Good evening, felinity assembled!
Welcome to WORLD MEWS REPURRT!
Brought to you by the world class repurrting and researching team of Elvira Mistress of Felinity and Sneakers the Texian Tuxedo, at the Feline News Network (FNN)!
We consider it our mission to bring you the news that possibly no-one but our fellow felines and their humans, could give a fig about! We aim to point you toward these stories and sometimes even toss in our 2 cents worth on them as well.
We encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments, link back to our reports on your own blog, Facebook, or Twitter, so others can be made aware of the latest news and if you come across a story you think we might be interested in, alert us via the e-mail in the sidebar.
Tipsters, whose alerts we use, will get credit, with a link to their blog, or website.
Elvira, here, and Wowwww...I am sad and embarrassed....the last edition of this series was in July 2014! The good news is that the sad event it reported on never came to pass and the Cat Blogosphere website is still chugging along.
We have done a lot of blogging here to be proud of the pat 2+ yrs, but we let some concepts disappear from our activities as life for us and Daddy Kiril became for challenging.
As we head into 2017 we want to try to revive some old, popular ideas, this being one of them.
Let's get this show on the road!
A few years ago Nikita blogged about the Cat Cafe movement for the first time and we did so a few more times since including about the first such cafe in Texas.
Houston being where the cat blogging community got its 1st national exposure, with a piece in Time Magazine about the Carnival of the Cats in 2004, we wondered why no cafe had opened up here.
With us possibly being the only cat blog in town is it any wonder none opened?
Anyway 3 stories in Houstonia Magazine, in recent months, give hope that 2017 could see one open up at last.
Coffee, tea, pastries and Pussies....the kind that purr and will sit in your lap while you give them a belly rub and a chin skritch, for all you humans in Rio Linda...is a combination made in paradise to feline loving humans who are tired of seeing all the Dog-friendly dining establishments everywhere.
The "Crazy Cat Lady" behind this effort is, according to Houstonia "following the model of Austin’s Blue Cat Café, which operates as a satellite of the Austin Humane Society to help place cats in homes."
According to the article building a relationship with the Houston Humane Society means that adoptable cats coming to “work” at the café will have already had medical visits and been fixed. Owner Renée Reed, then, will only have to pay for food and litter!
Her boyfriend, a longtime restaurant manager and bartender is helping her with the human drink and kibble side of things.
They apparently want to have gallery shows and live music at the café as well.
This news and more, about the effort, especially the hope of finding a space to open in, can be read about in this June 2016 piece:
Houston’s First Cat Café Is Coming Soon
In Mid-Aug a "Pop-up Preview" was announced and held downtown.
This one-night, free, family-friendly event which featured a cat lounge where humans could relax and play with adoptable cats, while connecting with other cat lovers over drinks, desserts, music, shopping, an art gallery and more.
El Gato has a website, a Facebook page and an Instagram account and has apparently had a fundraising goal met and the best news has just been announced.
A lot of people questioned whether a cafe was possible in Houston as others had apparently tried and failed to start one, but this lady did research and planning and now that all appears to be coming to fruition if what Houstonia is now reporting:
"With approval from the city, she’ll open El Gato Coffeehouse at 508 Pecore Street in April or May, with a lease on the space that begins March 1."
Thanks to yoga classes she held at the Humane Society Reed met a cat-friendly landlord and the article tells the rest.
OK, cool! Time for me to go check out the website and see what else I can add to this humble effort to help spread the word.
The website looks very nice, though nothing much is on it as yet.
The merchandise for sale page has cool shirts and things with the logo.
The "In the Press" page has links to 5 articles and 2 TV news reports about El Gato, besides the Houstonia pieces.
While promising monthly events leading up to the opening of the Cafe the "Events" page is currently empty.
The most promising thing on the site at the moment?
A blog.
Is it possible The Opinionated Pussycat will no longer be alone in Houston?
As far as we know we are the only game in town and while we hope to do better in 2017, we are sad we have not been able to do more the past couple of years.
6 simple blog posts since the Summer, the latest celebrating some kitten adoptions, the comment tool doesn't seem to work or I would have left concatulations and a welcome to Houston.
The potential is there to do a lot of good with their blog, especially if they are able to keep getting attention and community, media, business, and city support.
Unlike us and our humble blogging Renee has managed to get the attention and support of all 4 and this bodes well for what she hopes to do.
They describe their mission this way:
"Our mission is to find forever homes for adoptable cats in Houston through our partnership with the Houston Humane Society. El Gato is more than just a café with cats, music and treats. El Gato will provide an enchanting, altruistic experience for our customers and a playful and loving foster home for los gatos. El Gato is building community over the shared love of cats and coffee."
Once they open we hope to send Daddy Kiril by to check the place out, as our Feline News Network Correspondent, so we can do a blog post.
Visit the El Gato website, Facebook and Instagram.
In the meantime I invite anyone who has attended an El Gato event to leave a comment and anyone who has visited a cat cafe to do so as well.
****Hat Tip to our friends over at Forever Home Wanted for the heads-up to the latest piece by Houstonia Magazine!
If my human ever comes to Houston (she's only been through it on a train), she has something to really look forward to!
Posted by: Summer | December 23, 2016 at 01:26 AM
I am always happy to hear of more of these opening. I have been to one in NYC.
Posted by: Ellen Pilch | December 23, 2016 at 09:36 PM
I know we don't have any in our area. Don't think we will either but you live in a big city so you have a shot at it, anyway.
Posted by: jansfunnyfarm | January 06, 2017 at 09:10 AM