Hello.

This is Two Main Street.

I'm David James in my address.

Right now is 226 Main Street, not too far from the WNIN studios.

This is the River Kitty Cat Cafe.

It used to be a private business run by Nancy Drake and Annette, Greece, and now it's part of the Vanderburgh Humane Society course.

This is a space for animals to be adopted.

And there's also a gift shop here, a cafe.

So a lot going on at the River Kitty Cat Cafe.

And we have cats roaming around right now.

They're going to enjoy this hour.

Now, the cafe opened on July 14th.

2017.

And a calico named Sissy was the first cat adopted and that happened on opening day.

Now, less than five years later, the River Kitty Cat Cafe is celebrating 1000 adoptions and counting applause You guys are going to fly.

That's all right.

Come on.

How about it be our guys, OK?

And here to tell us about this milestone are Kendall Paul.

She's the CEO of the Vanderberg Humane Society and Laurie Byers.

She's development and public relations coordinator at VHS, so, guys, your reaction to that 1000 Mark?

I mean, it's tremendous.

It really is a tremendous accomplishment.

Yeah, very exciting because it really shows that this concept can work and has been working.

And, you know, for us as a humane society, those adoptions are everything.

And so getting those cats into homes and having a thousand of them being saved this way makes all the world makes it all.

Laurie?

Right.

And River Kitty has been just a game changer for us for our lifesaving mission.

I mean, cats move in and out of here so quickly.

You know, we're bringing in eight new cats a week.

So yeah, there's one right here and one, just, hop up in your lap.

Now, you guys, there's a cat population problem.

And and you said it's been growing recently.

It has for the for quite a while now.

You know, when I first started with the VHS many years ago, David, a long time ago, dogs were the the leading animals that were coming into shelters across the country.

And now by far for a long time now, it's been cats.

You know, there are so many of them that are outdoors that really shouldn't be there, so many of them that have not been fixed.

They can produce cats so much faster.

They can have more in their litters.

They can get pregnant very young.

It's a problem.

And so we just are finding ways to combat this problem.

In 2007, we opened our low cost spay and neuter clinic, which is making a huge impact on the overall number.

So we're starting to see definite improvements in our area, but we're constantly still trying to find ways for people to come in and find animals that need homes.

And so things like this really kind of are able to showcase these cats in a totally different light.

So, Laurie, that's your job getting the word out, right?

Right.

Yeah.

So I'm happy to do that unboxing videos here every week.

So that's gained quite a following, especially in the last year.

So every time we have new cats, we bring them in.

And I don't know if you follow this on social media, but it's usually a big to do and it's a lot of fun and yeah, we're just trying to find these animals and I'm, I'm curious who names these cats?

Oh boy, this shelter, if they come in with a name and, you know, if they've been turned into us and they already have a name, we keep that name because that's the name that cats have when they come in and they're young or it's been a large hoarding situation or something where we don't know it's usually our intakes department.

Sometimes everybody in the building will like submit lists of names.

If it's a litter of kittens, it's very easy to do like a theme so we'll have like the Scooby Doo litter or we'll have the, the Harry Potter litter or something so that it's easy for us to reference them.

And then we did just have a fundraiser, right?

We did have a fundraiser.

In social media asking folks to donate $10 and give us a name suggestion, which came at the perfect time because that's was a week before we acquired those 58 cats so that's a lot of names from the hoarding case.

So we have all sorts of that group is all over the place with names.

We have anywhere from SpongeBob to little Rudy to Jessica, you know, Cappuccino, Mocha.

I mean, you get to a theme.

There's a lot of names to come up with every year.

Well, you mentioned the fact that you have the unexpected calls of "We've got 40 cats, right?

We've got 30 cats.

We needed a place for them."

And that's not an uncommon thing.

It seems that when you're dealing with somebody who maybe is in a home that has hoarding tendencies, cats are kind of a natural thing that they take in.

And inevitably, because they're typically always indoors, the population can get out of control very fast.

And it's not until it's really out of control that somebody realizes that there's a problem.

And so generally when someone calls and says, hey, we have an issue, it's not that they have two cats, it's that there are 25 cats or there are 50 cats that need home all at once.

And of course we still take in a considerable amount amount of young cats every year in including, you know, ones that are not old enough to go up for adoption yet.

So we get moms and babies in or babies without moms.

And so that's a struggle.

And then even just trying to keep those guys alive and putting them into foster care and getting them to the point where they can be adopted either here at the River Kitty Cat Cafe or at the VHS now, this is a great venue.

Your location is perfect downtown.

Perfect.

Yeah, it's booming.

I can't wait to see what downtown is going to be like in just the next three years.

Even so, I imagine more foot traffic, more adoptions and a lot of exciting things coming up for River Kitty.

You mentioned the fact that we're going to a park to downtown park downtown as well.

