When you open the door to Kitty Cantina: Spokane’s Cat Cafe you can tell something makes it different. After entering the store, if you look to the right you will see what makes Kitty Cantina special.
Justyn Cozza owns the Kitty Cantina along with his wife, their shop sits on the edge of Nevada Street in North Spokane Washington and has been open since 2020. The shop serves many different drinks such as smoothies, lotus, and coffee, along with a selection of food.
Kitty Cantina is both a coffee shop and a cat fostering house, where you can come to watch the animals play while drinking a Kitty Cantina original, it also gives people the opportunity to adopt the cats they see. Around November 2023, Kitty Cantina celebrated 1500 cats given new homes, said Cozza.
“It’s a nice place to just sit and study and write, and having kittens give it a nice and soothing effect,” said customer Julia Hunton. “It’s more than a normal coffee shop.”
“This is a family thing that we can do,” said Cozza about his shop. “Between my wife and I, and our daughter, that is like the main thing we have in common.”
As the owner of the only cat cafe in Spokane, Washington, Cozza has faced a variety of difficulties. One of the hardest and most gratifying parts is helping sick cats regain their strength, and then send the cat to a new family.
“It’s just super rewarding,” said Cozza. “Once you see that cat through to a family it’s like ‘heck yeah.’ It just feels really good.”
Inside Kitty Cantina, you will find both beautifully crafted cat puns for the names of the drinks and local art riddled throughout the stores merchandise
“There are a lot of fantastic artists in Spokane, it’s been a lot of fun working with them,” said Cozza. “I know a lot of tattoo artists. I would love to do something a little more though with that online.”
Cozza has many plans for the future of Kitty Cantina, with hopes for expanding their shop to a bigger building. Right now the business can hold a maximum of 25 cats at a time, and Cozza goes to pick up cats one to four times a week. Kitty Cantina is in association with the Spokane cat shelter, Spokanimal, and most of the felines that Cozza fosters are from that organization.
“I did not anticipate this many [cat adoptions], it’s often that we run out of cats,” said Cozza. “It’s a good problem to have”
Randi Oien, the Director of Customer Relations at Spokanimal, believes that there is a cat for everybody.
“Some people say they don’t like cats, I honestly believe that they just haven’t found the right cat yet,” said Oien. “I believe that there is one cat out there that will come into contact with those people and it will change their mind about cats as a whole.”
The kittens at the Kitty Cantina are all up to date on their shots and are under close watch while at the cafe to ensure that you take home a healthy and happy cat, said Cozza.
“For the most part, the ones that are coming out of foster care are the ones that go to the Kitty Cantina,” said Oien. “At the Cantina there is a room full of cats, and so you want to have a pretty good idea that the cats that you’re putting in there are healthy…The ones coming from foster care have been in homes for a month or two months, and we generally feel pretty confident that there in good health.”
Kitty Cantina is a place where you are sure to see smiling faces and happy kittens with sweet names like “Monster.” The music in the shop is upbeat and sure to create memories of warm kittens and delicious drinks.