Our EXCLUSIVE Interview with the Owner of Cat Café on Whyte

Starting in Taiwan, cat cafés have been catching on around the globe. We interviewed Fei Xie, the co-owner of Alberta’s first cat café, to discover how the café got started, how it partners with a local cat rescue, and his favourite treat on the menu.

How did Cat Café on Whyte get started? Who were its founders, and what sparked its beginning?

My wife and I started this cafe. It took us about 9 months to get it ready for the public, because it was the first one of its kind here in Alberta, and so getting a license was a bit of a challenge. Cat Cafes have been around the world for more than 10 years already, with the very first one being in Taiwan. They just started to pop up in North America recently. There are so many cat/coffee lovers in Edmonton that we definitely deserved a cat cafe here!

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You partner with a local rescue, SAFE Team. How do you work together to help local cats?

SAFE stands for Saving Animals From Euthanasia, a local non-profit organization dedicated to saving animals. They'll select a group of cats, and then our cafe will foster them until they find their forever homes. Unlike in a shelter setting, people are able to visit the cat cafe to have quality time with, play, and interact with lots of kitties. They can learn more about them and find out their personalities, which helps them to make a better decision for adopting the right one to suit them.

Can you tell us about one of your favorite cats currently looking for a forever family?

We love them all, but one of our star cats here is Darby, a long-haired 2 year old cat. He came to us so shy that he would just hide in our back room. But he has come out of his shell, and now he loves to spend the day in the cat lounge with everybody and his other foster friends!

Now for the most important question—what’s your favourite treat on the menu? :)

Catpurrccinos and our locally-made cat macarons are our door crashers, and personally I'd add a couple pumps of vanilla into my drink. Yum...

Thank you, Xie, for sharing your inspiring story with our readers! If you’re in the Edmonton area, check out Cat Café on Whyte to unwind and enjoy some kitty time.

Follow Cat Café on Whyte on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also check out their website here!

Have you been to a cat café? Would you like to see one open in your neighbourhood? Do you drink tea or coffee around your cat? Talk to us in the comments!

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