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Brighton cat cafe seems to have used up all nine of its lives before it even opened
By adamg on Fri, 10/06/2017 - 12:11pm
A cat cafe that was supposed to open on Chestnut Hill Avenue in Brighton last month now looks set to never open at all.
In a post today, Purr Cat Cafe owner Diane Kelly writes:
Boston.
Clearly there is no interest in Cat Cafe here.
No Meow. Meow. PURR for Boston.
Last December, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved what would have been Boston's first cat cafe, where patrons could reserve time to just sit in a chair petting cats - sipping, if they wanted, coffee ordered in from a nearby cafe.
But Kelly has been openly feuding with area cat lovers for weeks now over the condition of the basement where cats would stay while the cafe was closed for the night. Two people she hired to run the cafe quit. The adoption agency that was going to supply cats for patrons to pet - and possibly adopt - pulled out. Things got ugly.
H/t Marc Hurwitz.
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Comments
Cat fight!
Cat fight!
Are you sure?
I've been following some of the escapades of this place because I like cats and the idea of having a cat cafe in town (particularly one that's walkable from my neighborhood).
This reads like a "nobody loves us" post more than an official "we're never opening" post. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the owner's weird way of saying that she's packing it in...but then, why wouldn't she sell the place to someone who can finish the job right and open a cat cafe in that space (it already has approvals and a good amount of construction done). She'd be able to recover some of her losses this way.
So, I'm not so sure this isn't life 6 or 7 rather than 9.
Adoptions
If the idea is to have the cafe be a clearing house for adoptions and no agency is willing to give her cats it's the end. Presumably she could just buy/adopt a few cats and ditch the idea of adoptions entirely.
I have friends who have been following the saga. Sounds like a lot childish behavior on all sides. Not sure why the propitiator couldn't have done what they naysayers were asking and just spent the small sum on money on toys, shelters, and other improvements to please the cats and everyone else. $500 would have been plenty to cover their requests.
The invisible paw of the market
Just did us all a big favor here and more importantly, the cats also.
I like cats in numbers at or below three - in a home let alone somewhere I'm supposed to eat. This was a gross idea from day one.
And vegans don't like steakhouses
Ever think that maybe some people like cats AND coffee and would be willing to pay to be near both?
If they ever open a Doggie Cafe I'll be one of the first customers. (I'll take a pass on the cats.)
Dogs are terrestrial
Cats poop in boxes then walk around on tables and chairs with the same paws they've used to bury their turds. Dogs poop outside and generally don't jump onto the surfaces you put your food on.
Cat bookstore makes sense or pet store - its the food aspect I'm not a fan of.
So...
You've never eaten dinner at a friend's house that owns cats?
You've never let a dog lick your face (you know where that tongue was before that, right)?
Also, why are you putting your food on the table directly? Use a coaster or a plate for christ's sake.
Aren't cats the cleanest pet
Aren't cats the cleanest pet to have? They spend 1/2 the day cleaning themselves, including their paws. I feel bad for them when our floors get dirty for chrissake.
Yes! — Especially When They Are Toilet Trained!
( the cat litter industry doesn't want you to know how fabulous this is! )
Um. No.
Absolutely false.
I am severely allergic to cats and had been living with a roommate who had one for a while. When I went to the pulmonologist to see what was up the first thing out of his mouth was "Let me guess, cats." He said he hated cats because they are awful for people. Allergic or not he said people think they are clean but they actually cause many issues for people's health especially in the long term.
Had cats most of my life
Love dogs too - but my nomadic lifestyle makes having one impractical. My cats don't freak out if I disappear for more than an hour - or a month. :-)
In general they don't really jump onto where we eat (but occasionally). And to the best of my knowledge, my cats have never made me sick. The occasional cold is not likely coming from them.
You are right though - cats are definitely extraterrestrials in comparison to dogs. If they were bigger, I think they'd eat me. That's the only food aspect I'd be worried about.
Oh - yes and I'm sure I've ingested more than my fair share of cat hair - especially now that we have longhairs. Definitely worth it!
Damn near every cafe is already a doggie cafe
because every time I go anyplace for a coffee, someone has brought their damn dog to the place. This is despite health codes forbidding it. Everyone equivocates certified "Service Dog" with "Stinky Rag Mop that My Therapist Says I Can Take Anywhere I Want--See I Have A Note!" so as a result, every coffee shop is a doggie cafe!
Too bad
I had been seeing all the posts on Facebook. At first I thought the owner was simply too concerned with online comments, but when I saw the things she had said to get everyone so upset, I realized the angry mob had good cause to be so mad.
What a shame
It seems like such a well-thought-out, practical idea, too.
Is it possible to even get financing
for such caca?
Come on
Are Bostonians really this parochial? Cat cafes are hardly a new idea, even Brooklyn has one. I could point to more examples, but, really, I'm sure you know how to use Google, no?
Oh Brooklyn has one?
Maybe we get a place up here which freezes their cats in Brooklyn and then ships them up here to be thawed out for a proper artisanal cat cafe experience.
The real issue ...
Doesn’t seem to be with the idea, but more the owner who can’t provide proof that the cats will be taken care of and the fact that she was slut shaming one of her former employees
Read this
Especially late September...
https://m.imgur.com/r/PublicFreakout/pppsk
Oh How Horrible! — That's Even Worse Than Cruella DeVille!
Post already out of date?
I haven't been following this saga at all, but this post from an hour ago says her Open House is going ahead as scheduled, tomorrow and Sunday.
Let's see what happens ...
If anybody goes, please report in!
Earlier (deleted) comments
Earlier (deleted) comments said that it would be live-streamed.
There's allegedly a live stream
N/t
There are a video on the cafe
There are a video on the cafe's fb page. A couple of commenters claim that the few cats in the cafe are the owner's own cats. It really just looks like a regular cafe with a couple of cats, not like any cat cafe that I've been to personally where it's more cat-centered with a handful of people.
She changes her mind every 20
She changes her mind every 20 minutes.
What a train wreck.
What a train wreck.