Paws and Relax

What do wine, coffee, and cats all have in common? Other than a really weird evening alone…Nothing. But some people made it work brilliantly.

“Cat Cafes” have been popping up quicker than beard lube, flannel, and scripty tattoos that say, “breathe”. And now, Pittsburgh is the place to be if you want to suck down some Merlot and get wasted on kitty snuggles. Colony Cafe was brought to the city by Brooklyn transplants, Sue and Erik Hendrickson, a cat happy couple who experienced the magical elixir that are cat cafes, and thought Pittsburgh might want some of that action.

“I think it’s so great because people get to meet the cats without them being locked in a cage,” S. Hendrickson said. “This way you can actually hangout and play with them, and then also get some human interaction.”

All of the cats are rescues that come from Animal Friends, a shelter in Pittsburgh. They come vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and micro-chipped; the whole kitten-caboodle.

The wine/coffee bar are on the first floor, offering a full array of wines, coffees and snacks. Don’t worry, there aren’t felines juiced on catnip batting your scone off of the table…That, my friend, is extra.

For $8/hour, you can ascend to the Cat Loft and become acquainted with a room full of felines ripe for adoption, that probably want nothing to do with you. #heaven

The loft has millions of toys, scratching posts that reached the ceiling, and a private room with litter boxes; because cats are basically furry Brits who need their privacy. From the conformity of a cage to a swanktified cafe, they truly started from the bottom, and now they here.

And while $8 seems a bit much to enter cat Disneyland, the system is working, as they’ve racked up 4 adoptions since their grand opening. (and probably much more since our visit)

Adoptions aren’t required; you can strap on your sweats and de-stress with the comfort of a Pinot and a Persian. Unofficial science (me) has concluded that snuggling a cat can help humans and felines be less jerky. Cat snuggles For. The. Win. To learn more, visit Colony Cafe online.

Photos courtesy of Colony Cafe Website.