So just yeah, just have foot traffic coming down, I think is also going to be a big deal.

We really would love that because of course, we we have been the partner with Nancy, Annette and Nancy from the beginning.

So it's always been Vanderburgh Humane Society cats that have been here.

Sure.

And been up for adoption.

But the VHS actually acquired the Cat Cafe in November of 2019.

What a better time to jump into the cafe business.

Then, right before a worldwide pandemic when everything gets shut down.

So here we are, a nonprofit organization, just trying to keep our head afloat anyway and now we're dealing with a whole nother venture and everything has stopped.

All of our events have stopped.

No traffic down here, all that great foot traffic that we'd like to have.

There's no events happening downtown, nothing.

So we are really excited to start seeing basketball games again.

And the Christmas events that took place and concerts that are coming back here, all of that makes a big difference on that traffic.

We see a considerable number of people from out of town when they're able to travel.

So we're hoping and excited about what the future can be once, you know, things can kind of get back to maybe some sort of normalcy and you see that a lot of the people are coming in from out of town.

It is unbelievable.

We actually had we've had many of our cats, whoever adopted and they travel, we I remember being in here one night and someone was in for a Thanksgiving and they were visiting family.

They came down here and the next thing you know, they're packing up a cat to take back to Pennsylvania.

We had some other a couple that were in for Christmas.

They came down, changed their plans.

They were supposed to fly home instead, rented a car and drove home with a new cat.

So it's really a wonderful thing because not only is it a great local thing, but it's a great destination for people to come.

And it's a fun thing to bring your out-of-town guests or family and friends to.

People are in town for a concert.

They're walking down our beautiful main street, and this is a place that they like to stop now.

This is a unique facility.

I know Annette and Nancy, they rented this building right now to be an antique shop, I believe.

Now, you guys own this building we don't own the building.

We still lease the build, OK?

It is it is a leased building.

But the owner did a wonderful job with Annette and Nancy of doing the renovation OK, making a unique place for us.

And we're continuing to do some neat things even downstairs, which is kind of neat.

A lot of people don't realize that while this is the public space for now, there is an entire lower floor, which is where our downstairs lounge is, so that they literally the litter lounge.

Exactly.

The cats can actually travel through our magic trunk and go down a ramp into the basement where they get their food, where they get to use the litter box.

And some of them that are maybe not maybe they don't want to see visitors right now, or maybe they're new to the cafe and they need some time to adjust before they figure out that they can come up here and visit with guests.

They can hang out down there in little cubbies and be relaxed.

So they did a beautiful job renovating.

It's just got a great vibe to it.

We love the exposed brick.

We just love every all the details that they did with it.

We're trying to keep that kind of same vibe going now that we have it.

Full disclosure here, I have a Humane Society cat at home.

We love it.

Her name is Eden.

We love it, and she's 14 years old.

She was a part of a litter of three It was Eddie, Eedie and Edden.

We love good alliteration.

Yes, I know alliteration.

It's hard to remember that, but she's doing fine.

She's quite the queen, as you can imagine.

Definitely.

Now, I was talking to when I was I had had Nancy and Annette on my show a couple of years ago, and they talked about some of the cat characters that they they remember, and one was named Madison.

And she said, Nancy told me that Madison always slept on a lavender pillow.

And Madison was eventually adopted from a by a couple in Madisonville, Kentucky.

So I mean, that's that's a classic into that story.

So I'm sure you guys do you follow up on the adoptions?

It's great when we hear back from people, and that's the beauty of social media is because we will get photos posted, you know, to our pages or they'll message us and let us know, you know, how the animals are doing.

It's really kind of neat.

To see, you know, them go from a shelter environment or here at the cafe environment to all of a sudden they're lounging on somebody's bed at home or they're stretched out across the sofa it's really kind of a cool, cool thing.

So, Laurie, you're kind of a newcomer to the Vanderburgh Humane Society, but you're not a newcomer to critters, are you?

At Wesselman Woods?

That's right.

I was at Wesselmsn Woods, so I switched to the nature preserve, and so I swapped out screech owls for cats and dogs.

I think it's a little bit more of my I mean, I'm passionate for wildlife and for nature, but in my heart, dogs and cats are where it's at.

And I once worked with another rescue before that.

So no stranger to rescue.

I've just been out of it for a while.

And.

Well, tell me about the other rescues you did just out of Warrcik Humane Society or just county over.

Yeah, that was some years ago.

And yeah, now I'm back in the rescue game and I couldn't be happier.

Now you guys have critters at home?

Oh, of course.

Oh, yeah.

Well, let's look at a question is asked about.

You heard about my pet Eedin OK, Kendall, let's start with you.

Will, right now I have two dogs and a cat.

Certainly there have been times in my life where I've had many more than that.

