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Alisha Reynolds was on vacation with her husband in North Carolina during the summer of 2017 when a documentary on cat cafes came on the TV. She thought it would be funny if there was a cat cafe on the drive home, and when there was one in Norfolk, Virginia, she had to go in.

“I was like, ‘This is something I can really get behind,’” Reynolds recalled of the visit.

Upon returning to Syracuse, Reynolds realized that the closest cat cafes were in Ithaca and Rochester. When she grew tired of working three jobs in January 2019, Reynolds decided to bring the cat cafe concept to Syracuse. By the end of 2019, she had signed a lease in the Regional Market and began constructing her cafe, Pawsitivitea CNY Cafe & Cat Lounge.

The cafe had its official soft opening on Sept. 22 but is doing an extended soft opening while Reynolds continues to work on the cafe menu, she said. Pawsitivitea currently has eight cats, five of which are tabby kittens.

Pawsitivitea aims to place rescue cats into permanent homes. Young-Bin Lee | Contributing Photographer

The space is separated into two parts: a cafe area where customers can purchase food and drinks, and a cat lounge. A double door separates the cafe from the cats so that they can’t escape the cat lounge.

Due to COVID-19, Reynolds is running the cat cafe at half capacity. Customers must make reservations to visit with the cats and are charged by the hour. The reservation fee helps cover costs necessary for housing and “caring for our feline friends,” according to the cafe’s website.

Although the cafe allows customers to spend time with the cats, the main goal is to place the cats into stable homes through adoptions, Reynolds said. Since her official opening, Reynolds has already had one cat adopted, a black cat named Ivan with a cloudy eye.

Reynolds has been working with Wayward Paws, a cat rescue and rehabilitation center that helps homeless cats in the Syracuse area, to continue to bring new cats into the cafe and process adoptions.

“(Interested adopters) fill out an application and either send it to me or Wayward Paws directly and then they get a little interview just to make sure we have a good fit for them and then they make the decision and go off to their homes,” Reynolds said.

Other cats at Pawsitivitea come from community members who foster cats.

Julie Willsey heard about the cafe through KittyCorner of CNY, a cat rescue and rehabilitation center in Liverpool. She is currently fostering 32 rescue cats at her home in Syracuse and gave Pawsitivitea a black cat she was fostering named Shelly in the hopes that she’ll get adopted.

Willsey is glad there is a cat cafe in the area and brought her four grandchildren to visit Shelly and the rest of the cats.

Meatball, a two month old tiger kitten, is in the process of being adopted with his brother Ollie. Young-Bin Lee | Contributing Photographer

“They help out with my cats too, so I thought they might like to stop in and see the lounge here,” Willsey said.

Reynolds is trying to support other local businesses by selling their products. The current cafe menu includes coffee from Salt City Coffee Company, vegan baked goods from Fat Cat Baking and other treats from Exhale Cafe and Bake Shop.

Megan Mills, the owner of Fat Cat Baking, said that it was a “no brainer” for her business to partner with Pawsitivitea. Mills delivers vegan baked goods to Reynolds on Fridays or Saturdays and suggests that her products be sold within three to five days of its drop off.

“Everything has been selling out before that because they’ve had such a good volume of people coming through there recently,” she said.

Mills is excited about the cafe coming to Syracuse because it gives people the opportunity to destress through spending time with the animals. It also allows for adoptions if people form a bond with the cat, she said.

Two of the tabby kittens, brothers Ollie and Meatball, scurried around the cat lounge and climbed up the cat structures on Tuesday afternoon. They also pounced on Reynold’s leg causing her to shake her head and let out a laugh. Ollie and Meatball are two months old and in the process of being adopted.

“Those two hold a special place in my heart because they were my first residents, and Ollie is always on my shoulder and Meatball is always under my feet,” Reynolds said about the tabby kittens. “They’re my boys.”

Published on September 30, 2020 at 9:42 pm

Contact Sydney: sabergan@syr.edu