There are many cat cafés in Florida, more precisely in Tampa, Orlando, Clermont, Jacksonville, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee, and more.

But today, we are visiting The Witty Whisker Cat Café in St. Augustine.

And we have something special in store for you… The manager of the cat café, Angeli Rodriguez, is providing us with a behind-the-scenes look at her cute little place.

Are you excited about this? Then grab a cup of cat-puccino and read on!

Welcome to The Witty Whisker, St. Augustine’s pioneering cat café

What are cat cafés?

For those of you who are not familiar with cat cafés, allow me to give you a brief overview and history.

A cat café is basically a fun way to help cats get adopted. The business can be structured as for-profit or non-profit and can be an extension of, or in partnership with, a cat rescue. The space basically functions as a foster home for the cats while they wait to be adopted. The cats are free to roam in a “lounge” area with cat-friendly decor, toys, and plenty of comfortable beds, food, and litter boxes.

Patrons pay a nominal, admission fee to access the cat lounge and interact with cats. Food and drinks are typically sold on site as well, in a separate café space. Visitors to the cat lounge are permitted to bring their food items into the cat lounge to create a cozy, homey experience. Being able to partake of food and drink in the comfy lounge, helps people visualize living with the cats in their own home. Additionally, seeing the cats’ true personalities helps adopters find the right cat that will fit in with their families.

The business idea was first introduced in Taiwan back in the 1990s. In Asia, where apartment rules limit tenants to very small or no pets, the cat café became a space for people to enjoy the company of cats in a homestyle environment without the responsibility of owning a cat.

Cat cafés are ubiquitous in places like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and all over Europe. The idea slowly made its way around the world to North America and eventually the United States where the first cat café opened in Oakland, California, in 2014.

While the initial purpose of the first cat cafés was to provide the company of cats, at some point it became a way to create a unique, positive adoption experience. When the concept made it to the United States, this became the standard business model for American cat cafés.

A positive adoption experience leads to a healthy and positive bonding experience. I remember when I was a kid and my family decided to adopt a family pet. We went to the local animal shelter to choose a cat. All I recall is the feeling of despair walking into the cat room. While the dogs were housed in small kennels, they at least had enough space to turn around and run in a circle, but the cats were in tiny cages, sitting in their own litter boxes. I realize that animal shelters do what they can with their meager funding, but those conditions were far from humane. The cats’ desperation felt palpable, and I never wanted to experience that again.

Think of a cat café as the very opposite of the animal shelter adoption experience. The cats are free to roam, use their claws, play with toys, nap in window beds, and socialize with people.

Cat cafés even help some feral cats become socialized enough to become indoor cats. That is especially the case with feral kittens. If caught early enough, feral kittens in the cat lounge environment learn to be around people and will enjoy living indoors.

In our experience, we have seen there is a person for every cat that can tolerate living in a cat café environment.

How The Witty Whisker Cat Café began

I remember when I first thought about opening a cat café, I was equally excited and terrified. I had never worked in a rescue, nor a café, and it didn’t seem like a logical career choice. I had been a cat lover my entire life but had bought into the stereotype that people who love cats are “crazy cat ladies.” I told myself that wasn’t how I wanted to be perceived, so I tried to mold myself into someone I thought people would respect and admire.

Fast forward 20 years and several mid-level corporate jobs later… My personal life was great (I had a wonderful husband, three fantastic kids, and supportive parents), but I hated going to work every day. One day, my mom gave me an article about Kanchan Singh, who quit her corporate job, went on vacation to Thailand and discovered the amazing concept of cat cafés. She loved the notion so much, she established her own cat café, Crumbs and Whiskers, in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA.

You could literally see the cartoon stars bursting out of my eyes. This girl was my hero! Quit her job? Go on vacation? Create a socially responsible business with purpose that you LOVE?

Despite this grand epiphany, I still spent about six months hemming and hawing about whether I wanted to commit to this dream. Part of the reason for my procrastination was the fact that I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know how to own a business, run a rescue, and had never worked in a café much less planned/built one from the ground up. I was stuck and scared. At one point I quit the planning process completely and didn’t do a single thing for six months.

During those six months I was miserable and could not shake the feeling that I had lost out on an incredible opportunity. What these false starts and stops showed me was that I really, truly, 100% without a doubt wanted to give this dream a shot.

My own cat café, The Witty Whisker Cat Café, opened its doors in June 2020.

What sets The Witty Whisker apart from other cat cafés (in Florida and elsewhere)?

My favorite thing about The Witty Whisker Cat Café is the ambiance. Every time I walk in through the front door, the decor and atmosphere make me feel happy and relaxed.

