There is Gem City Catfe in a city about 90 minutes from where we live. They announced last fall that the Kitten Lady would be coming in and giving a talk about TNR.
Four ladies from the rescue were going to go together. However the weather was supposed to get bad and mom and one other lady ended up being the only ones that went. They had a reservation at the cafe before the talk.
The cafe is divided in half with the cafe in one part and then the cats in their own section. The cat section has two levels and lots of places to hide or just hang out. They do give instructions when you first go in about letting the cats come to you and respecting their space. There are places to sit and toys available to play. Like most cafes, there is a cost to visit, but Gem City is $10 for an hour so it is really reasonable and remember that the cost helps the cats.
After hanging with the cats, mom and her friend headed over to the another building for the TNR talk. Hannah Shaw markets herself as the Kitten Lady and started out mainly working with neo-natal kittens from shelters. She has started doing more TNR and talks about community cats - she made the point that TNR will reduce cats in shelters as part of the population of "unadoptable" cats in shelters are ferals/community cats and then tiny kittens that need so much foster support that some shelter cannot provide. It really is a cycle.....spay and neuter those community cats, reduce the number of kittens in shelters. Mom admits that she didn't learn much as she has been involved in TNR for a while. But...it was interesting to look around the crowd and see the different types of people that were learning how important this is in our communities. There were a lot of kids and we love that the next generation of cat rescuers are getting out and learning and advocating.
Four ladies from the rescue were going to go together. However the weather was supposed to get bad and mom and one other lady ended up being the only ones that went. They had a reservation at the cafe before the talk.
If you look close, this climber is shaped like a plane as Dayton
is the home of the Wright brothers.
cute display of each cat with their names
After hanging with the cats, mom and her friend headed over to the another building for the TNR talk. Hannah Shaw markets herself as the Kitten Lady and started out mainly working with neo-natal kittens from shelters. She has started doing more TNR and talks about community cats - she made the point that TNR will reduce cats in shelters as part of the population of "unadoptable" cats in shelters are ferals/community cats and then tiny kittens that need so much foster support that some shelter cannot provide. It really is a cycle.....spay and neuter those community cats, reduce the number of kittens in shelters. Mom admits that she didn't learn much as she has been involved in TNR for a while. But...it was interesting to look around the crowd and see the different types of people that were learning how important this is in our communities. There were a lot of kids and we love that the next generation of cat rescuers are getting out and learning and advocating.
