SPRINGFIELD – I would like to introduce you to Bean.
Bean was dropped off at the Emergency Veterinary Hospital on Pioneer Parkway with an eye injury by a good Samaritan, then treated and transferred to a local cat rescue.
After being socialized with other foster cats through The Cat Rescue and Adoption Network, Bean now awaits someone to fall in love with him and adopt him.
In the meantime, he lounges in front of the television and hangs out with fellow felines at the Eugene Springfield Cat Lounge at 537 W. Centennial Blvd. in Springfield.
“We sometimes put The Cat Channel on here,” said lounge owner Michelle Wyatt, adding that cats sometimes bat at the squirrels and birds they see on the television, or “they like to pile on top of each other in a puddle pile.”
Wyatt said it is the only cat-themed boutique in Oregon with cat residents. It offers a unique opportunity to hang out in a room full of up to 12 rescue cats that are also up for adoption.
She said that launching this business was 20 years in the making.
At the age of 23, she adopted her first rescue kitten in 1988. Twenty years later, she took a community college class on how to open a bed and breakfast. Since then, she has been considering starting her own business.
Even after retiring from her medical practice as a doctor, where she worked for nearly 30 years, she still strongly desired to launch her own venture.
“I loved the idea of an art gallery, of retail. I love the idea of a relaxed environment,” she said.
The first cat café opened in Taiwan in 1998, and the trend has since ticked up. She encountered cat cafés in San Francisco, San Diego, Bellingham, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC.
As of November 2024, there are over 250 cat cafes in the US, according to ThatCatLife.com.
But there are only two in Oregon: Playful Paws Cat Café which opened in Bend in 2023 and the Eugene Springfield Cat Cafe, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary in January 2025.
So, who is this clientele for this type of business?
All sorts of people!
If you are a cat lover who has ever been in a living situation where cats are not allowed, you may wish you could just get in an hour of cat cuddles.
Wyatt also said she didn’t expect their target audience to be college students, but she noticed increased clients once school started in September.
It is also a safe public place for a date and a unique shopping experience as Wyatt knits cat hats for the boutique and sells cat art by local artists in the gallery.
Half the people who come in already own cats. Some just want more cat time. And free visits are allowed on your birthday!
Their lounge is often fully booked in advance; there is a limit of eight people in the lounge at once.
Private parties can book the lounge for a cat-themed party. Events like “Paint With the Cats ” are also held at the lounge, where guests can use art supplies to paint a cat keepsake while enjoying time with the cats.
For those looking to adopt, the Cat Rescue and Adoption Network (CRAN) and Felines Fairygodmother Rescue manages the adoption process. Unlike a typical pet store, humans cannot leave with a cat the day they meet, and adoptions are not first-come, first-serve. The adoption counselor at the cat rescue reviews applications and decides who fits the cat best.
Because these are volunteer-run organizations, applications sometimes take up to two weeks to be reviewed.
“Michelle has given us this wonderful opportunity to house cats,” said Teri Guistina, a volunteer adoption counselor for CRAN, or the Cat Rescue and Adoption Network – a nonprofit that finds homes for cats from Lane County Animal Regulation Authority in Oregon using the PetSmart retail chain stores as an off-site adoption center.
It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 3-7 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Sarina Dorie is the arts writer for The Chronicle.
