Cats and coffee are generally what you can expect while lounging at home, but now, you can pet a cat while you wait for your macchiato. Dayton is now home to the Gem City Catfe, a coffee shop bringing adoptable cats and humans together.
Having cats in a public eating establishment may be a foreign concept to some, but is a trend taking off on the coasts and overseas, and according to owner Karin Gudal-Johnson, Dayton is a great location for a new cat cafe.
“It’s new, so I think for people that haven’t heard of it, are a little confused,” said Gudal -Johnson. “It’s a coffee house, a comfortable environment, with adoptable rescue cats living on sight. They are there to interact, it’s expectation free. You can do as much as play with a cat for an hour or if you like one, you can adopt.”
Stemming from a passion for animals, Gudal-Johnson wants her establishment to make a difference to animals within the community.
“We want to promote rescue cats and their image, and make sure that a rescued animal is not a damaged animal,” Gudal-Johnson said. “It’s not their fault that their owners moved or they had a child who became allergic, or their grandma moved in, it’s still a great cat that needs a home.”
Though it’s designed to promote adoption, customers who just want to come and spend time with the cats are welcome.
“One of the goals is encouraging empathy and connection between animals and people,” Gudal-Johnson said. “Even if you don’t want to adopt a cat or already own cats, you can still come, meet the animals there, play while you’re studying, talking to a friend, relaxing, anything.”
In addition to promoting adoption, Gem City Catfe wants to help cats outside of the home.
“Obviously adoption is really important, but one reason South Park, St. Anne’s are important to us, is the community cat problems that are here,” Gudal-Johnson said. “What we would really like to do, that has worked in other areas, is set up housing in those areas, like little stations where they can have shelter, food. This makes it easier to know where they will be, so we can trap them, neuter them, vaccinate and clip their ears so they know they’ve been through the program. This way, they don’t overpopulate and they’re vaccinated, so they aren’t spreading some of the key diseases.”
Gem City Catfe also plans to engage with the community by hosting events like photography lessons for beginners and those who are more advanced once the building is up and running.
Gudal-Johnson also stated that there will be student discounts available when opened.
Though a location is still in the works, Gem City Catfe will be completed in 2017. For future updates, students can check them out on social media, such as facebook and twitter.
