Cat cafes in Vero, Port St. Lucie not only serve coffee, but increase shelter adoptions

Laurie K. Blandford and Gianna Montesano, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·5 min read

Jon, a black kitten with faint black stripes and spots, bounded back and forth across the room, full of energy. Opal, a white kitten with a gray and black face, was shy at first, but she eventually came out of her shell to play. Rory, a sleek black kitten, slept the whole time, cuddled up in the lap of a visitor.

That's just a glimpse inside the cat room at The Kitty Cup in Port St. Lucie, which opened June 4 and had a grand opening ceremony June 25.

The Kitty Cup is the first cat cafe in Port St. Lucie, the second on the Treasure Coast, and the only one to serve food. Cattitude in Vero Beach, which has self-serve coffee, opened in June 2023.

Both have the same goal: Get cats adopted.

"It's cats and coffee," said The Kitty Cup founder Melony Zaravelis. "It's getting cats into good homes."

Julia Garcia, of Palm City, holds a kitten in the cat room at Kitty Cup Cat Cafe on Thursday, June 13, 2024, at 1461 S.W. Gatlin Blvd. in Port St. Lucie. The city's first cat cafe opened at the beginning of June. Owner Melony Zaravelis said 15 kittens were adopted in the first eight days of opening. The cafe partners with the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast and the Humane Society of Saint Lucie County.

Vero Beach cat cafe

The first cat cafe in the world, Cat Flower Garden, opened in 1998 in Taipei, Taiwan. The concept grew in Japan with over 150 locations by 2018, according to the BBC. Pet or animal cafes offer customers the opportunity to interact with animals — and sometimes adopt them — including cats, dogs, rabbits, flamingos and other species.

California native and Cattitude owner Shari Tessier brought the concept here after moving to Vero Beach from Brevard County. She and husband Joe have owned Swingsation’s 14th Ave. Dance Studio in Vero Beach for 24 years and founded Joe-Rassic Park, a nonprofit reptile rescue.

“I’ve always been an animal lover,” Tessier said. “My husband and I have always had a passion for animals.”

The cat cafe was born out of tragedy. On a winter night in 2021, she brought all her animals — mostly reptiles —inside to keep warm, but a house fire killed over 50 of them, including eight cats that died of smoke inhalation.

“I was very upset,” Tessier said. “I wanted to go sit in a room with cats and just be around them. I just wanted to sit on the floor and have their furry little faces in mine.”

She had heard of cat cafes and knew the closest one to the Treasure Coast was in Orlando.

“I was looking for some cathartic therapy,” Tessier said, “and it did not exist.”

Then, a local rescue was looking for someone to foster four kittens. Tessier ended up keeping one, "Meownu Reeves," who was scared of being carted back and forth from the shelter to PetSmart for adoption days.

Tessier decided to help more cats that struggle with pet store adoptions or get overlooked at shelters.

“As long as they’re happy there (in the cat room),” Tessier said, “I’m happy to have them.”

Port St. Lucie cat cafe

An adoptable kitten cleans itself in the cat room at Kitty Cup Cat Cafe on Thursday, June 13, 2024, at 1461 S.W. Gatlin Blvd. in Port St. Lucie. The city's first cat cafe opened at the beginning of June. Owner Melony Zaravelis said 15 kittens were adopted in the first eight days of opening. The cafe partners with the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast and the Humane Society of Saint Lucie County.

The Kitty Cup owner and her family have been involved with animals for awhile. In 2019, Zaravelis' husband and daughter began volunteering at the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. In 2022, the family became foster parents for the shelter during the COVID pandemic shutdown. They eventually adopted Frankie, a 5-year-old stray.

In 2021, Zaravelis visited a cat cafe for the first time in Nebraska. After that, she spent about two years working to open one locally. She quit her full-time job as an accountant and spent all her time finding a location that would allow animals to be housed overnight and working with city officials to allow it.

On Feb. 7, 2023, the Port St. Lucie City Commission changed a zoning ordinance to allow cat cafes that serve food.

Since opening June 4, The Kitty Cup has completed 36 adoptions.

“The cat room is their home until they find their forever home,” Zaravelis said.

What are cat cafes?

A rotating cast of cats from local shelters and full-time residents of Cattitude Cat Cafe lounge in a relaxing environment, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Vero Beach. Located at 1269 Old Dixie Hwy., the cafe features a self-serve coffee station, teas, bottled waters and sodas that are included in the $15 admission price. With a goal of adoption, guests are encouraged to visit with the adoptable cats and resident felines to give them love and attention that they might not experience in a shelter environment.

As cats are adopted, which happens daily at The Kitty Cup, new ones are brought in from partnering shelters, including the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast and the Humane Society of St. Lucie County. Cattitude, which averages one adoption a month, gets its cats from three organizations: Raining Cats Rescue and Operation CatSnip, which don’t have brick-and-mortar locations, as well as Dogs & Cats Forever in Fort Pierce.

When TCPalm reported this article in June, The Kitty Cup had only kittens while Cattitude had cats from 1 to 13 years old. There were plenty of black cats available for adoption because people have unfounded superstitions.

Adoptions cost $50 at The Kitty Cup and vary at Cattitude, and all the cats have been spayed or neutered and chipped.

Shari Tessier, owner of Cattitude Cat Cafe, pets one of the adoptable cats, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Vero Beach. Located at 1269 Old Dixie Hwy., the cafe features a self-serve coffee station, teas, bottled waters and sodas that are included in the $15 admission price. With a goal of adoption, guests are encouraged to visit with the adoptable cats and resident felines to give them love and attention that they might not experience in a shelter environment.

Visitation is limited to avoid overwhelming the cats, so Cattitude and The Kitty Cup recommend reservations. Cattitude, a 2,200-square-foot space for up to 25 cats, allows 15 people at a time. The Kitty Cup, a 600-square-foot space for up to 20 cats, allows 8-12 people at a time.

Visitors must sign liability waivers and pay $15 per person per hour, which goes to the upkeep of the cats.

Cattitude's self-serve coffee is included with admission, and visitors can buy pre-packaged items and vegan pastries from Thelma Jean’s Bakery, such as cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies.

The Kitty Cup sells premade foods such as mini eclairs, charcuterie boxes and cranberry pecan chicken salad. Its espresso bar serves Americanos, macchiatos and specialty drinks such as Frankie's Fave, a lavender oat milk latte named after Zaravelis' cat. The coffee comes from Kitty Town Coffee of Pennsylvania, which donates part of its sales to the Treasure Coast community.

Cattitude is open daily while The Kitty Cup is closed on Mondays. Cattitude was originally closed two days a week.

“I have the neediest bunch of cats,” Tessier said. “I would go in to take care of them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they would act like they hadn’t seen people in weeks.”

Cattitude

Kitty Cup Cat Cafe

Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Email her at [email protected]. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at [email protected], 772-409-1429, or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @gonthescene.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Cat cafes in Vero Beach, Port St. Lucie increase shelter adoptions

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