culture
A Dive into the Cat Room
We visited Toronto's new cat café to see whether it was (sorry, so sorry) really the cat's meow.
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- Vinny has a thing for attention.
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- Vinny has a thing for attention.
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- It takes a village to...rile up a cat with dangly toys.
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- It takes a village to…rile up a cat with dangly toys.
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- Tiana is extraordinarily photogenic.
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- Tiana is extraordinarily photogenic.
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- During the course of our visit, Finch the cat lifts one eye and inspects us warily before returning to his slumber.
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- During the course of our visit, Finch the cat lifts one eye and inspects us warily before returning to his slumber.
Cat cafés: evil or pure genius?
Well, that depends on how you feel about animal rescue. TOT the Cat Café opened earlier this week on College Street, just west of Spadina. So far, the café—the city’s first—has five cats in its designated “cat room,” where visitors are urged to slip into a pair of café-provided slippers before quietly interacting with the adoptable felines. Visitors aren’t allowed to pick up the cats, use flash photography, or bother the cats while sleeping, but petting and playing with the young cats is encouraged.
Only a handful of visitors are allowed inside the cat room at any given time, so as not to overwhelm the animals. With mounting curiosity over the newly-opened establishment, this means that if you head over for a visit you will likely have to wait in line for a turn.
Whether the business will sell enough hot beverages and snacks to keep afloat remains anyone’s guess. But, for now, one can only hope that it’s helping some furry friends find the forever homes they so richly deserve.
Photos by Kelli Korducki