But we are we have all VHS adopted.

In fact, Goose, who was my cat, was adopted here from River Kitty.

He was adopted into, I think, January of 2020.

We had taken over the cafe and I was I love this cat.

He was down here and I kept saying, no, I am not getting a cat right now.

I'm not every time I was here, he was up in my lap and I kept thinking, if he's here after the first of the year, he's coming home with me.

And ultimately he's at home with me.

And then we have two dogs.

We have a boxer, her name is 11 or El, and then we have a Boston terrier and his name is Dude.

11.

11, yeah.

After the television show Stranger Things, it's a pop culture.

OK, OK. All right.

She was named.

She was named after that.

But yeah, those.

So just two dogs and a cat right now.

And I do have a snake, but he stays with me at work, so he is in my office all the time.

Now, do I recall this correctly?

Did your first pet was it a turtle years ago?

You do remember that?

Yes.

I can tell you about that first year about that.

It was a long time ago that was something my father thought it would be fun to have a snapping turtle as.

Oh, that's fun.

Yeah.

And so that very first pet that I had when I was little was the snapping turtle that was outside.

Yeah.

It didn't last all that long, obviously, not very cuddly.

Not very cuddly.

No, no, not at all.

But the began my love of wildlife.

Laurie, your pets.

I prefer mammals.

I don't blame you.

So I do have two dogs.

Pedro is a Chihuahua, adopted about 13 years ago now at this point.

And now I proudly have my first VHS alumni that I adopted last month.

His name is Louis we did have two seniors that we lost this year.

So yeah, we have Louis.

He's really brought some energy back into the house a little too much.

But it's all right.

And then to two cats, both rescues.

Gus, I found at the side of the road when he was about three weeks old and Egg, he's my special needs cat.

His legs are deformed and he's just perfect.

Oh, you guys.

So you walk the walk?

Yeah, absolutely.

Now, this this venue here, I mean, remember Kitty Cat Cafe?

I mean, we actually have the adoption of the animals here, but it's a cafe as well.

It is.

It's a business.

And you have.

What do you have on the menu here, guys?

I mean, let's see.

We've got smoothies, so you could go either route, you can go with smoothies and Macron's, you know, anything for your sweet tooth.

But we also have beer and wine that you can actually purchase, and you can drink a glass in house, take the rest of the bottle with you.

And that's a service that a lot of folks don't know about.

So what's what's cooler than if you work downtown, come get a nightcap, get a glass of wine, decompress.

It's super relaxing in here, especially in the evenings when it's quiet.

So, yeah, and then all the different types of coffees that you would want.

Certainly, we have muffins.

Just Rene's muffins, which are wonderful.

And our macaroons are just famous here in town.

Everybody loves them.

They're delicious.

We have lots of other types of little chocolates and chocolate covered pretzels.

Nice little sweet tooth type of items, cookies, some pretzels, different things like that.

And then, of course, a wide range of drinks.

You can get a soda, you can get a smoothie, you can get beer and wine.

So it's a really great way to come and, you know, have a little snack or meet somebody, you know, for an after lunch, you know, type of venue.

So, I mean, I could come in here and have a glass of Chardonnay and scritch one of these cats.

So could oh, that's nice and chill.

It's very chill and relax here.

Come in here, have a glass of wine and just have a cat on your lap.

Now, these macaroons does that little lady, Moldova, does she still make those?

Actually, we have Julia.

Julie is our baker, and she is a wonderful pastry chef.

And they are delicious.

They're beautiful.

They're brightly colored.

They come in so many different flavors.

And so we're very happy to have partnered with her.

She makes them here locally and she, you know, keeps us fully stocked.

And so if you have not tried them, we highly recommend people coming down.

They can find their favorites very, very fast.

I'm a lemon and pistachio fan.

I love those lavender, lavender, lavender.

My kids love the cheesecakes.

There's a strawberry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake.

They're really delicious and really pretty they also make a lovely gift.

They are great to have at, you know, a wedding shower or baby shower or something like that.

So we get people who order things like that from us as well.

You're selling yourself.

Yeah, it's all right.

It's a it really is a lovely presentation with the colors.

And it's just a nice even just a attractive for gifts, too.

Don't you?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, gift shop.

And who doesn't love a gift shop?

I know my my wife would be down.

Well, she has been down here buying cat collectibles.

So what do you have in the gift shop?

Well, I always joke this is where cat people find gifts for other cat people.

Also, we have, you know, your crazy cat lady socks or cat daddy socks we also have our River Kitty gear, which are some really nicely made hoodies and t shirts.

Yeah, all sorts of trinkets, tons of stickers.

Lapel pins.

We also have things for cats, so we have cat scratchers that you can buy a little cat tunnels things that you can pick up for your own cat catnip toys.

So whether it's for a cat or for a cat lover, there's always a little bit of something.

