan.
—City News Service