Top: Grey-colored cat Amelie on Zazie Gazzola ’s shoulders, with manager Lyanny Polanco watching. Bottom: Cat lounge attendant Madison Acampora accompanied by the friendly tuxedo cat Tux. Jayniel Bermudez Photos.
Amidst cat toys and a multitude of climbing structures, the grey domestic short-hair cat Amelie propped herself up on young journalist Zazie Gazzola’s shoulders in a powerful showcase of one, but many, human-feline bonds in Mew Haven Cat Cafe.
Mew Haven, founded at 904 Whalley Ave. in the final months of 2017, is both a functioning cafe and a shelter to several rescue cats, all awaiting adoption in a feline paradise. Last Friday, the vision came to life during a visit to the space, which is now almost a decade old.
Overseeing the visit were manager Lyanny Polanco and cat lounge attendant Madison Acampora, who have worked at the cafe for six and two years respectively. The two colleagues also have their own experiences with cat parenting: Polanco has foster-failed three (meaning that they are now happily hers), and Acampora has a tuxedo-cat by the name of “Kitty Von Kibby.”
Kitties Inferno and Scorch playing with toys.
The cat cafe houses cats through a collaboration with the organization Halfway Home Rescue. The partnership allows it to serve as a foster home for the organization’s rescues, a mid-point on their journey to find their forever homes.
“When people come here and they visit, they can fill an application in person and Halfway Home Rescue will process those applications and make a decision,” said co-founder Angela Pullo in a phone call.
When asked how cats adjust to their new surroundings, Pullo emphasized that it depends on the cat. Some may be ready to explore the space at a moment's notice, some are scared of their surroundings, and some are shy or afraid of people. All in all, she believes the rescues are quick to adapt to their new environment.
“There is adjusting to the day to day, and then there is blossoming their personality,” Pullo said.
One of the cafe’s novelties is its “Buyer Board” that gives customers a sense of each cat in an effort to find what cat suits what customer and to provide helpful information regarding that cat such as age, background, and cost.
The circular tag puts the cats into categories such as shy, chill, friendly, and for feisty felines, spicy. In addition to that are the cats petting preferences—where they like to be touched. If a cat is bonded with another cat, such as a sibling attachment, they must be bought together, so that they do not grow depressed in separation.
“All of the staff have a hands-on job that we have implemented to get to know the cats individually,” Polanco said. “All cats are different, but usually after a week we get to know them personally.”
“You get to see the cats, what their preferences are, what toys they like to play with, who they like to hang out with, foods they like— you get to see all those things come out after months,” Pullo said.
Ariana: 10 out of 10.
On a recent visit, the cafe was buzzing with activity. Happily sitting on a white chair, young Ariana enjoyed the restaurant’s blue raspberry lemonade, which Polanco said was a popular special in the summer heat.
Ariana said the drink was a ten out of ten.
Arianna came out with her mother, Celeste Ara, and father. Ara said that it was her family's first time at the cat cafe, and that they were enjoying their experience. While they didn’t have any plans to adopt cats, Ara added that they may consider doing so “ in the future.”
Despite not having plans to adopt any of the cats present, they had taken a liking to a select few. The mother-daughter duo found one of the short-haired black cats, Brendan, notable for its distinguishable thumbs. Additionally, they admired tabby short-haired cat Sasha, humorously calling her “the chunky one.”
Wandering around the cat cafe was 60 year-old Beth Malone, who had brought her granddaughter for their first time. Malone learned about the cafe from her daughter, who had visited with her boyfriend.
A self-proclaimed “cat person,” Malone has an affinity for orange cats. Two years ago, she had a house cat named “Boots,” who she had taken in off the highway and raised until Boots turned 10 years old. As much as she loved cats, Malone said that she could not adopt any on that particular day, or at this moment in time.
“We travel a lot, and that wouldn’t be fair to the cat,” she said.
Nonetheless, Malone said she and her granddaughter were enjoying their visit, and said that they would come back again.
“What I like is seeing all the people come in because it’s not just people coming and petting cats,” Pullo said. “It’s people talking about ‘Oh, look at what this cat is doing!’ and they’ll start talking about their own cats that they have at home and they will bring out their phones and show pictures – it creates this kind of community within our cat cafe.”
For anyone interested in the Mew Haven Cat Cafe, tickets can be purchased here. This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit stories with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Jay Bermudez is a rising sophomore at Eli Whitney Technical High School in Hamden.