Kona has a new cafe that is serving up a purrrfectly delightful experience.
The Kona Kat Cafe is open on Alii Drive in the Kona Marketplace as a labor of love for owner Jenny Hulen.
Hulen worked as a physical therapist in Kona for nearly a decade when she, along with her husband, decided to take 6 months off to go to the mainland to care for his father, but got stuck in Tuscon when the pandemic hit. When they returned to Kona, she said there wasn’t much work left in her field.
“I had gone to this cat cafe in Dublin in 2016, and it always stuck in the back of my mind, so I started the process,” she said. “We visited a lot of cat cafes around the country to see what it was and what they do.”
She took her retirement savings and built the Big Island’s first cat cafe, opening in November.
“As a therapist, I’m a healer and cats are so healing. So on top of finding these sweet little kittens homes, I like the human side. It’s like save me and I’ll save you right back.”
She said business has been steady and she has received a lot of support from the local community.
“The people in the community love it because anyone looking to adopt a cat can come in here and hang out and they get to see the personalities of the cats,” she said.
All of the cats at the cafe are feral rescues who have been spay/neutered, microchipped, have received their vaccines and are tested to be feline leukemia free.
Hulen accepts cats in her cafe from CatSnip and Aloha Animal Oasis, non-profit organizations who provide spay/neuter clinics. The cats are quarantined for three weeks before they become part of the Kona Kat Cafe ohana with hopes of finding their new forever home.
“The kittens are the ones they keep and put the older feral ones back in the wild,” she said of the rescue organizations. “When the little kittens come, they just play and run about. If the cats are a little bit older it takes them a little longer to socialize. It’s kind of fun to watch them evolve.”
Hulen has had 25 cats adopted since opening in November. She tries to keep between 15-20 cats at the cafe at any given time.
The adoption fee is $100 for cats and $125 for kittens, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the spay/neuter clinics who actually own the felines.
She said her business is evenly split between tourists and locals. A one hour session with the cats is priced at $20.
Kamaaina, keiki and senior discounts are available, along with membership packages. Guests are given a bag of treats to lure the kitties into play and there are plenty of toys to amuse both felines and humans.
On Saturday, a father and daughter from Winnipeg, Canada, were spending their hour session with some playful kitties.
“We were looking for things to do and found this place. Figured I could use some cat therapy because I miss my cat,” said K’laya Vandenbyllaardt.
The retail section of the cafe features cat themed merchandise including specialty coffee.
“We have different gifts people can buy for family members on the mainland, or toys for kids. We have cat toys that a lot of visitors like to take back to their cats as souvenirs,” she said.
Although they are not a cafe in the actual sense of the word, the do sell canned and bottled beverages and pre-packaged cookies.
“I hope to be bringing in a lot of cats and getting a lot of cats adopted.”
She has even adopted a cat to a visitor from the mainland.
“A man from the cruise ship last week adopted a little Siamese cat with one eye. He asked if we could get her to San Diego. On Alaska airlines you can put the cat under the seat in a carrier, so I put the word out in the community if there was anyone flying to San Diego that could transport a cat. We have had nine responses,” she said. This community is absolutely amazing.”
Hulen also hosts cat yoga every Saturday.
“It is so fun. We have a yoga instructor from the Four Seasons come in and set up the mats in the cat room. We do a whole yoga session and the cats come around the people,” she said.
Reservations for cat yoga must be made in advance and the class size is limited to 10 people.
Visit konakatcafe.com for more information or to book a reservation.