And this all benefits the Vanderburgh Humane Societ.

Great organization.

So when somebody comes into the Cat Cafe, how do they get inside this closed area?

Well, the cool thing is we have all this beautiful glass, which is kind of a unique thing for some cat cafes.

Some have windows, but ours is all open.

So whether you want to come in the lounge or not, you can still see our beautiful animals.

So lots of people will come in and they'll get them a drink and they'll sit down with their laptop and they'll just enjoy the view even without coming into the lounge.

But if you want to come into the lounge, there is a small fee that you pay at the register, and that is a way that we fundraise.

That's part of how we bring in additional income to help us support this venture.

So it's a small fee to be able to come in and hang out with the lounge with the cats for 30 minutes or an hour, and then you can even book for longer times if you want to get in to having a private party or something like that.

There's ways that you can book the entire space.

So whether you want to come in or you want to sit outside and just watch through our glass, certainly options on both sides.

Now, our small children are allowed.

We do.

We have started letting a little bit more kids come into the space a little bitty kids can sometimes be overwhelmed.

They can get too excitable in here.

So the main thing is we ask that there not be too many in here at once and that we ask that the parents are very quiet with them, teaches them, you know, not to grab at the cats, not to pull the cats tales, not to pick them up.

We just want to make sure that the cats don't all then run downstairs.

Nobody else gets to visit with them.

So we try to keep it a little bit more chilled out.

But certainly kids are allowed in the lounge as well.

So we let the cats come to you, right?

Yes.

Right.

That's always a cool thing.

And they will.

Oh, yeah.

Right.

Yeah, it really just when you have to do a little camera equipment, they like to me strings.

Right.

And you can certainly make reservations online.

Also, you can book time to visit the room.

So if you have a small group so it's a walk in or an online reservation either way.

Now, we talked earlier about the litter lounge.

It's downstairs and they have that antique trunk that's been modified.

It has a hole in it, and they kind of go down a shoot down into the litter lounge and kind of explain what's down and the litter lounge.

Sure, it's a couple of ramps that they can go through and they go down there and it is a nice space with lots of cubbies and extra beds, some additional cat trees.

And of course, all the litter boxes are down there.

So that way up here in this space, you don't have to deal with the litter boxes while you're having your glass of wine.

And then we keep dry food down there all the time so that they can free feed as they want.

And then each morning we have our lounge attendants who will come in and who are taking care of that space.

They're doing any of the litter scooping.

They're are giving everybody a little bit of wet food in the mornings just so that we are making sure that they're eating because cats can be finicky, you know, and in a new space, sometimes they get a little stressed.

And so we try to monitor that all the time.

Now, is there a cat the animals start out at the Humane Society shelter.

OK, is there a vetting process to see which cat ends up here at the Cat Cafe?

Any time a cat comes in to the VHS, the first thing it's going to do is going to go through a nose to tail check.

They're going to our triage department where they're going to be looked over their eyes, their nose, you know, do any testing, anything like that.

There.

They also kind of get to know their temperament a little bit.

We learn their history.

Have they been around other cats before?

Is this a very young cat?

Is it a cat that doesn't care for other cats?

They kind of learn some of those things in that process.

And then from there, they put them into either our holding areas or our adoption areas, depending upon their vaccine history.

And then we kind of just get to know them.

And then those cats that maybe are at our lounge over at the VHS, our cageless cat room, if we see that they're getting along with others, then we know that they'll probably be acclimated down here as well.

And so will graduate and kind of graduate.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yes, they can certainly do that.

But we also know that not all of them will get along at all times.

And so occasionally we'll have one that just doesn't thrive down here.

And so we'll just simply take them back to the shelter and give them a little bit more private space does that happen very often?

Occasionally.

OK, I'll you of it once every few weeks, but and all of the cats here are ready to go out the door and go home today.

While at the shelter, some might be waiting to get altered.

All of these guys up to date on their vaccines, they're altered.

And yeah, it's like one of those things where you could be in town and decide you want to take a cat and take any of these so back.

So that can be done in a day in and day.

It's really great.

Our lounge attendants get to know these cats very well.

So they are great about talking to potential adopters to kind of let them know about personalities.

They know who the clown is.

They know who the queen is, they know you know which ones get along better, you know, together what's going on back here.

There are ramps off the top of our little tunnels going to be leaped on here.

So it's kind of neat because then they get to talk to these people and then we do everything via phone.

There's an application process that they can put in over our website, and then they talk to one of our adoption counselors.

And then once everything is approved and paid for, then the cat can get boxed up the lounge attendant will set them up with their folder and everything, and that cat can walk right out the door and go home with them.

Now, Laurie, who's next to you there?

This is Willow and she really does not mind being in the spotlight.

No, no.

It's very relaxed.

