Three words that brought St. John’s to its knees: “Cat Café Downtown”.

St. John’s swarmed the Facebook page of the Mad Catter Café, delighted at the discovery of this new reason for living.

“We have been overwhelmed with support by the local community ever since we publicly announced the cafe opening through our Facebook page in June,” says Colin Williams, manager of Mad Catter Café, who owns it with his fiancé, Josh Eddy.

“We are so happy to see that people are just as excited about this concept as we are, and can’t wait to meet all of the people who have been sending us messages of support and encouragement over the last number of weeks,” says Williams.

While Mad Catter is the first café of its kind in the province, cat cafés can be found throughout the world, often becoming tourist destinations.

“We were living in Prague for a year and had visited several cat cafés during our travels throughout Europe,” says Williams.“It was after visiting the cat café in Bratislava, Slovakia, that we started a serious discussion about Mad Catter Café.”

The café will be comprised of two separate areas: the coffee bar and the cat lounge. Customers will have the option of either purchasing their beverage or snack to go, or taking their purchases into the lounge.

“For those who choose to enter the lounge, a small admission fee will be charged upon entry, after which they are able to enjoy the company of our adorable and adoptable kitties,” says Williams. Customers in a hurry will still be able to observe the cat lounge through a window in the coffee bar area.

“While the number of entrants at a single time will be restricted to reduce stress on the cats, the lounge will be open to all types of visitors, whether they are potential adopters or merely fellow cat lovers,” says Williams. “Visitors will also have the option of pre-booking a time slot on our soon-to-be-launched website in order to guarantee entry at their desired time.”According to Williams, the setup will be more of a lounge rather than a typical café in order to encourage and facilitate interaction with the animals.

“While it is not necessary to be interested in adopting in order to visit, for those who are interested, we believe this provides a much more relaxing environment to interact with the cats and get to know their individual personalities. It also provides a more home-like environment for the cats as they are waiting to be re-homed.”

All cats at Mad Catter Café will be up for adoption through a partnership with a local animal organization, but the duo is still in the process of finalizing the details of this arrangement before making an official announcement.

As they are working through the final stages of the permit process, Mad Catter Café is hoping to open their doors in early August 2018, at 124 Duckworth Street.