Featured Photo by Baylah Close
Story by Stephanie Hall
College can be very stressful and sometimes you just want to take a break and pet a cat. For students in Murfreesboro, you can go to the Catfeine Cat Café.
Opened in 2019, the café is owned by Curtis and Taura Byrd. They originally came to Nashville to be musicians and were working corporate jobs before making their career change after watching an episode of Shark Tank.
The Catfeine Cat Café, as you may imagine, has a large variety of cats and kittens for you to pet and love on.
“We have a lot of personalities,” said Meia Kounlavong, an employee at Catfeine Cat Café. “Tinny is my girl. She is my little shadow. She follows me around, she always gets food whenever she looks at me a certain way.”
“Isadora is our senior cat. She’s got no teeth but has no problem trying to numb you. Santa Clara is our sassy princess because she’s pretty and she knows it. We got some babies, Bloom and Petey, the two brothers Bud and Ridge and then the two sisters, Sahara and Raven.”
Cat Cafés originated in Taiwan and became extremely popular in Japan during the ’90s and 2000s. Over the past few years, Cat Cafés have been opened across America, allowing people to enjoy some light refreshments and pet some cats.
Catfeine works with All Aboard Animal Shelter, Puurrrfect PAWS Rescue, Rutherford County Cat Rescue and Saving Stevie. Many of the cats come from those non-profits.
“In order to work with us, you do have to be a nonprofit, that way we can help fundraising and get all the things that you need,” Kounlavong said.
The cats are adoptable. You must be 21 years old and be within two hours of the café. After visiting with the cats, you must fill out an in-person questionnaire and review with an employee there. Then you’ll have to fill out an application online.
Catfeine Cat Café is a wonderful place to go when you just need to de-stress and play with some cats. While they do take walk-ins, they recommend booking online so you can be sure you get to hang out with the cats.
To learn more about them and book your visit, go to https://www.catfeine.net/
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
