Cleocatra Cafe begins fundraising for rescue location

Wolseley

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This article was published 13/03/2024 (808 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After pouncing into its home at 859 Portage Ave. almost a year ago, Cleocatra Cafe took Winnipeg and social media by storm. Now, the café and cat shelter is hoping to expand.

The cat café works with Tails of Freedom Rescue and the Winnipeg Humane Society to give customers a trial-run with cats and kittens, all of which are rescues and available for adoption. Every cat is spayed, neutered, and given their proper shots before they’re can be played with. Prospective cat parents just need to pay the adoption fee.

Since opening in May of last year, the café has housed approximately 150 cats.

“It seems like a big number, but we still get a lot of calls from people around the city, and then out of town, also, about their cats they don’t want anymore. They want to give it to us, but we can’t just take it,” said Ségard Reedson, spokesperson for and manager of the café, adding that Cleocatra also receives many calls about local strays.

Reedson explained that the café just doesn’t have enough space, funds, or participating foster parents to house as many cats as are offered to it.

So the café recently launched a fundraiser on Instagram for a second location — to be used as an animal rescue shelter.

Those interested in donating can do so via a GoFundMe page, or by buying of one of many in-house art prints available in the café.

The campaign has raised roughly $3,600 to date, but its goal is $30,000.

If completed, Cleocatra’s new location will be more focused on being rescue, and will broaden its scope beyond cat. Reedson hopes to eventually be able to take in and re-house rescue dogs and rabbits.

“The base is the same,” he said. “(It’s) to get people to interact with animals and create more relaxing moments for people. The second location (would be) a little different from the first one, we won’t have a lot of choices for food and drink. However, we’ll have more art and craft activities, so we’ll have more interaction between people and people, then people and animals. That’s what we’re aiming for.”

The possible expansion will strengthen the café’s reason for being, which has always been creating a safe haven for cats to find their forever homes.

“(We have a lot of) appreciation for the communities, and appreciation for all the cat lovers, and then we have people who have very warm hearts and, yeah, I just want to say there’s a lot of appreciation,” Reedson said.

To donate, visit Cleocatra’s fundraising page, www.gofundme.com/f/rrafx-helping-stray-cats-finding-their-forever-home, online, or the café in-person. Appointments are required to enter the café’s cat room.

For more information — and plenty of animal pictures — visit the cafe’s Instagram account: @cleocatracafe