She likes to have warm light.

Yeah, just sunbathing.

So now we have now the the female cats have the pink.

Yes, they have the red ones, the boys blues.

And that's just a way for people to differentiate so they know these guys are all fixed.

So we don't have to worry about any activity that we don't want going on.

But that's an easy way for somebody to come in to know whether they're looking at a female or a male.

Now, have you had any issues with COVID19?

I I've heard that some animals can get infected.

We have not had any problems with that.

Of course, the COVID is something that there's a variety of different types of certainly it's something that cats could get years ago.

It's not the same thing that we're dealing with right now, but there are vaccines and things that we, of course, provide for our cats to help those types of preventions.

We have not had any issues with any of our cat populations coming down with the current type of Corona virus.

So we're very fortunate with that.

But, you know, I think that it is certainly more apt for people than it is for our little creatures here.

Now some background on the Vanderburgh Humane Society So Kendall, are you the historian of the Vanderburgh Humane Society?

Does that mean I'm old, David?

Well, I didn't want to say this one, but I can.

I remember when it was off Buchanan Road.

Yeah, I was there by Channel 14 where I worked for many years.

Yes.

And the animals, sometimes people would just drop off animals at Channel 14 thinking they would just wander down to the to the shelter.

Of course, they would just stay at the parking lot and we would take them in and we'd feed them and give them water stuff like that.

So when did it start?

Do you know?

The VHS opened in 19.

It was incorporated in 1957.

So we are actually this year going to be celebrating our 65th anniversary in this community, which is quite exciting.

So.

Hi guys.

Come on in.

Yeah.

Hi.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

How are you?

You're going to get a cat today.

Maybe somebody is nodding in the background.

Oh, excited.

So we're open for business here at the Kitty Cat Cafe.

We're going to check out the animals and they are very old.

I think they know that there's some potential.

I think they're in the building.

OK. Oh OK. 19, 1957.

So 65th anniversary this year, which is very exciting because we of course are a nonprofit organization that has been serving not only the animals, but serving the people of this community for that length of time.

I have been with the organization for a ridiculous amount of time, and I was at that Buchanan Road shelter.

That's where I got my start when I was a shelter assistant over there.

That mean clean cage cleaning cages.

That's what I started doing.

So I'm finishing college and then you probably still do that occasionally.

I don't.

It happens, Laurie, right?

It does happen every now and day and it has to happen.

They have to be cared for.

Animals come first, OK?

And what is the can you give to me?

Kind of like the capsule, the mission of the of the Vanderburgh Humane Society.

I love our motto.

I think our motto is I mean, I love our mission as well.

But our motto is very easy for people to remember.

It's altar, adopt, adore.

And that's really what we're about over there.

Alter really focuses on the fact that we believe spay and neuter is the only way to get us out of the overpopulation problem that we are in in this country.

And then adopt is exactly what you think it is.

It's places like this in the shelter where we are doing our best to find homes for these animals and then adore is everything else.

It's our education program where we're going into the community and we're talking to kids about how to be safe around animals and how to respect animals.

It's our programs that cardio for canines and mutts morning out where we're really promoting that animal human bond and getting out there and doing things in the community with your pet.

So Alter Adopt a door, I think is a very easy way for people to remember kind of what we are about at the VHS.

And it doesn't just affect the animals.

Everything we do helps people too, whether it's our low costs their neuter clinic, where we're trying to offer services for people in the community who maybe couldn't afford to go to a full a full time veterinarian, if you can.

We want you to wonderful veterinarians in our community, but we know there are a lot of families that they can't afford to have a private doctor for their pet.

So we want to make sure that things like our vaccine clinic and our spay and neuter clinic are affordable to them so that those families can continue to have these animals.

We have a pet food bank where families can come in and they can get a bag of food if they're having trouble making ends meet.

Great.

So VHS is not just an animal organization.

It's also very much a people organization.

And we're very proud to be able to serve this community since 1957.

Now Laurie Byers, you're the development and public relations coordinator.

Tell me about the importance of volunteers to this organization.

Oh boy, they're the, the lifeline for us.

You know, I don't want to take anyone else's tag or name, but it does literally take a village, you know, to, to take care of you know, there's 20 cats in this facility run on a very small staff.

They rely heavily on volunteers.

You know, we have hundreds of animals in our facility and you know, there are days, like you said, where, you know, staff is, you know, I'll be cleaning litter boxes one day and writing grants the next day.

So that's where volunteer, you know, selflessly give I think this year over 14,000 hours collectively just volunteering.

And it's not just cleaning cages.

Oh, yeah.

There's so many other so many things.

You might be a lounge attendant down here and help us in the Cat Cafe.

You might work in our resale shop.

The resale shop that we have is a way that we make a tremendous amount of income coming in to help our mission.

