Crumbs and Whiskers is a small business which operates

cat café A cat café is a theme café whose attraction is cats who can be watched and played with. Patrons pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafés can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. "Cat café" has been officially reco ...

s that foster rescue cats and offer cafe amenities, in and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California. Crumbs & Whiskers partners with rescues who save cats at risk of euthanasia in high kill shelters and cats facing homelessness on the streets. By housing cats who have nowhere else to go, they reduce the number of cats who are killed in the cities they operate in simply because there's no more space for them. By housing homeless cats in a unique space and marketing their profiles in a different way than shelters do, Crumbs and Whiskers significantly increases the exposure shelter cats get to potential adopters, which in turn, increases the adoption rates at their partner rescues. Crumbs and Whiskers opened its first cat café in Washington on June 20, 2015; this was the first cat café to open in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

. The Washington D.C. café is partnered with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, and provides a living space for around 20–25 cats at a time. Through the partnership arrangement, the Homeward Trails provides vaccinated and vetted cats to Crumbs and Whiskers, which functions as a foster home for the cats until they are adopted. The Los Angeles café opened on September 30, 2016, and was the first cat café to open in the

Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino C ...

. The Los Angeles café is partnered with Stray Cat Alliance, a Los Angeles-based animal rescue which provides cats for the café. Similar to the Washington D.C. café, the Los Angeles café offers a living space for the cats until they are adopted. Crumbs and Whiskers uses an online booking system for scheduling visits and offers a fixed admission price per visit. For safety reasons, children under 18 must have a waiver signed by an adult. Crumbs and Whiskers allows customers to begin the application process for adopting one of the cats on site at their cafés.

Startup funding

The business founder, Kanchan Singh, opted to finance the venture by crowdfunding through a Kickstarter project with a target, an amount which she was initially uncertain that she could raise. The Crumbs and Whiskers Kickstarter project reached its funding target less than a day after it launched, and doubled this amount prior to the project deadline. The campaign ended with 705 backers and raised a total of $35,881 for the café.

References

Notes Sources {{Domestic cat, state=collapsed Cat organizations Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States Tourist attractions in Washington, D.C. Tourist attractions in Los Angeles Entertainment venues in Washington, D.C. Entertainment venues in California 2015 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2016 establishments in California Restaurants in Los Angeles Restaurants in Washington, D.C.