There’s a litter of new cat cafes in South Philly

As soon as he saw Kinder on his first day of work, Jordan Griffenberg knew that she would come home with him.

Such things can happen when you’re a lounge attendant at a cat cafe, a hangout where people pay to visit adoptable cats.

It’s a dream job for Griffenberg, 23, who works at Get a Gato, one of two cat cafes to open in South Philadelphia last month.

Get a Gato — located catty-corner from John’s Water Ice at Seventh and Christian Streets — serves Colombian snacks and espresso drinks alongside a cat-theme retail store. The cat room is behind a door and picture window, per health department rules. Owner Jackie Starker also owns Amelie’s Bark Shop, a nearby pet boutique.

The other newcomer is Whiskers Cat Cafe Philly, at 15th Street and Snyder Avenue, which is more adoption center than cafe, while offering free coffee, tea, cocoa, and water to customers who sit among the 20 cats snoozing and playing in its living room setting. There’s also a kitten room in the back.

Get a Gato and Whiskers, both nonprofits, have joined other local cat cafes, such as Le Cat Cafe in Brewerytown (operated by Green Street Rescue), Cat Nook Cafe in Norwood, the Black Cat Cafe in Devon, MeWow Cafe in Doylestown, and PURRsonal Space Cat Lounge in Palmyra. Le Cat opened in 2016, joining Kawaii Kitty Cafe, which was the city’s first. Kawaii, which blazed a path with the city Health Department, closed during the pandemic.

Get a Gato is affiliated with Fishtails Animal Rescue, Whiskers with the Cat Collaborative and PURR Philly. The groups quarantine and treat the cats before they arrive at the cafes.

You won’t hear any catty comments about the competition. Philadelphia reportedly has the highest percentage of cat owners in the United States. It also has a huge stray problem, with an estimated 400,000 street cats. “The more cat cafes, the better,” Starker said.

All kittens aside, Get a Gato is a regulation coffee shop. You can get a latte and stock up on cat-theme gifts such as mugs, cards, T-shirts, and totes. The counter’s case is stocked with Colombian food such as empanadas and almojábanas from Cafe Tinto in Feltonville, and churro apple cake from Vanilya Bakery in South Philadelphia. (The menu is a tribute to Starker’s grandmother, born in Bogotá.)

Starker, who owns two cats (Don Draper and Gourdie), opened Amelie’s on East Passyunk Avenue nine years ago. Amelie, her shih tzu-poodle mix, turns 17 this week.

Several years ago after a trip to Japan, where cat cafes are especially popular, she decided to open one of her own. She chose Fishtails as the cafe’s partner after fostering about 30 cats through them.

While brainstorming names, Starker’s father, Jeff, playfully tossed out Get a Gato. Jackie Starker batted it around a little bit and decided to go for it.

Architect/designer Jason Lempieri of RethinkTANK used the abundant sunlight from the Seventh Street side to create a bright, modern cafe as well as a source of sunbeams for the cats in the back room. You’ll notice whimsical touches, such as the cat-head handles on the pumps for nitro cold brew, chai, and kombucha; the chair backs fashioned to look like cats; and the restroom mirror with the words “You’re purrrfect” in neon. Local artist Martha Rich created the logo and artwork.

There’s a $4 application fee and a $100 adoption fee. The cats come fully vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and microchipped.

Get a Gato, 638 Christian St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147. Cafe hours: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Lounge: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; it’s $15 (tax-deductible) for a 50-minute visit, ages 5 and up. Reservations are recommended through the website.

Lina and Timothy Phillips are behind this plant- and toy-filled corner storefront, across from the site that was Melrose Diner before it was razed last year. She worked at a nail salon and he was working at a pharmacy.

Their foray into the cafe life started innocently enough. They were feeding a stray outside of their house in Chester. “After a few days, the cat brought a girlfriend and then we ended up with 16 cats during wintertime,” Lina Phillips said. They reached out to the Cat Collaborative to trap and neuter them.

The Phillipses became rescuers. “We’d get home from work every night, and just go out, feeding and trapping cats,” she said. One night, they bagged a raccoon and quickly released it.

Earlier this year, they decided to surprise their daughter, who is 11 and enjoys going to cat cafes on weekends, that they were opening one of their own. But where? “A lot of people rejected us for our application,” Lina Phillips said. “They didn’t want us to have animals in their property, which is sad, but then we found this place and convinced the landlord that we’re going to do good here and not damage the property.” They spent months improving the onetime cell-phone shop.

Whiskers now has 20 cats, ages 6 months to 3 years, and five kittens. Lina Phillips said kittens must be adopted in twos if the prospective client does not already have a cat. Those who have a cat may only adopt one kitten.

Adoption fees, proceeds of which go to PURR Philly, are $100 for adult cats and $150 for kittens. (In effect, the kittens are buy one, get one.) Included is spaying or neutering, rabies vaccine and other shots, worming, testing for feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC), and microchipping.

Whiskers Cat Cafe Philly, 1440 Snyder Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19145. Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily; $12 for a 30-minute visit, $17 for one hour.