The Alley Cat Café, Stratford ON

Remember in my last post when I said that I was going to be writing much more because I was in a new area with plenty of places to explore… Well that was perhaps a tad unrealistic of me.

It’s been six weeks since my last post and since then this is my first day off. This is completely my own fault as I can’t say no to the extra cash and seem to have some kind of weird addiction to keeping myself busy. It’s been great for saving up money, especially as I just had to pay my taxes here in Canada (all I’ll say about that is ouch!) but it’s not much good for anything else!

For the next few months my posts may be more scattered rather than weekly so apologies in advance but with nothing exciting going on at the moment, my blog is a little barren!

Anyways with my excuses and apologies out of the way, I did manage to squeeze in an afternoon at The Alley Cat Café in Stratford!

After driving past this café dozens of times and pointing excitedly at the cats lounging in the windows, we finally popped in for a coffee and some cat appreciation.

What makes this cat café different from ones I’ve visited before, is that all the cats are rescue cats and available for adoption. Since the café opened in August 2019 they have successfully helped 283 cats find their furr-ever home.

Personally I think this is a great way to do adoptions as you can visit and spend time with your special cat before making any big decisions. Of course its not just about if you love them, they have to feel the same way about you before moving them into your home… A bit like dating really!

What I also really liked is that there is a kitty door for cats to come and go as they please, so they still have the freedom to chose whether they want to socialise or not. Cats do things on their terms and theres no changing that!

Fun fact, did you know that only 20% of ginger cats are female? This is because for female cats to be ginger, they will need to have an “O” chromosome on both “X” chromosomes. So if you have a female ginger cat you are very lucky!

There is a small admission fee which goes towards the cats care. You can chose to visit half an hour or an hour. If you’re reading this and wanted to help the cats but are unable to visit, you can check out their page here which has their amazon wish list linked.

On the subject of cats, there is a feral cat who lives on the farm that I’ve named Kitsy. At first she was scared of me but slowly I have gained her trust and she occasionally let’s me give her an ear scratch. Last week I didn’t see her for a few days and I was getting worried, but then I found her and she showed me something amazing…

She had two kittens!

Just to be clear before anyone starts to worry, Kitsy and her babies are wild animals so there is no intervening going on and the babies have not been touched. These cats will be kept as wild cats and not moving in any time soon. Wild cats are great to have around on a farm as they keep pests under control, even if they do distract you from your work for an ear scratch every now and then!

As always thanks for reading!