Purr-fect cafe
Catzi strolls up to people on white booted paws, rolls his silky black furred body onto the floor and looks up expectantly for pets. This is quite different from when he first arrived at Cattyshack Cafe in south Fort Myers.
“Catzi was a stray from Collier County,” recalls Cattyshack owner Andrew Townsend. “When he first got here, he didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone. Now that he knows that people come and talk to him, he has been very chatty and likes to come out and talk to people.”
Andrew West
Amber Redfern and Andrew Townsend opened the Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center. It offers a coffee shop-style cafe with beverages and food. In an adjacent room that's divided from the cafe with windows and doors is the cat room with kittens and cats that are available for adoption through the Gulf Coast Humane Society.
Brian Wierima, the community relations coordinator for the Gulf Coast Humane Society, loves the partnership with Cattyshack.
“That is just amazing,” Brian says. “It is another outlet where we can find homes for cats. It is very important to find that many homes, because it frees space in the shelter for more cats.
“Another benefit of Cattyshack is some of these cats are not socialized because they have never met a person, but when they go to Cattyshack they get that socialization. They are more adoptable when they come up to you and love to be pet. That is when their adoption chances skyrocket.”
The 2,100-square-foot cafe is divided into two rooms. People have the option of sitting in the coffee shop sipping drinks with names such as meow-mosa, catpurrccino, meowcchiato and caffé Ameri-gato while watching the cats through a wall of windows. They can also opt to pay $15 for an hour visit in the Mulligan Room, which houses the cats amid golf-themed decor.
Andrew West
The cats and kittens at Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center are available for adoption through the Gulf Coast Humane Society.
“The majority of people that come do not leave here with a cat,” Andrew says. “We get college students, people with significant others that can’t have a cat, people who want to someday adopt and just want to learn about cats. There are also people who come with no intention of adopting a cat and end up adopting a cat. We get children who it is their first time interacting with a cat. We have people with children who are autistic, and the parents say they have never seen their children act this calm.”
Andrew says people don’t have to buy anything to hang out in the coffee shop section and watch the cats through the window. The cafe also serves calico colored popcorn, cat-themed T-shirts, hats and face masks. The bathrooms feature wallpaper with cats on pink flamingos or in space suits, and signs read “Please Wash Your Paws.”
“We have people come here and study from FGCU,” Andrew says. “We have people who come for their morning coffee. People come in the evening and have wine. People who come here don’t have to like cats. We are not shoving cats down their throats. Some people just come for a coffee and see the cats and then say, ‘Oh, I just have to go in there.’”
Dana Kojak has been in the cat room a couple of times.
“It is just relaxing,” she says.
Andrew West
Andrew Townsend, one of the creators of Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center, watches as kittens play in their new space.
Cattyshack has two ventilation systems so that the air circulation is separate in the cat room. In the Mulligan Room, guests sit on a paw-shaped putting green carpet or on benches and round seats to pet and cuddle the cats.
“We do have an escape room,” Andrew says. “It has 15 beds, food, water and litter boxes, and it is quiet back there. If (the cats) need a place to go and reset, that is an area where they can go.”
While some of the cats do slither through the cat-shaped door to the escape room, most of them enjoy climbing the fake palm trees, cuddling in the cutouts of golf bags or interacting with guests in the large sunny room.
“When they first come in, every single cat is different,” Andrew says. “Some immediately come out and think ‘This is incredible,’ and they play with the toys right away, and others go in the back and want to access things, and some go up in the trees and evaluate the area. And every one is different with how they react to a new cat coming in the room. Some want to play immediately, and some want to show them who has been here longer and say, ‘Hey I have been here longer than you. This is my place.’”
With hundreds of cats coming and going, Andrew still finds time to know each one.
“I try not to have favorites,” Andrew says. “The ones that tend to get in your face get more attention. Nish, he is just one that the second you walk in he starts talking to you. He knows where we keep the food. He knows where the door out is. He is really intelligent. Mia was a feral. She is 8 years old. When she just got here, she wanted nothing to do with anyone. Now she wants to meet everyone. She wants to be with the other cats. She is so affectionate. Holly is super, super sweet, but sometimes she will come up to one of the new ones and taunt them like she is saying, ‘I have been here longer.’ Then she will be real friendly again.”
Andrew is also very impressed with Catzi.
“Catzi was feral for about three years,” he explains. “Understandably it took him a few extra days to interact with humans. Now he just lies right out in the middle of the room. He doesn’t mind children. Just watching him transform has been incredible.”
Sutton Siciliano, 2, was glad about that. She sat on the floor with her mother, Abby Siciliano, petting Catzi.
“We love it,” Abby says. “We can’t have cats at home because her dada is allergic, so we wanted to come here.”
The cafe’s golf theme comes from Andrew’s love of the Chevy Chase movie “Caddyshack.” Andrew and his fiancée, Amber Redfern, opened Cattyshack earlier this year. Yet being a fan of cats is nothing new for them.
“I am an animal lover,” Andrew says. “Cats have made a huge impact on my life. Cats made me no longer have a temper. They taught me spirituality. Cats have shaped and molded me to who I am today.”
Andrew used to play poker for a living and that sometimes got him stressed and his temper flared. His cat Bart changed that.
“I would be playing poker and Bart used to lie on my arm,” Andrew says. “He would fall asleep on me and I created a motto of no matter what happens don’t wake the cat.”
Bart has since passed away, but Andrew still has Bart’s sister Sophie, 18, and Morris, 19, at home.
“Sometimes people assume I have 20 cats at home, but I just have two,” Andrew says.