From as early as I can remember, I have dreamed of writing for a living. However, one of the downsides of realising that dream is the difficulty of finding the time to write for fun. As I embark on a big change from last year’s schedule, for 2019, I’m still working to find my balance, so please bear with me as I continue to adjust.
That said, my life is not all work and no play these days. Over the past few months, I’ve been hearing about Happy Tabby Cat Cafe in Atlanta, and naturally, as a renowned cat lady, was dying to check it out for myself. Well, last week Wednesday I finally had the chance to drop by.
The Fun
Happy Tabby Cat Cafe is half a cafe and half an adoption centre for cats. By allowing the public to come in and pay to play with the animals, the organisation provides their felines with the opportunity to interact with humans, while they wait for someone to fall in love with them and take them home.
If you’re worried about hygiene, fret not. The cats are kept in a separate space from the coffee and wine, and there is a sanitising station that you’re expected to use before and after entering the cat’s play space. Inside the play area, I was very impressed by how clean the space was, with minimal shedding and not a single whiff of a litter box.
In short, this is not your usual animal shelter. It feels very much like home, if like me, you keep a clean one. It was so much like home for one very special kitty, apparently, that as soon as I set my jacket down, Marcus hopped up, and made himself comfortable. He lay there for the majority of my visit. He reminds me so much of Shadow!
There was another black kitty present as well, by the name Rorschach, who enjoyed cuddling up on this floral-patterned armchair. Isn’t he adorable? I absolutely love black cats! Don’t you?
Unfortunately, most people will answer no to that. Black cats (and dogs!) remain the least loved of shelter animals, the least likely to be adopted, and the most likely to be put down. Please help us change that.
Once I had introduced myself to these regal black kitties, I moved on to see what the other adorable felines were getting up to.
Lemondrop was curled up behind me on the bench I had been sitting on. Believe it or not, she stayed there for the entire two hours of my visit. I was told her favourite hobby is sleeping, and I believe it! If you’re looking for a laid-back low-maintenance kitty, here’s your girl!
I then met one of two resident cats at Happy Tabby. This Maine Coon shares her permanent residency position with a beautiful, cross-eyed Siamese. Look at those pretty eyes!
Sharing the kitty loft with this blue-eyed beauty was another sleeping ginger. Doesn’t that outstretched paw just give you the warm and fuzzies?
After this pink-footed baby panther, I had the pleasure of meeting this tabby who handsomely posed for my picture. He’s a natural!
Just overhead was another adorable tabby who was fighting sleep and losing.
Naturally, these were not all the cats at the shelter, but these were the ones who stayed still for long enough to be photographed. For a full list of their available felines, please see the Happy Tabby Cat Cafe website.
The Logistics
Location & Parking
Happy Tabby Cat Cafe is located in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward at:
529 Irwin St NE
Atlanta, Georgia
Thanks to the power of GPS, I was able to find the location with relative ease. However, parking is where things get tricky. You will need to resort to street parking, which thankfully, is free. When I arrived at 5:00 PM on a Wednesday, there were plenty of spots for the taking, but I don’t know how that might change on a different day or time.
Opening Hours
To ensure you don’t show up to be locked out from seeing adorable kitties, be sure to double-check their opening hours.
- Monday & Tuesday: CLOSED
- Wednesday to Friday: 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Saturday: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
- Sunday: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Cost
Petting adorable kitties is not free. On the day I showed up, I was charged $8 for the first hour and then $5 for every hour thereafter. However, do keep in mind that this helps to cover the cost of housing these lovelies!
Coffee is also available and the company is in the process of renewing their rights to sell wine, which should be resolved by now.
…
If you live in or around the Atlanta area and you’re looking for a well-socialised feline to take home, I strongly recommend dropping by. If you have recently moved to Atlanta and miss the pets you couldn’t take with you, this spot is also for you. The kitties can’t wait to see you!
Atlanta Travel Guide Posts
This year, because I’ll be spending more time in Georgia than usual, I will be doing a lot of Things to Do in Atlanta posts. For more regular readers, if you live in Atlanta or plan to visit and would like a firsthand review of specific places, feel free to make suggestions via the comments, below. I’ll pick the ones that best suit my hobbies and check them out.
Additionally, if you or someone you know owns a business or non-profit and would like to be featured via a promotional post on my website, please email me for details. This post, however, was not a sponsored post. In fact, they have no idea I have written this. I would never charge a non-profit for a feature on my website—especially when there are cute kitties to see when I drop by.
Thanks for reading!
I’m not into animals but I’ll definitely pass on this outing idea to my friends that are. My 15 year d niece would look this
Thanks for reading! If she loves animals (especially cats) she’ll have a great time. 🙂
Cats AND coffee?! I may just be in love!
Haha, it’s amazing! There’s a second one in Atlanta, but I’ve never been to that one. I think it’s called Java Cats.
Nice to know, thank you
No prob. 🙂
Beautiful cats! And I love black kitties ~ they’re gorgeous. Check out the pic on my “Smile” post to see 2 of the feral ones that chill in our parking lot. Such pretties! 🐱
Hi Paula! The WordPress app is giving me a hard time today. Do you mind dropping a link here of the kitties? I’m sure other people on the comments would love to see your Smile post as well. 😊
https://lightmotifs.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/the-weekly-smile-2/
My goodness! They look so alike! How do you tell them apart? And so adorable!
Omg 🙈 this is my kind of place! So cute
You should look if they have cat cafes in your area. You might be surprised!
This place looks amazing! I love how the cats get to interact with people in a more positive environment than the typical animals shelter, which should socialize them into being great pets.