And we need people to go through all of the donated items and clean them and wash them and then put them up for sale at the reception.

Oh, where's the resale shop?

It's at the Vanderburgh Humane Society.

Happy Tales resale shop is in a portion of the building that we didn't quite finish out whenever we built the building, and it is a volunteer run thing.

It's open on Fridays and Saturdays.

People can donate.

It's not just pet related items.

It's anything.

It is all types of things.

Furniture, rugs, by the way, right?

It is.

Oh, it's great to browse knickknacks too.

You're into that.

So it's a great way for us to bring income in.

But that might be something that someone who maybe they get a little overwhelmed around all of the animals or it's a little too too much of a tear jerker for them to be around all the homeless animals.

Well, they might want to volunteer in the resale shop, or maybe they want to volunteer at one of our many events that we hope to get to do again.

Right?

Yeah.

Lots of ways for people to get involved.

The Cat Cafe opened in July of 2017.

That's when the first cat was adopted, and that was Sissy a calico.

Now the cafe under the new ownership of the Vanderburgh Humane Society is marking a milestone.

1000 cat adoptions.

Kendall Paul, the CEO of the main societies here, Laurie Byers, she's the PR coordinator and probably wears many hats in the medical society.

Definitely.

Now you guys have seen all of closely, Kendall.

I've seen a lot of cats come and go over over the years and we were talking about some of the other the maybe unexpected moments involving these cats.

And you say the the uncrating of a cat can be quite an adventure.

And Laurie, you have a story to share.

So all stories here begin in a recyclable pet carrier.

And whenever we take them from the shelter to here, that's where we transport them in.

That's what they go home in but you post that a lot of times on Facebook.

Yeah, we have weekly unboxing, so it can be anywhere from two cats.

I think eight is my record of how many I've brought in one unboxing.

But, you know, you have some yowling on the way over here in the back of the car.

Sometimes they will get so excited they will literally eat their way out of the box.

I think of my first unboxing I did by myself.

I had a cat sticking its head completely out, like, here's Johnny so you just never know what you're going to get with those unboxing.

And then we've always had we have a really neat double door system here because inevitably if somebody opens both doors at the same time, a cat is going to then run loose through the cafe.

And so we have had that happen when someone hasn't paid attention to our double doors before, and that's always a treat is trying to catch the cat in the cafe and bring them back because they're very curious about all of this environment on outside this glass.

Well, you know, they can see through, they're like, Oh, I'd like to be over there.

Check that out.

And we're talking about cat cafes.

They're really big in Japan.

I mean, I think Tokyo has like 200 of them, right?

I mean, and of course, the Japanese, they live in smaller spaces and they don't have room for pets, but they interact with these cats at the cafe.

And the cats there are not up for adoption.

They're just right.

It's kind of like a little zoo, I guess.

Yeah.

I think it's kind of like a you know, they are just the unique cats to that environment.

They live there.

And so you can go in and have your lunch or you have your coffee or your tea and the cats are just all around you, but they are always the same here.

The great thing about our cats is that they are adoptable.

And so we find that and which is one of the reasons, you know, we wanted to make sure that when Nancy and that were deciding that they needed to move on.

Do we buy this cafe?

Is this something we want to do?

And one of our concerns was what if somebody did buy it who didn't want it to be adoptable cats?

And we thought that was a really missed opportunity.

So we wanted to make sure that the cats that were here were, you know, getting that benefit of being downtown and of having this unique location because we knew what a dire need there is for cat adoptions in our community.

And so this is a great way for us to feature and focus them.

So what's the turnover rate?

It can be pretty quickly or oh, for the cats.

Yeah, anywhere.

I mean, there will be some here for two days, right?

Or the day they're unboxed.

I think the longest resident was maybe three months, but that's a long time for River Kitty.

You know, there's animals sitting in shelters elsewhere for, you know, almost two years at a time.

So we be pretty quick turnover and sometimes I'm just blown away.

All of a sudden on the weekend, it'll be like, I'll get a ding, ding, ding, ding.

Oh, my gosh.

We've had five adoptions today down at River Kitty.

It's just been incredible.

And then that just means that five more cats from the VHS get to come down here making room for five more to come into the shelter.

So it has a domino effect.

So not only are you saving this cat's life when you come to adopt, but you are making a space for another homeless cat.

To make space for another homeless cat to come in.

And I think if somebody comes in here and adopts a cat, they're going to tell their friends about it.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, I think so, too.

And I think anybody who comes in, certainly it's not the it's not the place for everybody.

Every once in a while we'll have somebody come in and they don't get they don't get it and that's OK.

But the people who enjoy cats and who just want to see kind of a unique environment, they do.

And they really love, you know, our team.

We have a tremendous team of people who work down here and they are, you know, kind and courteous and always very helpful.

They're very knowledgeable.

So that's a big plus.

