((PKG)) KITTY CAFÉ
((Banner: Tame Life))
((Reporter/Producer: Eve Unshin Lee))
((Camera/Producer: Sanghoon Lee))
((VOA Korean))
((Adapted by: Phillip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Brian, Customer))
It’s great that you can interact with the cats for a lengthy time and get to see their personalities.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
There’s 25 kittens here. They’re all up for adoption, all safe from euthanasia, and as they’re adopted, we’re able to save more.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
All of this started when I was in Thailand and I came across a cat café there, and then I was like, why don’t these exist back in the United States? So, I came back to the US from Thailand, quit my job and started the cat café. And as we were doing cats, people always asked us about kittens.
And then our partner rescues, you know, talked about a problem that they had which was, during ‘Kitten Season’, shelters would be overflowing with kittens. This is actually perfect to create a whole new space that’s dedicated to kittens.
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
So, we will be able to adopt out all these kittens while they’re still kittens, but if we’re not able to, we actually will still hold on to them.
((NATS))
((Brian, Customer))
I had two cats. Four months ago, Rex passed away. Should the right cat come along, I would love to adopt and I think I might have found some.
((Julie, Employee))
I want to thank you guys so much for coming and contributing to our cause of trying to save 500 kittens.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
I remember when I was 17 and my favorite cat that I would hang out with all the time, and I heard that she got euthanized, and I cried and I told myself that when I got older, I would do something to change that.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
Between our cat cafés, which have been open for LA (Los Angeles) for two-and-a-half years and (Washington) D.C. for three-and-a-half years, we’ve adopted almost one thousand cats.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
And one of our rules is that if a cat’s sleeping, you don’t wake that kitten up. We actually also do daily health tests on them where we check their nose, their ears, their teeth. We’re always making sure they are eating.
So, we have a lot of systems and protocols in place, and we have a vet that comes in weekly, who checks in on them.
((NATS))
((Kanchan Singh, Founder, Crumbs and Whiskers))
Think about it. Where do you have in the city to go and just have a personal connection with animals? It’s really nowhere. In zoos the animals are in a captivity, shelters the animals are in cages. It’s stressful. There’s nowhere to just go and connect with animals.
((NATS))
