Vancouver cat café gets another life after $100K outpouring of support

A cat café in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood recently put out a plea for help, saying rising costs and the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic had left the business struggling to the point where it might have to close its doors.

Thursday evening, a week after Catoro Cafe launched an online crowdfunding effort, an outpouring of support had raised nearly $104,000.

"This week has been very emotional," said Victoria Vandenberghe, manager at the cat café, who has been working there since it opened in July 2019. 

She says the café and its employees found they reached their goal of raising $100,000 on Thursday morning.

"The amount of support that's come in has just been astounding. We really do see that the community wants us to stay."

Tributes and donations on the fundraising website have come from both locals and people from out of province, many of whom shared pictures of the cats they adopted through Catoro Cafe and thanked the business for what they do.

Vandenberghe says the original owners of the cafe wanted to offer a safe space where people could grab a bubble tea and then head into a so-called cat forest to hang out with free-roaming felines.

The idea was to allow visitors to benefit from animal therapy, and give people considering bringing home a new pet the chance to enjoy them in the cafe.

The café works with two cat rescues based out of Saskatchewan, helping them find homes for over 850 animals.

Vandenberghe says between staff at the cafe and the adoption centre, as well as drivers who deliver pet supplies, the Catoro Cafe employs around 20 people full- and part-time.

Over the course of the pandemic, when most businesses were shut down due to public health measures on multiple occasions, bills started to pile up and the cafe racked up significant debt.

"Like all businesses, it's definitely been a struggle to recover," Vandenberghe said.

"A lot of the funds will be going toward paying the debts, providing more food and litter for the kitties and also going to a lot of their future vet bills."

She says she and the team are excited to be able to continue their work and maybe even expand their operations in 2023.

The café will also be giving some of the money to their rescue partners, Running Wild Rescue and SOS Prairie Rescue.

"We're so, so thankful for all the support from every person that even just liked, shared or spread the word," said Vandenberghe.

"Without the support of the community we wouldn't be able to continue what we're doing."