Lune, the resident store cat, is always ready to give a warm welcome to Kitties & Cream customers. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

fur real

Old City Quarter cat lounge hits adoption milestone

Nov 18, 2022 | 5:28 AM

NANAIMO — With over 100 cats adopted out in the last nine months, Kitties & Cream in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter is giving furry friends new leases on life.

The feline-focused store first opened its doors in November 2020, the part-store-part-adoption centre has been a hit.

Owner Kelly Whiteside said they decided to drop the cafe idea and continue with the merchandise, or ‘meowchandise’ side, while still allowing customers to interact with adoptable kitties.

“We just established a new partnership with CR PAWS up in Campbell River, and they will be sending us the first batch of adoptable cats in about a week or two, by the end of November.”

They have previously partnered with rescues in Saskatchewan who were so overrun with prairie cats they shipped them to the West Coast in order to find them loving homes.

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In total, 114 cats have found new homes through Kitties & Cream.

What started as a Japanese-inspired cat cafe has turned more into a cat lounge over the last two years.

Whiteside said while their website does still refer to them as a cat cafe, there are no latte’s available yet.

“Sometimes people are a bit surprised when they come in here and it’s not quite what they expected. I think we’re also one of the very few that focus so much on the ‘meowchandise’. So we get a lot of people coming in looking for gifts not just for cats.”

They said while they are always open to making partnerships with rescue groups, they are putting a ‘paws’ on it right now, as they have all the kitties they can handle.

They are also hoping to eventually expand their operation into a bigger and more accessible place.

Cats as cute as this are just waiting to be adopted. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow