BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — Remy and Emile were not natural choices to take care of the Brooklyn Cat Cafe's herd of orphaned kittens. For one thing, they're pretty young themselves. For another, they're rats.

That's right. Rats are babysitting kittens at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe. Brooklyn Heights' only cafe/feline adoption center, run by the nonprofit Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition, provides a unique space where cat lovers come to play with and potentially take home the various cats and kittens that live there.

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The cafe is also singular in its practice of pairing rats and cats — who you'd expect to be mortal enemies.

This strange practice of pairing felines with rodents began two years ago when a four-week-old kitten named Ebony caught cat leukemia — a contagious and fatal virus — and needed both companionship and isolation from other cats, the organizers explained on their website.



Enter Ivory, the white rat who could not catch feline leukemia but could (and did) became Ebony's lifelong buddy.

"Ivory and Ebony would romp and play together until they passed out cuddled up together," the organizers wrote and described the pair as "best friends."