Cat cafe opening in Fountain Square

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) -They say cats have nine lives.

Selena Hubbard only has one and so she’s making the most of it.

“I don’t even know if it’s registered yet,” she said. “This is like, the perfect job.”

She’s co-owner of Fountain Square’s newest coffee spot, the Nine Lives Cat Café.

The Fountain Square local is combing two of her favorite things: coffee and cats.

“I had like a cat-themed birthday party every year until I was eight or 10,” Hubbard said.

Baristas prepare the coffee in one room and, in a separate room, Jonah, Stella, Whiskers and Wishbone roam free. Customers are free to join them and they can even take the cats home.

Abigail Anders with the Indy Humane Society said all of the cats are adoptable. She’s moving in more adoptable felines once the current café cats find homes.

“Adult cats are always the hardest animals to get out of the shelter,” Anders said. “When you think of quick adoptions, you think of tiny kittens, puppies, adult dogs.”

It turns out there’s a market for pet lovers.

A Greenwood restaurant called Revery unleashed a menu for dogs last year. Restaurants all across Indianapolis are barking about their pet-friendly policies.

“Pet owners know that pets are part of our families and it’s definitely a way to include your whole family, even your pets,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard spent five years as a barista and more than twenty years as a cat lover. Now she’s adding “business owner” to her resume.

“Honestly, I’m just really excited about having cats over there and I’m hoping we get a bunch adopted,” she said.

The café opens Saturday and, according to Hubbard, guests will need a reservation.

Hubbard, who owns the café with her father, said the cats will never be in the same room as the food and drinks and employees cannot work in the cat room and the coffee room during the same shift.

Customers are not allowed to bring their own cats into the café.