Cozy up with cats and coffee: Winnipeg's first cat cafe opens its doors

Cat cafe opens in Winnipeg Marta Czurylowicz takes you inside Winnipeg's first cat café.

There’s a new, cool cat on the block.

Jennifer Laferriere has brought another breed of cat to the city and it opened its doors Saturday.

Fur Babies is giving Winnipeggers the chance to cozy up with cats and coffee.

Laferriere owns a dance studio at 1099 Kingsbury Avenue that she said is ‘purr’fect as a space for the new café.

“You can come in and be on your phone, your laptop whatever, just spending time in here. Cuddling the cats, playing with the cats. You can get coffee and a little snack and maybe fall in love and adopt a cat, because they’re all adoptable,” said Laferriere.

She has teamed up with Ksen’s Kittens, a local foster-based rescue, to make her dream a reality.

“It’s completely different than, you know, looking through a Kijiji ad or a Facebook page, or even walking through a rescue where they’re in cages and you kind of go ‘I like what that one looks like.’ Here you get to know who they are because you get to see them be themselves in their own environment,” said Michelle Ashcroft co-owner of Ksen’s Kittens.

A $10 cover charge will be set for those who want to cat around.

At the moment the café has 11 fur babies – including 5 kittens that are very playful.

“When everyone first heard about it, it was kind of like going crazy on social media and I couldn’t believe it. I was getting calls from people and messages and it was like overwhelming. Today we seem to be getting good feedback. People seem to like it,” said Laferriere.

Ashcroft said the cats will spend time with foster families before being integrated into the cafe.

That way they will be familiar with the how the cat will get along with other people and pets.

The café celebrated its very first adoption on the evening of its opening day.

Adoption applications for the cats will be available at the café.

The new owners posted a photo of their cat Cali meeting the kitten, named Sumo, for the first time.