During the past year and a half or so, Nicole Legg traveled to several different “cat cafes” in the region to learn more about the shops, which give cats and kittens a safe home before being adopted, as well as allow patrons the chance to spend some time hanging out with the kitties.
From that, the idea was born for Cattiesburg Café, which will soon become the first business of that kind in the Hub City. Legg is working with Hattiesburg veterinarian Brenda Sumrall – who is her mother – along with the Pretty Pittie Committee to open the shop possibly this week at 5268 Old Highway 11, Suite 9, in Hattiesburg.
“(Legg) thought it would be a great idea for Hattiesburg,” Sumrall said. “Since I’m in rescue (with the Pretty Pittie Committee), it also gave us an opportunity to find a way to help more of the kittens in this area find good homes.”
Perhaps the main attraction of Cattiesburg Café is the cat room, which is currently home to several cats ready for adoption for a $20 fee. Every cat at the facility – which are brought by the Pretty Pittie Committee – is spayed/neutered, vaccinated, dewormed and microchipped.
In addition, every cat that is taken in by the Cattiesburg Café staff is fully vetted before being fostered at the facility. While the business is waiting to open, the staff has held several adoption events and previews of the café.
When the business does officially open, patrons can pay $10 per hour to hang out in the cat room with the felines.
“The hours will be posted on the door when we officially open,” Sumrall said. “We’ll be open six days a week, and we’ll have times online where you can book to be in the cat café.
“We’ll also do birthday parties and special events, like (we just did) a painting party, and we’ll try to do a special event at least once or twice a week. We’ll try to do events that will appeal to all walks of life.”
In addition, Cattiesburg Café offers a do-it-yourself food/refreshment area, with items such as coffee, frozen drinks and premade food. Visitors can also find merchandise such as socks, jewelry, coffee mugs and cups at the café.
“We’ve reached out to a couple of the (local) restaurants – and we’ll reach out to a couple more – to where we can have premade food brought in here,” Sumrall said. “Then people can purchase, and we’ll have a microwave.”
As of last week, the staff had already been able to adopt out approximately 20 cats.
“For us, I’ve devoted my life to making sure (the cats) go and get good homes,” Sumrall said. “Every cat deserves to be safe and loved and cared for. We also want to make sure that any mom or dad (cats) are fixed. Most people don’t have the dads, because the dads usually wander, but if they do we’ll make sure he gets fixed too.
“The biggest thing is that people get in a predicament where they give their kittens away on Facebook or Marketplace or wherever, but they’re not altered, and there’s pretty good studies that show over 70 percent of the cats never get altered, so then that just potentiates the problem. So we’re trying to do our part to help with that.”
For more information on the café and the cats who are available for adoption, visit the Cattiesburg Café Facebook page.
