Kona has a brand new cafe that’s serving up a purrrfectly pleasant expertise.
The Kona Kat Cafe is open on Alii Drive within the Kona Marketplace as a labor of affection for proprietor Jenny Hulen.
Hulen labored as a bodily therapist in Kona for almost a decade when she, alongside together with her husband, determined to take 6 months off to go to the mainland to take care of his father, however bought caught in Tuscon when the pandemic hit.
When they returned to Kona, she stated there wasn’t a lot work left in her subject.
“I had gone to this cat cafe in Dublin in 2016, and it always stuck in the back of my mind, so I started the process,” she stated. “We visited a lot of cat cafes around the country to see what it was and what they do.”
She took her retirement financial savings and constructed the Big Island’s first cat cafe, opening final November.
“As a therapist, I’m a healer and cats are so healing. So on top of finding these sweet little kittens homes, I like the human side. It’s like save me and I’ll save you right back.”
She stated business has been regular and he or she has obtained a whole lot of help from the local people.
“The people in the community love it because anyone looking to adopt a cat can come in here and hang out and they get to see the personalities of the cats,” she stated.
All of the cats on the cafe are feral rescues who’ve been spay/neutered, microchipped, have obtained their vaccines and are examined to be feline leukemia free.
Hulen accepts cats in her cafe from CatSnip and Aloha Animal Oasis, non-profit organizations who present spay/neuter clinics. The cats are quarantined for 3 weeks earlier than they develop into a part of the Kona Kat Cafe ohana with hopes of discovering their new without end home.
“The kittens are the ones they keep and put the older feral ones back in the wild,” she stated of the rescue organizations. “When the little kittens come, they just play and run about. If the cats are a little bit older it takes them a little longer to socialize. It’s kind of fun to watch them evolve.”
Hulen has had 25 cats adopted since opening in November. She tries to maintain between 15-20 cats on the cafe at any given time.
The adoption price is $100 for cats and $125 for kittens, with a portion of the proceeds going again to the spay/neuter clinics who truly personal the felines.
She stated her business is evenly cut up between vacationers and locals. A one hour session with the cats is priced at $20.
Kamaaina, keiki and senior reductions are available, together with membership packages. Guests are given a bag of treats to lure the kitties into play and there are many toys to amuse each felines and people.
On Saturday, a father and daughter from Winnipeg, Canada, have been spending their hour session with some playful kitties.
“We were looking for things to do and found this place. Figured I could use some cat therapy because I miss my cat,” stated Okay’laya Vandenbyllaardt.
The retail part of the cafe options cat themed merchandise together with specialty espresso.
“We have different gifts people can buy for family members on the mainland, or toys for kids. We have cat toys that a lot of visitors like to take back to their cats as souvenirs,” she stated.
Although they aren’t a restaurant within the precise sense of the phrase, the do promote canned and bottled drinks and pre-packaged cookies.
“I hope to be bringing in a lot of cats and getting a lot of cats adopted.”
She has even adopted a cat to a customer from the mainland.
“A man from the cruise ship last week adopted a little Siamese cat with one eye. He asked if we could get her to San Diego. On Alaska airlines you can put the cat under the seat in a carrier, so I put the word out in the community if there was anyone flying to San Diego that could transport a cat. We have had nine responses,” she stated. This neighborhood is totally superb.”
Hulen additionally hosts cat yoga each Saturday.
“It is so fun. We have a yoga instructor from the Four Seasons come in and set up the mats in the cat room. We do a whole yoga session and the cats come around the people,” she stated.
Reservations for cat yoga have to be made upfront and the category dimension is proscribed to 10 folks.
Visit konakatcafe.com for extra data or to ebook a reservation.
