This story is about a cat named Salem who suffered from encephalitis because of which he was completely paralyzed. This was not an ordinary case as a paralyzed cat depends on you for everything from a clean diaper, food, water in close proximity and someone to play with him whenever he needs it. His eyes were one of the most expressive ones the studio which cared for him had seen and seeing him lying down, all alone, when the other cats played broke their hearts. He had his bouts of depression too but the team’s love is what kept him going who catered to him 24x7. When they first heard that someone wanted to adopt Salem, they thought it was a joke. But it happened, they flew him to Bangalore where his new mom waited in anticipation and he now has a family that loves and cares for him.

This is one adoption story out of the 350+ successful ones that stands out for the team at Cat Café Studio in Mumbai, and rightly so! They currently have 25 cats, 15 of whom are up for adoption. The plight of strays in our country is what inspired the starting of a Cat Café. Mriidu Khosla, the Managing Director, started taking cats in her home but it didn’t just stop there. In 2010 when she started an independent marketing agency, the space was used to further rescue and foster more and more cats. Eventually, co-founders, Charu Khosla and Jason Moss worked towards making this venture a proper functioning Cat Café.  They also wanted a flavour of an art studio and hence, Cat Café Studio originated!

They operated out of the marketing agency’s office till earlier this year and have now shifted to a new location to cater to the growing number of cats they foster. This new space has a designated cat area for cat lovers to lounge with their coffees, a café area for coffee lovers who can bring in their dogs and an art space which they rent out for events. A regular day for the team looks mostly like this: serving mouth-watering delicacies, cuddling with at least 25 cats, finding a forever home for these furballs and shattering cat related myths in India like how a black cat crossing your path is a bad omen and milk is good for them when they are actually lactose intolerant.

If you like your coffee freshly brewed, your cakes right out of the oven, your bagels warm and your cats purry, Cat Café Studio is the place for you!
 

Where? Bungalow No. 63, Harminder Singh Road, Aram Nagar Part 1, Aram Nagar, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai.
Watch Salem’s story here: