My wife and I spent a few days in St. Augustine earlier this week. We decided to go there instead of Nova Scotia, where we planned on going until COVID put an end to that idea. If anyone is looking for a good place to go on vacation, St. Augustine is a great choice. If you do decide to visit St. Augustine, be sure to plan a visit to the Frisky Cat Cafe. You won’t regret it.

I noticed it in passing on Wednesday morning as we were heading to Tuesday Morning. Our destination was not important but in this case it sounds funny to say it. I suggested to my wife that we check it out later and on the way back we did just that.

The place is located in a retail plaza at 1092 S Ponce De Leon Blvd. It must be fairly new because when I looked on Google Street View it wasn’t there.

Inside there is a cafe that sells coffee drinks and pastries. I’m not a big fan of pastries so I just got an iced coffee.

The cats are in a separate room and there is a fee of, if I remember right, $10 for an hour-long visit. The fee is like a donation that helps pay for the care of the cats. We paid for our coffees and for the visit and went into the cat room. A reservation is recommended but we came at a good time and didn’t need one. If you do decide to go make sure they are open first. I believe COVID has limited their hours somewhat.

It was well designed for both kitties and humans. I especially like what they did with plain cardboard boxes. I want to do that in my house but I don’t have the room.

The barista soon brought us our drinks and during the course of our visit, we had a chance to talk more about the Kitty Cafe. It turns out she was not just the barista but also the founder of the cafe and the organization that it helps, Small Lives Matter Kitten Rescue. She told us that they help pull cats and kittens from high-risk kill shelters. The ones that are sociable go to the cafe where they can be adopted. The ones that are less sociable will go to Petsmart where they will get noticed more easily.

I do think that having one or two shy cats in the cafe is actually a good idea becase a shy cat in a group of outgoing cats sticks out like a sore thumb. This calico, for example, was somewhat shy and the girl that was here before us was planning on adopting her.

I checked out the cafe’s website and their about page says this:

We are a cause-focused business, which means that our business operates in order to support our cause to save the lives of homeless cats and kittens.

The cat experience fees enable us to pay for housing, medical care, spay and neuter surgeries, food, and supplies for these cats that are looking for a home for life. Using a cat café business model allows us to support Small Lives Matter Kittens Rescue and their work. This partnership provides the rescue with a full-time foster home where the cats may stay and provide the funding to pay for their care.

We need visitors and we will fail without your support.

When we were there, there were mostly kittens in the cafe, which makes sense because it is a kitten rescue organization. Many were very playful.

Some were resting.

Others were just hanging out looking cute.

One little girl paid so much attention to my wife that she decided she wanted to adopt her. The only problem was that we were not only hundreds of miles from home but our next stop was Melbourne to visit Rose’s Dad. It just wasn’t possible to bring a cat with us.

While we were there we enjoyed a few laughs too. How can you not with a room full of kittens?

I think the funniest thing was the interest that the cats showed in my coffee.

It was as if they were addicted to coffee and this was a coffee rehab center.

Another funny incident happened when one of the kittens noticed the cat food container was left open.

Soon, others took notice.

After a good long visit we said goodbye to the kitties and went back to our hotel, but the visit remains one of the highlights of our trip.

If you are planning a visit to St. Augustine I encourage you to visit Frisky Cat Cafe. If you can’t visit, perhaps you will consider a small donation to help them out. If you click here it will bring you to their donation page.

What do you think? Would you visit this place? Have you visited another cat cafe. I’d love to hear what you think.