Caroline McCarthy’s Cat Café Gift, And How You Can Help

By on December 23, 2020 10:01 am in Brooklyn Cat Cafe
I think I followed Caroline McCarthy on Twitter before I knew that she was a neighbor or that she liked cats. She’s smart and funny and savvy and measured, and in the midst of a medium too often characterized by the incendiary, I found her tone reassuring, her insights an incentive to further reflection, rather than hasty reacting.

Then I found out that she lives in the neighborhood. Then I found out that she helps take care of the feral cats in the community. Then I found out that she is a huge supporter of the Cat Café. And then one day, there she was with me in a Zoom “Stretch and Snuggle” session hosted by the Café. So even though I’ve never met her, I kinda felt like I had.

Now Caroline is leaving the neighborhood, at least for a little while. Her lease is up and she’s taking the opportunity to move to a temporary home out west, with her trusty panther Minerva, erstwhile resident of the Cat Café, riding shotgun.

This is their story, as told to Girls and Their Cats:

“When I met Minerva I was crying uncontrollably on a Friday the 13th. I’d just had to have my cat, Caterpillar, put to sleep. She was only 8 when she died, and she was my first cat. I thought there was no way I could ever love a cat that much again, but I also couldn’t bear going home to an empty house from the animal hospital. So instead I went to the Brooklyn Cat Café, which is the perfect place to go when you want to cry and hug a cat because nobody will judge you and, well, the cats are there.

“I was talking to one of the women who runs it, and I mentioned that if I were to adopt another cat I’d want another solo female cat who’d build a really close bond with me—and I’d want to adopt an adult cat, not a kitten, so that I had a good idea of her long-term personality. The response was immediate: ‘Oh! You should meet Minerva!’ And then they pointed out this incredibly poised-looking black cat with gorgeous golden eyes. She looked like a flesh-and-blood version of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, minus the nose ring.”

Minerva had been a street cat, but she made friends with humans–a courtesy she did not extend to other felines. Caroline filled out an adoption application on the spot, and despite never having lived indoors, she slept at the foot of Caroline’s bed in her first night in her new abode. She knew she was home.

You can (and should) read more of Caroline and Minerva’s story here. And thanks to Caroline’s fundraising initiative, you can be a part of their road trip in exchange for your donation to the Cat Café..

 The details are in the Google doc.

“Brooklyn Heights is the most wonderful place I’ve ever lived,” Caroline wrote to me, “and we hope to be back in the neighborhood in a few months. I wanted to do something special for my favorite local business, the Brooklyn Cat Café, which was responsible for rescuing Minerva and matching her with me when I was looking to adopt a cat. I also have fond memories of hosting their tarot reading nights and driving rescue cats to their new homes (I had 12 cats in the car at one point, thankfully all in carriers). Sending postcards seemed like a way to both support our beloved cat café and bring a little bit of weirdness and serendipity to people’s mailboxes.” 

You can (and should) follow Caroline on Twitter and Instagram.

You can (and should) follow the Café on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and you can (and should) make your donation here.

Photo of Caroline & Minerva courtesy BriAnne Wills / Girls And Their Cats
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