It's a cool place.

So people like the environment and, you know, and where else are you going to go and get to sit with these kitty cats and have a glass of wine or a coffee and and just be able to chill.

Is this the only cat cafe in the tri state?

As far as I know, yeah, it's in this area.

It is.

I know that.

Indianapolis, I believe.

And Louisville and I think Nashville.

So kind of all those cities there around us, those larger Evansville is kind of that hub in the middle for some of the bigger cities.

And we are one of the only ones in this area now.

Cat personalities, any cats that you recall that are just really stand out that you've had?

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, there are so many, so many over the years.

Inevitably, you know, we'll have cats that they look to live vertically.

They don't want to come out of our little or our little tunnel things or they'll sit in the bridge.

We have what we call our bridge trolls.

They always get adopted next.

Whoever it is, like I'm going joke that you'll come in and you'll have a cat and they'll be laying on our little bridge and inevitably it's the next one.

It won't let any other cats up there.

It's you think got to lay there and not let anybody else up.

And inevitably, they're the ones who get adopted next because they're they're seen really well.

Yeah.

They get the attention.

They're getting it.

I think they know that, don't they?

I know.

Do you have any any ever had any resident cats that you've just kept here for a while?

There were, Nancy and Annette did when they had the cafe, they had River which was one of the first resident cats here.

And then Albert was another cat.

And those ultimately then went on to be adopted.

But they were the original kind of house cats.

And we just at the VHS have kind of always tried to just make it all of the spaces available for the adoptable ones.

So we don't have any house cats here.

But River and Albert lived here for quite a while.

And then also Charlotte, I think, was also a greeter.

Charlotte was a greeter for quite a while.

Definitely now when you enter this cat enclosure we don't make of the calming atmosphere, but you usually have a very calming atmosphere.

You can come in here very chill.

You're in the cat environment.

You are there's usually like some some nice light music that's playing.

It is just these kitty cats and just a peaceful kind of environment.

It's really nice because you can still see out into all of the other spaces and they can see in the but it's is it's just a really nice environment.

Speaking of chill this, I think I hear is that sometimes they pick you, you know, golly.

So do they have any favorite music or do they have any favorite music?

We keep a lot of classical a lot of classical music.

Some light harp.

Yeah, absolutely.

Or even at the VHS, we have a sound system where we play a lot of classical music or a lot of very kind of chill music there because it does help the animals just kind of remain calm in any time you're taking an animal and putting them in an unusual environment.

You want to take all the steps you can to kind of bring that stress level down for them.

And the nice thing is, you know, you get to see them like this where you feel like these cats are really comfortable, even though they're not in a home, they're here, they're being able to just be cats.

Whereas at the shelter, we do have one cage cat room there, but so many of them are just in a in a cage or in a one of our condos.

We make them as nice as possible, but that's where they're living.

When they get to come here or there in the lounge there, they get to just be cats they can jump, they can run, they can climb, they can chill, whatever they want to do.

Now, how many cats we have here right now?

20.

Yeah.

We think.

And how many are probably down in the little lounge right now?

Oh gosh.

Or only four.

Yeah.

Oh well yeah.

But most of them are up here roaming around.

Yeah.

Most of them are.

Well they want to see what's going on.

I think you guys are a unique experience for them today.

We're trying to do what we can, you know, try to get them adopted.

Now at the shelter how many cats do we have over?

I mean, in our care right now, VHS probably has somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 cats, really.

So that kind of just shows you the magnitude and when we get into the months like June, May and June, we'll start to see that climb and we will sometimes have, you know, 400 cats in our care and that's here at the cafe at VHS and in our foster families in the network that we have.

But that's a lot that's a lot of cats to take care of.

It's a lot of cats to feed.

It's a lot of cats to medicate and vaccinate.

So things like this where we can raise a little extra money, that is what all that goes to it's it's not just about adopting cats.

The idea is that the cafe itself will bring in additional income for the shelter because this whole thing is a nonprofit organization.

And you have these unexpected large surrenders that we talked about that you just can't plan for.

Really?

Yeah.

And it happens.

It happens every year and it happens all the time.

Fortunately, with our spay and neuter clinic, we're also going to hopefully hit a milestone with that this year.

We opened our spay neuter clinic in 2007.

This year, we expect to hit our 100,000 surgery.

My goodness.

Oh, that is a milestone.

It really is.

And if you think about if you fix one cat well it just takes two to make five and then those five can make 20 and then those 20 can make 100, it can get out of hand very, very quickly.

So just by fixing one, you have saved thousands.

So having fixed 100,000 animals in our community is quite a milestone.

You know, I don't see that many strays out in the community.

I know there are absolutely feral cats definitely getting better.

It's definitely getting better.

I kind of always joke.