I think the decor of The Witty Whisker is what sets me apart from other cat cafés. The other cafés I visited were either super simple or a completely different style. I wanted mine to feel like a cool take on the “crazy cat lady” stereotype. With the exception of our fantastic Clock Cat Towers, designed for us by Square Paws, every piece of furniture in our cat lounge is either donated, picked up off the side of the road, or purchased from Facebook Marketplace.

I also took a lot of time making sure both sides (cat lounge and café side) looked and felt comfortable and inviting. I think what makes us special is that we try to take care of the cat lover (our target customer) as well as the people they drag with them to the cat cafe who may or may not want to pet cats. For example, we get a lot of kids and teenagers who want to pet the cats but their parents may be allergic or not really that into cats.

Our space is set up so the allergic parent can easily see their kid through the window while they enjoy a nice coffee or beer on the café side. (To clarify, our policy states children 12 and under must have an adult with them.) Our customers are also allowed to take food and drinks into the cat room, so parents can enjoy their beer and wine in the cat room.

The cats

How many cats live at The Witty Whisker Cat Café?

We currently have 18 cats at the café, but we have quite a turnaround. As soon as one gets adopted, we plan to have it replaced with another one. It helps give the kitties maximum exposure to the cat café visitors in the hopes that they will find their forever homes.

Where do the cats at the cat café come from?

When I first started planning the cat café, I interviewed an acquaintance who volunteered at an animal shelter in a neighboring county. I told her I wanted to work with a no-kill shelter, and she recommended I partner with a kill-shelter instead. I was quite surprised by this. When I asked her why, she had an excellent point: kill-shelters (typically) don’t want to be kill-shelters, they just don’t have the means and resources to be no-kill. A cat café partner that fosters a large number of cats could help the shelter move away from using euthanasia as a means of controlling the cat population.

I ultimately opted to go with a no-kill rescue because they were the ones who would work with me, but I wanted to share that tidbit for those aspiring cat café owners who may not have a lot of rescue options.

One of the things I love about my cat rescue partner, Feline Canopy of Care (FCOC), is that they have a great relationship with kill-shelters in the surrounding counties. They get requests all the time to take cats that are perfectly healthy but scheduled to be euthanized due to whatever bureaucratic issue that came up (such as testing positive for a manageable disease like FIV, or simply not being adopted in the allotted time).

When FCOC rescues cats, they do their best to save every…single…one; even if they are sick. They never authorize euthanasia unless it is specifically recommended by the vet and is in the best interest of the cat.

Are the cats at The Witty Whisker Cat Café available for adoption?

Yes. Anyone interested in adopting a cat must go through the Feline Canopy of Care’s adoption process. Please visit their website a fcocinc.org to fill out the online adoption application.

What if I am not looking to adopt?

No worries. Most people are just looking to spend quality time with some wonderful felines, all while sipping on their mocha. Whether considering adopting or not, every visit to a cat café supports the cause of finding permanent homes for these rescued felines.

The cat café menu

Supporting local businesses

When I started envisioning my cat café, I wanted it to be as unique as the city in which we were located.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States and is known for being quirky and fun. Ghosts and pirates are popular here and it’s not uncommon to see folks dressed in 16th century style costumes walking down the street. It’s an amazing community where visitors and and residents alike enjoy supporting local businesses.

That’s what I wanted to do as well: support local businesses.

My coffee vendor, Martin Coffee Company, is one of our favorite vendors. Ben Johnson, the owner, reached out to me the year before The Witty Whisker Cat Café opened and offered to give us a tour of his facility in downtown Jacksonville. The company has been in the family for over 40 years, and they roast beans from all over the world.

For my tea, I found a local tea blender at the St. Augustine Farmer’s Market: Cultivate Tea and Spice. He offers me good wholesale prices and his tea is phenomenal. My customers really enjoy purchasing local delicious herbal teas with a unique flavor they can’t find anywhere else. My tea vendor even worked with me to create a specialty blend for The Witty Whisker, called Cool Cat Tea. We sell Cool Cat Tea at the café as a drink and as a tea tin people can take home. You couldn’t get this kind of attention from a large corporation.

All the tasty baked goods at The Witty Whisker Cat Café are made by my good friend, Kim Blackshear, who owns a catering company called CraCraves. I met her over a decade ago at one of my corporate jobs and she would always make delicious baked items and share them with her coworkers. Kim and I teamed up when I first started thinking about opening the café, and she has been kind enough to assist with her baking expertise, cooking up delicious treats in my teeny tiny kitchen.

When we chose to offer wine and beer at The Witty Whisker Cat Café we wanted to stay local but found it difficult due to the distributor requirement. My beer distributor is the only large corporation I use as a vendor, and that’s because it is required by law.

Personal favorites

I absolutely love our Honeybush Chai tea from Cultivate Tea and Spice. It’s caffeine free and excellent hot or iced with some honey.

If you’re looking for our best espresso drink, try the Mocha Blended Latte with Oat Milk. It’s all the fun a milkshake with a generous dose of caffeine from two shots of Martin Coffee Company espresso.

