Homes are needed for six lonely felines left as casualties after the closure of a popular café which offered customers the chance to enjoy a coffee whilst chilling with a cat.
The electricity has been cut off at Catopia in Adliya, Bahrain’s first cat café, and its former manager Aysha Saleem is appealing to GDN readers to step forward and offer a ‘ forever home’ to them for free.
“We’ve already managed to find homes for seven cats and we have six remaining,” she said. “We are pretty desperate now as the electricity has been turned off and the sooner we find homes for them the better.
“The café is well ventilated and they are being fed, watered and looked after but it is not an ideal situation. We have reached out on social media and to all the animal welfare charities in a bid to find homes for the last six cats in our care to no avail and hope GDN readers can assist.”
Groomed
She described Pretzel, Senora, Hazelnut, Cashew, Smiles and Tilly as ‘beautifully behaved, well groomed and vaccinated’. They will come with full veterinary details.
Initially, the cats were offered for free with BD25 adoption care kits containing everything a new owner could need, including food and a litter tray, because it was thought that giving a value to the procedure might prove beneficial … but the recent power-cutting development has caused a rethink.
It appears the pandemic restrictions, which reduced cafes to offering take-away services only for many months, proved catastrophic to a business concept that relied on people coming inside the premises and relaxing with the cats.
Homes
“The situation has been so tough,” said Ms Saleem. “We were simply not in a position to reopen. It’s a terrible shame because prior to the pandemic things were going well.
“We are aware of our responsibilities and everything we have done has been with the best of intentions. The important thing now is to find good forever homes for the remaining cats.
“Kitty cats can now be adopted without the purchase of an ‘adoption kit’.”
Catopia initially rescued nine strays, launched an adoption programme and worked in co-operation with the Bahrain Cat Club on awareness events.
People visiting the cafe booked a time slot to have coffee or snacks while playing with the cats in the facility’s dedicated ‘Cat Section’, as reported in the GDN in 2019.
The concept was to have a ‘homey, cozy atmosphere with coffee and cats’, majorly for cat lovers and for people who could not keep cats at home for whatever reason.
For more information, visit catopiacafe.bh or call 39215785.
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