I said, you know, if you see a dog running down the street, most of us would stop and try to figure out where that dog belongs to because we don't expect it to be out there.

But you see a cat and you just make the assumption that it lives there, that it's, oh, it's lives in this neighborhood.

That's where it's supposed to be.

And we're trying to curtail that by getting all these outdoor cats fixed so that we don't have all these animals being born there.

Certainly cat colonies in our community, which there are people taking care of them.

But if we can get those cats fixed, then they're not going to continue to add to it.

So lots of different steps have to happen for that population to really start to lower.

I think another service that you provide here, besides being an attraction, bringing people downtown people can come in here and they probably can't adopt an animal, but they can come in here and just be part of this experience and they can just cuddle with an animal and oh yeah, I meet a lot of folks in here who don't have any pets at home because of course the first thing you always ask in a cat lounge, can I see pictures of your cats or, you know, or swapping cat photos?

And there are people who just don't have any at home, you know, I just come and get my, my fill here and yeah, we see that happen.

Here and back at the VHS.

I remember talking to a gentleman one time who his pet had passed away and his wife, you know, had said, hey, no more.

We're at an age where we don't we don't need any more animals right now.

But he just wanted that fixed.

And so he would just come in once a week and sit down and spend time with the animals.

And that not only serves that person, but it serves these animals.

So even if you're not adopting, coming in and socializing with them, spending time with them, that keeps their spirits up and that makes them more adoptable for that next person.

Well, I think having a very active humane society is also very good for the community.

It shows that this community cares.

I think you're right.

And I think the fact that we've been here since 1957, some of us feel like we've been here since 1957 but the fact that we have really shows that this community has embraced the Humane Society and the Humane Society has provided valuable services for this community for that many years.

And that we are making a true difference.

The things that we are putting in place and the progress that we're making is a joint effort.

It takes us, it takes Evansville Animal Care and Control, it takes the other animal welfare agencies in the community and it takes the community members to get involved and recognize the problems and see that we are all looking for unique, interesting ways of solving this problem.

And this is just kind of one of our special, unique ways.

Well, I can't forget this.

My my daughter's an art teacher.

So you have artwork here.

We do.

I have to mention that we have all kinds of kitties up here.

And tell us about the artwork.

It's really kind of neat.

This is part of what Nancy and Annette had done when they first started.

They had a local artist that was a friend of theirs, and they created a lot of these different pieces.

And then some of the other pieces were donated from one of the antique shops that had been down here.

And so you see, and we're we're looking at trying to swap things out from time to time and still keeping the unique vibe and having that art but still kind of making it fresh, you know, here and there.

OK, a final pitch now to get people supporting the Humane Society and the River Kitty Cat Cafe Laurie?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

No pressure.

Final pitch.

Final Pitch.

OK, well, how can we help?

How can you help adopt if you can't adopt you can share our Facebook post just spreading the word.

You can volunteer and you can always donate.

So really, there's something for everyone as far as contributing to our mission and our cause.

Absolutely.

As a nonprofit organization, you know, we just need people to remember that it takes finances to make this happen.

We cannot operate the level of humane society that we need to in our community without having donors so whether it's donating your time or donating money or donating in-kind gifts or supplies, donating something for our resale shop, whatever you can do, can make that difference.

And we have so many ways that they can donate.

You can go to our website, donate directly online, you can donate.

We have a Venmo account, we have PayPal account.

You can stop by the shelter.

We're open there now six days a week for adoptions where you can make a donation in person.

Maybe you have a bag of food that your cat doesn't like.

Well, bring it on in.

We'll put that in our food bank.

Maybe you have items that you're cleaning out and they're in good shape.

Well, you can bring those to our resale shop for us to put up for sale.

And maybe you're willing to just write a check or make a donation online, whether it's $5 or $500.

All of that money is going to come back in to our mission and to saving these guys or just come down and have some coffee.

So maybe that's perhaps a glass of wine.

Perfect.

Way.

No way to know that you're not only enjoying yourself and supporting downtown, supporting this community, but you're also supporting a nonprofit organization.

And I was talking when I first talked to Annette net and Nancy, who opened the cafe so many years ago, they said this is the perfect place for a date night.

Yes, it really is.

Yes.

We always see a prom couples come in or homecoming couples or we have a first dates.

Great place to come in during your first date for a glass of wine.

And a cuddle with a cat.

There you go.

Go ahead and roll with that.

Yeah, I think a guy could score some points.

I think so.

Taking is a great Valentine location.

There you go.

We are here at the River Kitty Cat Cafe, and we were celebrating the milestone.

1000 adoptions and counting.

Kendall, Paul, Laurie Byers, thanks for inviting us in.

We've enjoyed our time with you and of course, the cats.

I'm David James this is Two Main Street presented by Jeffrey Burger a Burger will services at Bayard Private Wealth Management.