Nottingham’s kitty cafe: cruelty or cute? - We investigate
also in this issue: Students’ STI stories Humans of Nottingham Interview with piece
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ISSUE 255
THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM’S OFFICIAL STUDENT MAGAZINE
kitty cafe - because cats are cute T
he owner of Nottingham’s first cat cafe finds loving forever homes for between three and ten felines every week. Kate Charles-Richards, who opened the Friar Lane eatery with her husband Oliver last March, said the rescue centre’s rehoming scheme had been extremely successful. “I do a lot of rescuing in the community and rehoming in the background,” she said.“I have a huge waiting list so I operate a mailing list and cats that are in need in the community when we do not have room; I rehome them directly with people who are vetted through our system.” Kate said using the business to rehome cats had been at the top of her list since she had the idea to open a cat cafe, which allows visitors to eat and drink while felines roam freely around them, She said: “I think that cats are amazing and it was really important to me that the cafe wasn’t just for a group of cats and that it could help so many more animals. “The way we work is so much more beneficial for the cats. We can bring in a little feral cat who is terrified of people and then after they have been through our process, we will walk through and they are sat on someone’s lap. “It’s always bittersweet but it’s nice because you know they going to have a happy life.”
“It’s always bittersweet but it’s nice because you know they going to have a happy life.”
M
ore than 60 ‘residents’, who live permanently at the cafe, have been adopted including six-year-old Mama, who has since been renamed Emma. Her adoptive mother Andrea Raee took her into her Newark home almost a year ago. She said: “I hadn’t had a cat for a very long time and I’d been going to the cafe regularly. I took a liking to Mama and decided to adopt her. The process was quite slow because we had to register our interest, have a home inspection and complete lots of paperwork but it was worth it because it had been done properly.” Emma, who was originally a stray cat, will have been living at her new house a year tomorrow, and Andrea said she settled in straight away. “She is definitely in charge,” she added. “Right from the start she was
absolutely fine. She has a very young heart and she’s really playful. We have a lot of fun.” The business hopes to expand into a new city after it spotted a 12,000 sq ft property in Derby city centre.
“I took a liking to Mama and decided to adopt her... it was worth it because it had been done properly.�
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