OkcPets Magazine May 2022

30 OKC Pets • May/June 2022 Don’t Stress MEOWT Cat Café Will Be First in Oklahoma by Heide Brandes | Photos courtesy of Michaela and Adam Fitzpatrick W hen Don’t Stress Meowt opens in early summer in Oklahoma City’s funky industrial district, it will be the first official cat café in Oklahoma. It is destined to be wildly popular with the feline fan community, but getting the café off the ground has been less than … well, purrfect. “The biggest hiccup was landlords not really understanding the idea and being apprehensive about their properties,” said Michaela Fitz- patrick, part of the husband-wife duo opening Don’t Stress Meowt. “It was one rejection after another. We’d find a place, and it was just ‘nope,’ back to the drawing board. Ultimately, the property that we’re at now reached out to us because they’ve been wanting a coffee shop. It is in an up-and-coming area sur- rounded by other unique business concepts. A coffee shop that had a unique flair was exactly what they were looking for, and the concept of a cat café was perfect.” Located at 1900 Linwood Bou- levard, Don’t Stress Meowt will be a combination coffee shop and cat adoption center. Although felines will be the stars of the cat lounge, the real mission behind the business is to find homes for cats that might be hard to adopt out. “For people who know what a cat café is, they’re superexcited. A cat café is a coffee shop and adoption center. The cat adoption center is going to be in its own little room, and the cats will hang out in the cat lounge. All our food and coffee will be served in the coffee-shop portion of the facility, so we don’t have to worry about getting cat hair on your muffin,” said Adam Fitzpatrick, cofounder. Inside the cat lounge, about 15 to 25 adult kitties will be available to pet, coo at, and adopt at any time. “The purpose of everything is to increase the adoption rates of cats in Oklahoma City right here in our own neighborhood. Basically, it’s like a traditional animal shelter, but our goal is to just give them a really Don’t Stress Meowt, set to open in early summer 2022 in Oklahoma City, will be Oklahoma’s first cat café.