Adoption rates growing at Atlantic Canada's first cat lounge
'It gives you the opportunity to interact with the cats and know more about their personalities'
The first cat café in Atlantic Canada is offering a relaxing environment for humans and cats to get to know each other over cat toys and coffee.
Lily Pad Cat Lounge opened in January in Dartmouth, N.S., and has partnered with The Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (SPCA) for its cats.
The place is made for cat lovers who are unable to own a feline or are looking to adopt. It is part of a growing trend in North America, one that began in Taiwan then flourished in Japan.
Increase in adoption rates
Jody Godin, the business's owner, says the challenge has been to sustain the numbers of cats because of all the adoptions.
"Our initial goal was to have somewhere around 12 [at] any given time and even the SPCA wasn't expecting the adoption rate to be quite successful as it has been," said Godin.
She has five cats at the lounge with 59 formally adopted.
Godin says a big part of why the adoption rates are so high is the cats are free to roam in a home-like setting.
"It gives you the opportunity to interact with the cats and know more about their personalities," Godin said.
"If someone is looking for very specific personality traits or habits we're able to observe those while they're in the lounge."
Offering a calm and safe place for cats and humans
The owner says there are some shelters in Halifax that have smaller adoption rooms where people can interact with cats. But not all shelters, like the SPCA, have that capacity.
"If they are in a caged environment, they're going to act a little bit different, so here you'll at least see how they're like in a home-like environment."
Godin says many people who come in are not looking for a cat and are just looking to enjoy their time by petting and playing with them. But they end up having a change of heart after connecting with a cat's personality.
The success of offsite adoptions
Sandra Flemming, the provincial SPCA's director of animal care, said she's not surprised that so many cats are getting adopted from the lounge.
"We've been doing offsite adoptions for many years and we've seen a great success," said Flemming.
Pet Valu and PetSmart, corporate partners of the SPCA, offer offsite adoptions.
"This year alone we've had 452 cats across the province that have been adopted by our offsite partners and we've done 261 in Halifax alone," Flemming said.
"I think it shows that they work," she added.
All proceeds from adoption fees go back to the SPCA.
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