By Bud Herron
Cats have never been much of an economic opportunity.
They tend to reproduce like, uhhh, cats. At 4 months old, the females are capable of having babies. Left to their own devices and biological urges, and without the intervention of a veterinarian’s scalpel or the successful moral teachings of a priest, they will flood the market with offspring.
Demand-side economics, therefore, would tend to discount the idea that kitten sales would be a good career choice. (Undoubtedly, this is a primary factor in the decision of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University not to offer a major in the subject.)
Aren’t cats basically free to anyone willing to place a saucer of milk on the back porch?
This is why I was amazed a few weeks ago when my daughter paid $15 per person for her husband and daughter and my wife and me to play with a room full of kittens at the “Purrfect Day Cafe” in Louisville, Kentucky.
I was even more amazed that nine strangers paid the same amount for a reservation to join us for 50 minutes in a room filled with about 20 romping little balls of feline fur.
And, despite demand-side economics, we were only one of eight groups of up to 14 persons each with much coveted reservations to do the same thing that day.
While waiting for their turn to cuddle the kitties (all of which are just 2 to 4 months old), customers can visit the snack bar in another room for a wide variety of purrfect snacks — from Pawmpkin Spiced Scones to Kitty Litter Pawp-Corn (no scooping required).
And the assortment of drinks includes beer, wine and cocktails for those who need a little extra push toward spending $120 to adopt a kitten with all the costs of spaying, neutering and vaccinating already done and a microchip in place. Adopters also get 30 days of kitty life insurance and $125 worth of coupons.
The Purrfect Day Cafe is a cooperative project launched in the summer of 2018 jointly by the Kentucky Humane Society and a Louisville entrepreneur named Chuck Patton. Patton was graduated from Western Kentucky University School of Business (sorry, Kelley) and for 23 years has worked in the marketing and advertising industry.
Patton visited a similar kitty cafe while vacationing in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 and decided Louisville was a ripe market for the idea. Today, he runs the overall business and the humane society operates the adoption portion.
According to the humane society website, more than 4,000 kittens have been adopted through The Purrfect Day Cafe since it opened. But most people — my family included — just paid to play with the kittens and went home with only a smile to show for the experience.
My 10-year-old granddaughter, Zoë, however, was likely typical of many visitors who go home kittenless. As her parents’ car crossed the I-65 bridge heading north, she was still pleading her case about why one more cat, added to the three she already has at home, would not be an over-reach.
So, once again demand-side economics collapses under the onslaught of an innovative idea that no one thought could work.
As John Mellencamp sang in that long-ago song: “Ain’t that America?”
The Purrfect Day Cafe is now listed in Louisville tourist guides as one of the most visited sites in town. If you decide to go, you had better make a reservation and take along a cat carrier.
Bud Herron is a retired editor and newspaper publisher who lives in Columbus. He served as publisher of The Republic from 1998 to 2007. Contact him at [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].
