Walking into Sassy Cat Club Cafe in Brandon, customers are greeted by over a dozen cats lounging on tables, sun-soaked cat trees and chairs.
Guests come to simply play with cats or find one they want to take home.
That's the goal of Nicole Duffey's cafe — to get cats adopted.
"My hope is that you get a sense of peace and joy to come in and just relax with them,” Duffey said.
Duffey started working as a veterinary technician when she was 19 years old.
With 30 years of experience under her belt, she used the retirement money she saved to open Sassy Cat in 2023. It’s located off Lumsden Road in a quiet shopping center.
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Since then, she has helped facilitate nearly 700 adoptions.
Those adoptions are made possible through a partnership with A Kitten Place, a volunteer-run, nonprofit cat rescue.
"They're a fantastic organization, so wonderful to work with,” she said. “I love that they not only take such great care of their cats but they also respect my medical background.”
Duffey met Michelle Bass, the co-founder of A Kitten Place, when Duffey’s niece was playing volleyball with Bass’ daughter.
When Duffey began talking about opening her cat cafe, she reached out to Bass.
"It's a labor of love for her, you know, it's a business,” Bass said. “But for us, it's perfect because we are able to feature our cats that are adoptable."
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A Kitten Place strives to keep cats out of kill shelters.
Prior to partnering with Sassy Cat, Bass said they struggled with adult adoptions and many older cats would often get stuck in foster care.
"So a cafe is a perfect way to feature them in kind of a natural setting [rather] than a cage at a shelter,” she said.
The nonprofit also aims to fix the cat overpopulation issue by sterilizing stray cats.
Bass said that mission is especially important during kitten season – the baby cat boom that runs from early spring through late summer.
"Now we have this huge influx of kittens and we are really, really feeling it,” Bass said.
Sassy Cat gives some of these kittens a temporary home and the chance to meet a potential adopter.
Duffey said anywhere from 10 to 50 customers come in throughout the week to enjoy a cup of coffee and play with the kittens. However, to keep the cats from getting overwhelmed, she only allows 12 guests to be in the cafe at one time.
As customers visit, cats lounge on wall-mounted hammocks or bat at toys scattered across the floor.
Sassy Cat Club Cafe looks like a living room, with couches angled toward a TV, which plays videos of lizards running across the screen for the cats to swat at.
While customers fall in love with their future pet at the cafe, all adoptions are done through A Kitten Place.
Customer Victoria Del Real stopped by the cafe on her day off, looking for another pet to bring home.
"We're interested in getting another one because if you get one cat, you have to have three,” Del Real said.
It was her first visit to the Sassy Cat Club Cafe.
"It's nice,” she said. “This place is very calm, cool, collected. And there's just so many different types of cats here. You get to see a lot of personalities."
Even if customers aren’t looking to adopt, Duffey said they should drop by.
"If you're having a bad day and you just want to come in and get some kitten cuddle time, to just come in and watch them, it's just hopefully a relaxing atmosphere for you to enjoy,” Duffey said.
Sassy Cat Club Cafe is located at 735 W. Lumsden Road. You can find its hours on its website.