And, finally, if you would like to partake in an adult beverage, our spritzers are fantastic. We start with some San Sebastian Blanc de Fleur (a bubbly white wine) and add some of our fruity syrups. My favorite is the Lavender Rose spritzer.

What else can you do in St. Augustine?

Even if you don’t come to the cat café, I highly recommend people visit St. Augustine.

Established in 1565, it is actually the oldest continuously populated settlement in the entire United States. Yes, it is older than all the other settlements.

People come from all over the world to visit the Nation’s Oldest City, and there are so many fun things to do. From visiting the Castillo de San Marco (old fort built by the first Spanish settlers to the area), taking a sip from the Fountain of Youth, walking across the Bridge of Lions, taking in all the shopping on St. George Street, visiting the Lighthouse, cruising down the intercoastal waterway on a Pirate ship, or going on one of the spooky Ghost Tours, this is a wonderful place to experience. And if you are able to visit between December and January you can experience the beautiful Nights of Lights, when all historic buildings are covered in beautiful white lights.

I recommend giving yourself at least three days to visit this beautiful city. It’s small, but there is so much to see and do. And, of course, you want to have a day at the beach, too.

Practical information

Address

The Witty Whisker Cat Café, 112 N Ponce De Leon Blvd Unit A, St. Augustine, Florida 32084, USA.

Opening hours

• Monday: 10:00 am to 06:00 pm
• Tuesday: Closed
• Wednesday: 10:00 am to 06:00 pm
• Thursday: 10:00 am to 06:00 pm
• Friday: 09:00 am to 08:00 pm
• Saturday: 09:00 am to 08:00 pm
• Sunday: 12:00 pm to 06:00 pm

Where to stay?

St. Augustine has many spectacular bed and breakfasts that are full of history and old Southern charm. My favorite is the oldest one called St. Francis Inn. I stayed there almost 20 years ago, and it was such a wonderful experience. Who knows? Maybe you will see a ghost?

Entrance fee

Those who simply love to watch cats can just enjoy a hot or cold drink in the café with a view of the cat lounge, where cats can play and sleep while watching the world go by.

The Witty Whisker Cat Café also offers cat-lovers the opportunity to enter the cat lounge to visit or play with the cats of the day. At a cost of $11.00 per hour, cat-loving guests may join the cats to offer rubs, listen to their purrs, and entice them to play with the many cat toys available.

Those who are seeking a new feline companion will be delighted to learn that all of these cats have been cleared for adoption and are ready for their forever homes.

Reservations

If you plan to visit the cat lounge, it is recommended to make reservations through The Witty Whisker website, although walk-ins are certainly welcomed. A reservation ensures you won’t have to wait for your cherished time with our cats, as space is limited.

Is onsite parking available?

Yes, there is free onsite parking available. Also, there is free parking available on nearby streets (e.g., Carrera St, Malaga St).

Final thoughts on The Witty Whisker Cat Café in St. Augustine, Florida

With The Witty Whisker Cat Café, I finally feel like I’ve done my little part to make the world a better place.

The most rewarding aspect about running a cat café is seeing cats get adopted. My absolute favorite thing to do is the adoptions. Even though I will miss the kitty, it is so rewarding and happy to see them find a forever home. It is the whole point of having a cat café.

I fall in love with all the babies that come through the café, even the crotchedy ones.

We currently have one nine-year-old tabby named Stella (photo #6) who loves people but definitely needs to be an only child. She hisses and spits whenever another cat gets too close. But she is so darn cute everyone loves her.

We have another kitty that is super sweet and has been here for almost a year. Her name is Jean, and she is the kitty in the top picture from this article.

The best relationships are when the customers fall in love and fill out an adoption application right then and there. We have had several people visit while on vacation, fall in love with a kitty and take them back home with them. We have had cats go to California, Massachusetts, and New York.

Would you like to help The Witty Whisker Cat Café in finding more families to adopt their shelter cats? If so, share this article with your cat-loving friends and on social media. Together we can make a difference.

Want more cat-themed attractions in Florida? Check out our pieces on Hemingway and his cats and on Catsby the bookstore cat.

About the author

Angeli Rodriguez is a former chemist, compliance manager, and financial analyst. In June 2020, amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she embarked on a new venture, opening The Witty Whisker Cat Café in St. Augustine, Florida.

Her debut book, Drinks & Whiskers: How You Can Open a Successful Cat Café, provides an insightful look at how you can embark on your own cat café adventure.

She resides in St. Johns, Florida, sharing her home with her husband, three children, and three feline companions.

You can read my review of Drinks & Whiskers: How You Can Open a Successful Cat Café here. If you loved this article and behind the scenes look at her cat café, then I highly recommend you read Angeli’s book.

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