By Dave Paone
Campus News
Stony Brook University student Alex Baez loves cats. His childhood pet was an orange tabby, aptly named Carrot.
Carrot is long gone and while his parents and his younger brother currently have cats, Alex is a long way from his hometown of Englewood, Colorado, and he’s catless.
“They always like to brag about their cats when I talk with them. They show me all these cute videos. I just get jealous,” said the 25 year old.
So what can he do when he yearns to pet a cat? He goes to A Kitten Kadoodle Coffee Café, a “cat café” in Selden, Long Island.
You read that right: a cat café.
One half of A Kitten Kadoodle is a café and the other half is an animal rescue organization where you can adopt a cat. A glass wall separates the two, but after you purchase a beverage in the café and make a five-dollar donation, you may cross into the other half and play with the cats as long as you’d like.
And this is exactly what Alex does. He’s been going to A Kitten Kadoodle two or three times per month since he learned about it in August.
Alex is not alone. Both Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College are nearby and students from both often drop in, with laptops in hand, and spend a few hours doing homework while seated among the adoptable cats, which frolic around them.
The husband-and-wife owners, Bill and Jennifer Rose Sinz, encourage this by making it enticing for students to come by. The place is equipped with free Wi-Fi and USB ports and there are couches and tables and chairs, where students can spread out.
On a brisk Friday night last month, Gianna Polanco, Natalie Hernandez and Dena Miller dropped by the café. Gianna is a freshman at SCCC and Natalie and Dena graduated from there last year.
“We were going to go to the thrift store, but we came here instead,” said Gianna, who majors in photography.
It was Gianna and Natalie’s first visit and Dena’s third. None of the three had any qualms about the five-dollar admission fee, even if they were to become regulars.
“If you go to Starbucks every day and get your five-dollar coffee it’s the same difference,” said Natalie.
The trio spent just under an hour there, playing with the cats.
The very first cat café opened in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998. However, it was in Japan where their popularity grew. Eventually they made their way to Europe and then only recently, North America. A Kitten Kadoodle, which opened in July, is one of two on Long Island, with a third scheduled to open soon.
The Sinzes go through literally 100 pounds of litter and over 30 pounds of food per week. Sometimes they purchase these supplies but they also depend on their donations.
It’s not just students who’ve discovered the place. SCCC English professor Maria Kranidis loves going to A Kitten Kadoodle and has actually met with her students there twice for conferences.
Maria likes to emphasize “community” in “community college” and feels by holding court off campus at A Kitten Kadoodle, she and her students are promoting mom-and-pop stores over national chains.
Her students appear to like it; one was the first there and last to leave, having spent four hours playing with the cats.
Alex has been attending Stony Brook University for seven years. He’s already earned his Bachelor’s and is working towards becoming a medical doctor and a neuroscientist.
During this time he’s lived in several places, including a dorm and various apartments. This lifestyle isn’t conducive to owning a pet, although Alex feels there could be one in his future, possibly as soon as February, when he’s finished with exams.
At the moment, there’s one orange tabby residing at A Kitten Kadoodle. He’s six years old and his name is Buddy. Perhaps after Alex finds a more permanent residence, he will adopt Buddy and there will be two souls — one human and one feline — brought together by this novel style of business.
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