Catoro Cat Cafe has been helping people adopt rescue cats since it opened in 2019, but its days may be numbered if things don’t improve for the cafe.
For those unfamiliar, Catoro is a rescue cat cafe with 15 to 20 adoptable cats at any given time in its magical forest-themed cat lounge. Customers can book hour-long time slots in the cat lounge to spend quality time with the cats and also purchase food and drinks in the cafe space.
Annah van Eeghen, who bought the business from its previous owners in 2022 and now co-owns it with her partner Daniel Wilson, recently posted a video on Catoro’s Instagram asking the community to help keep the cafe open.
Dished spoke with van Eeghen about Catoro’s future and what people can do to help keep its doors open.
Rising costs
“With the cost of kind of everything rising, we’ve really been struggling to make ends meet every month and are falling behind on things,” said van Eeghen.
Some of these costs that van Eeghen is talking about are the expensive vet bills.
“Our rescue partner is able to cover the cost of things like their daily care, vaccines, and any quick checkups to the vet. But when we have cats that need a little bit of extra care, such as cats who are terminally ill or who might have something like FIP or other more intensive illnesses that require a little bit more care, we help cover those costs often just by paying the bill ourselves or through fundraising,” said van Eeghen.
Some of the cats that Catoro has helped include TinTin, who was diagnosed with FIP. Catoro ended up fundraising and paying out of pocket for his treatment. He eventually made a full recovery and got adopted, but his care cost around $15,000, with $10,000 of that just being his medical bills.
“We’ve had lots of cats come in with extensive dental work required, and we always try our best to make sure that those cats are well taken care of and pay those vet bills as well,” said van Eeghen.
In addition to medical bills, Catoro has a lot of other costs that a traditional business does not normally have, like food and litter for all the cats.
“Because of the way Catoro was set up, it was structured as a business, not as a nonprofit. Our hands are tied for what we can do in terms of fundraising for the care of the cats because we’re not a nonprofit. We can’t do raffles or big fundraising events and things like that. So we supplement the cost of caring for all the cats by the admission that we take to go in and see them, the drinks, and the pet supplies and merch that we sell,” said van Eeghen.
How to help
So, what can people do to help? Van Eeghen is asking people to simply show up.
“The absolute number one best thing they can do is make a reservation on our website and come down to spend an hour with cats,” she said. “Other than that, we also sell pet supplies, and we offer free local delivery on orders over $100. We also sell a really great selection of custom merch that we’ve either made in-house or have local artists design for us.”
Additionally, Catoro hosts special events, such as movie nights, where people can purchase tickets to watch a movie among the cats.
And those wanting to make a financial contribution can do so through the GoFundMe that Catoro has set up.
“We’re hoping to raise $50,000, and that money will help us pay our rent, pay our staff, and cover some of our outstanding vet bills. Right now, we have about $15,000 in unpaid vet bills.”
If things don’t improve soon, van Eeghen says Catoro will close within less than three months.
“Because we’re not a registered nonprofit, we don’t have any access to government support, grants, or anything like that. So everything that we do to support the cats really has to come from people coming to visit Catoro, the merchandise we sell, and then any other contributions that people are willing to make.”
Those looking to help can book a visit on Catoro’s website, make a donation through its GoFundMe, or order something off its Amazon wishlist.
Address: 666 East Broadway, Vancouver
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