Also, black cats are usually my favorites, but I’ve known two grey-and-white kitties who were exquisitely beautiful.
I love that, too! And it shows when you visit. Most of them are very friendly, and the ones who are shy are usually still playful.
Black cats have always been my fave. I am also a huge fan of tuxedo kitties and smokey greys. Siamese are also beautiful, but I have to match pet fur colours to my wardrobe and you may have noticed I am almost always in black. 🤣
Haha, black & grey are my go-to colors.
What a neat idea!
It really is. 😊
Too many in my family are allergic to cats to allow me to have one. Probably even petting them that long would get people to sneezing when I came home. But I love cats and was glad to enjoy them through this post. Interesting question about black cats. Never heard that about black dogs. I know they are linked to witches. Not sure if that is racial or not. Good thing to follow up.
I wasn’t allowed to have cats growing up, so I was happy to reach adulthood and adopt my own! 😆 Thankfully, no one is allergic, except for me, but it’s mild.
I think there might be some similarity between the subconsciousness dislike for darker pigmentation for humans as well as animals. From the dawn of time, darker has always been equated with less pure, more evil/bad etc.
The animal shelter I used to volunteer at told me it was also true of black dogs, when I was looking for one for protection. They were right. I adopted a black lab from the shelter and even in Jamaica, people were terrified of him. Men would pick up their children and cross the street, while my barely year old pup just wanted to say hello! No one spoke to me when we were out together or bothered to hit on me. It was absolute bliss. That, was precisely why I adopted him. 😂 Prejudice does have its uses!
I wonder how long that dark/light has been true. Have you read about it anywhere? Here black labs are very popular.
Black labs are popular because they are hunting dogs and drug dogs, so people have gotten used to seeing them now. However, golden retrievers are far more popular as family dogs.
As far as the dark/light symbolism, it is quite prevalent in the Bible. Darkness is associated with the devil and light with Christ. Even fire is considered a purging mechanism used by God.
I agree about light and darkness, but wonder who translated that concept to skin tone?
This is also attributed to the Bible. I’m sure it began only subconsciously. Long before slavery, whiter skin was always preferred in European and Asian countries.
However, when slavery began, the passage in the Bible often used to justify racism based on skin colour was the one with Noah, when his nephew (if memory serves) saw him naked and the father was cast out to roam the wilderness and be cursed. He was pointed out as the father of Blacks as he was supposedly burned by the sun and the curse, ascribing to Blacks the title of the cursed race. Ideologies on Christianity of white doves and being “washed as white as snow” of our sins didn’t really help that scenario much.
We discussed this in my history classes in high school and college. Unfortunately, I doubt it is taught here.
Yes, you are right. The Bible began to be used to justify a great many wrongs. I didn’t learn that in school, but from my own reading.
I wish they would teach the whole story in schools in America. I’m beginning to think schools here are more about good PR for the country than a solid education.
I’m not surprised you did outside reading to figure that out, Professor! 😌
All countries choose the narrative taught in schools. So yes, it is PR.
Jamaican history is characterised by fighting White planters and then First World countries and winning, so I think that has worked in our favour where the goal for PR and education lines up almost perfectly. Maybe it would be a different story if we were the opressors, but then we are so unapologetic about our wrongs that I get the feeling they would still teach it as is. 😂
Also, our curriculum is based off the British, so goes to show what’s being taught in British classrooms. I’ve never met a British person who didn’t know all I know about slavery and British imperialism. Germans also seem to know quite a bit considering they were never a part of the slave trade.
I love it. Wouldn’t it be fun to lay history textbooks from different countries side by side and compare the same events.
I actually saw that done once, but not on a large scale. Some Jamaican had found a Canadian book on how the Indians were treated.
It would be a great project. My grandchildren have a similar book where the week’s groceries from various countries are shown side by side.
Really! I imagine that must be fascinating. I would be most interested in seeing what Thai people buy. I’ve been stuck on Thai food for a while now. It’s a hopeless case.
I bet the library has the book.
Haha, I’m sure they do. Do you remember the name?
One is called “Food Like Mine” put out by DK
Found it on Goodreads! Thanks. 😊
Oh, even funnier, my high school is Catholic, so these discussions at school….I have nothing but respect for that high school! The first thing they taught me in 7th grade history was evolution. High school is from 7th to 11th grade for us. We don’t have a 12th.
That makes sense.
I always thought I’d like to come back as a golden eagle in Scotland to fly over that magnificent landscape: paradise on Earth.
Birds do have a lot of freedom and an excellent view. You make a good point there. 🤔
What a marvellous idea! I think they are all adorable and it breaks my heart to think that racism seems to extend to animals as well; that’s really tragic and sickening. I am more of a dog person, but I would be very willing to pay my entry fee for a place like this.
During our year-long journey, we spent 4 days at a motorhome stop-over (aire) outside Alicante which had a visitors room with sofa, table bookcase, WiFi and cat included and it was from here I typed and published my blog that week. During all the time I was there, that adorable kitty sat on my lap. I felt very touched, as to him/her I was a total stranger. I loved it.
I have thought about the role racism plays in disliking the pigmentation of animals, as well. I must say, it makes me think differently of people who don’t like black cats or dogs.
Cat included in your stay? Yes, please! I bet she just loves visitors so she can sit on their laps and pur all day. I hope I come back as a well-loved kitty. I can’t imagine a better life! 😆
Catastic! Herbert is a Maine Coon just like that one.
They get so big! I love to see them, but not sure I could handle all that shedding. 😆