We Have a Black Cat, Not a Cat Cafe!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
I had a bit of a humorous morning today when I finally checked up on Gigazine (I like their b-kyu food posts for the Japanese fast food chains). They were covering a black cat cafe, Nekobiyaka. This cat cafe is nowhere near Tokyo as it is in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture.
http://gigazine.net/news/20140101-black-cat-cafe/
This was a funny moment as I'm not really a pet person, but our house now has a long lived guinea pig named Ginger and a new six month old black cat named Firefly. I guess I don't need to visit a Japanese cat cafe now, although my other family members did on our trip to Tokyo last February. Ginger is the inspiration for a genetically enhanced guinea pig in my novel Neo Ace and is going to be four this year. I Googled "How long does a guinea pig live" and Google returned a definitive answer of 4-5 years in BIG PRINT. Kind of scary, but I think Ginger will outlive that forecast. Just don't Google yourself and how long you will live - probably bad luck at best.
Japan's Amazing Love of All Things Cat (an earlier blog post of mine with a cat cafe in it)
Ikebukuro Day 7 Part 2 of our Tokyo Trip (One of the original cat "cafes" is in this post)
Yesterday, I spent 5 hours at the Edmonton Animal Shelter / Humane Society. It is a pretty nice facility that actually reminds me of a cat cafe as you get to meet the cats in little playrooms. A cat cafe is a place in Tokyo where you can play with cats while having coffee or dessert as many Tokyoites live in small apartments or their landlord prohibits pets. There was a cat named Cloud we saw on the web that my other family members wanted, and she got snagged at the same time we were looking at her. Amazing coincidence considering she had been at the shelter for almost a month. Heartbroken we went and met many other cats (many of which were sleeping - just like a cat cafe - but it is pretty hard to determine if they should be adopted in that state). Finally, we saw a cute seven month old kitten (adolescent really) who was really friendly. She was named Firefly as she has a white tuft of fur on her chest that shines through.
After an hour or two hours, the cat lovers in my family finally picked Firefly, I met her, and the adoption process began. Owner interviews, administrative procedures, and vet checks took hours and there wasn't a good vending machine with hot canned coffee in sight (like Japan).
Getting home through the icy road conditions was a chore as there was an accident ahead of us that blocked traffic. Finally we arrived at home and allowed Firefly to adjust to our newly cat proofed home. She immediately left the cat carrier to look around. She loved our place and explored all over and checked out the guinea pig under our supervision. Firefly seems to be a real charmer, with a friendly disposition, and very playful when she is active. She loves cuddling and sleeping in our bed when not bouncing on us. We're going to get her to sleep in her own little bed, but we'll let it go for now! So now I have a 24 hour black cat cafe as she hangs out on a spare chair at the kitchen table (but is not allowed on top).
http://gigazine.net/news/20140101-black-cat-cafe/
This was a funny moment as I'm not really a pet person, but our house now has a long lived guinea pig named Ginger and a new six month old black cat named Firefly. I guess I don't need to visit a Japanese cat cafe now, although my other family members did on our trip to Tokyo last February. Ginger is the inspiration for a genetically enhanced guinea pig in my novel Neo Ace and is going to be four this year. I Googled "How long does a guinea pig live" and Google returned a definitive answer of 4-5 years in BIG PRINT. Kind of scary, but I think Ginger will outlive that forecast. Just don't Google yourself and how long you will live - probably bad luck at best.
Japan's Amazing Love of All Things Cat (an earlier blog post of mine with a cat cafe in it)
Ikebukuro Day 7 Part 2 of our Tokyo Trip (One of the original cat "cafes" is in this post)
Yesterday, I spent 5 hours at the Edmonton Animal Shelter / Humane Society. It is a pretty nice facility that actually reminds me of a cat cafe as you get to meet the cats in little playrooms. A cat cafe is a place in Tokyo where you can play with cats while having coffee or dessert as many Tokyoites live in small apartments or their landlord prohibits pets. There was a cat named Cloud we saw on the web that my other family members wanted, and she got snagged at the same time we were looking at her. Amazing coincidence considering she had been at the shelter for almost a month. Heartbroken we went and met many other cats (many of which were sleeping - just like a cat cafe - but it is pretty hard to determine if they should be adopted in that state). Finally, we saw a cute seven month old kitten (adolescent really) who was really friendly. She was named Firefly as she has a white tuft of fur on her chest that shines through.
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| Edmonton Human Society small cat rooms. They have bigger ones too with furniture for people and more cats of course. |
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| Firefly the Kitten |
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| Ginger the guinea pig who has survived her poor deceased sister by years now. |
Getting home through the icy road conditions was a chore as there was an accident ahead of us that blocked traffic. Finally we arrived at home and allowed Firefly to adjust to our newly cat proofed home. She immediately left the cat carrier to look around. She loved our place and explored all over and checked out the guinea pig under our supervision. Firefly seems to be a real charmer, with a friendly disposition, and very playful when she is active. She loves cuddling and sleeping in our bed when not bouncing on us. We're going to get her to sleep in her own little bed, but we'll let it go for now! So now I have a 24 hour black cat cafe as she hangs out on a spare chair at the kitchen table (but is not allowed on top).