Frisky Cat Cafe — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

UPDATE TO THE OWNERS RESPONSE:

It is beyond disgusting and dishonest the response she gave. Please allow me to address her response:

We DID NOT "run over our dog with our golf cart". This never happened. What actually happened was that our dog jumped out of the golf cart and was injured. The restraint that we were using for the dog broke. The dog did not brake a single bone and there were no "15 inch long lacerations"... not even half that size. The dog was not "run over". This is a complete fabrication.

Sometimes terrible accidents happen and this accident absolutely gutted us. Thankfully, our dog has made a full recovery. Yes, we started a GoFundMe for her vet bills. So what? How is this a bad thing? We wanted to make sure that she received top notch medical care, which she did. She is a wonderful, happy and fully healthy dog.

The fact that this woman would use this tragic accident and COMPLETELY LIE ABOUT IT confirms just how awful of a person she is.

CARLA - HOW DARE YOU??? Were you not evil enough already by taking those kittens away from my children that you now have to try to ruin my reputation by telling a complete lie just to try to cover up your own terrible actions??? What in the h*ll is wrong with you? "Sick" doesn't even begin to describe someone who harms children and then lies about the people she's harmed.

If you check the reviews on this website (which I wish we had) you'll find 50+ stories similar to mine talking about how Carla lies and goes back on her word over and over again - how she bids these cats out to those that are willing to pay more and that she promises animals to people only to pull them back at the last minute. She has quite the reputation locally and it is NOT good. In doing some digging after this all happened, I found out that many animal foster parents in the area refuse to work with her and in talking with some of them, they cite the exact same things I've listed as their reasons why they avoid her. I saved those messages too, Carla.

Carla, I would encourage you to stop lying about me and my family. It only makes you look small. We have moved on - why can't you?

DO NOT EVER STEP FOOT INSIDE THIS PLACE!!!

We visited the cafe and my kids fell in love with 2 cats. We applied for and were awarded the cats via adoption. Our kids named them. We bought collars with their names on them. The day came to pick them up and we were told, "sorry, you can't pick them up today, we will let you know in a few days if they're ready to go home". We were disappointed but agreed.

A few days came and went and we heard nothing so we went back in to the cafe and were told, "sorry, it'll be a few more days". The owner was VERY rude and kept changing her story as to what was going on. We again left disappointed, but she assured us that the cats would be going home with us, they just needed a few more days.

Over a week later, we are told via text message that "it has been decided that you are no longer getting the cats and the decision is final". No valid reason was given, as the reason that was given did not apply to us in any way. She simply pulled the cats away from us and refuses to even grant us a conversation as to why this happened.

On top of this, she tried raising the price of the cats to more than double what she advertised it costs to adopt on her website. When we asked her why she would do this, her response was, "because I can get it".

Is this the type of person you want to give you money to? Because that's who runs this place.

100% of what I've written here can be backed up in writing - no matter what the response of the cafe owner may be to this review, I can guarantee you that it will likely either be twisted or a complete fabrication. She is not to be trusted. RUN AWAY from this place and do not give them a PENNY of...

Update:

I won’t call Carla a liar since others have already stated that in their reviews. However, she is either very confused, poorly runs her business or is a scammer. In her response she stated that I was trying to adopt a bonded pair. This was never made clear to us. If it had been we wouldn’t have gone through weeks of emails and interviews when we made it clear from day one that we didn’t want to adopt two kittens. She did state it was her preference that people adopt two cats at a time. That’s different then you must because they are a bonded pair. Is she scamming? Its possible given that we came in and paid the hourly fee on three occasions for our interviews and to see the cat. This place is just so poorly run when it could actually be a wonderful place for the community. Try Whitty Whiskers or Wags and Whiskers. So much better and the people aren’t liars.

I wanted to take a minute to leave a review about an absolutely horrible adoption process. We have been coming to the café since it opened and have always enjoyed the space. Recently our elderly cat passed away so once we decided we were ready for another cat we went to the Café to find one to adopt. We picked out a kitten we adored so we met with Michael to learn about the process and go through an initial interview to see if we were suitable. He told us he would recommend us for adoption and that once we filled out an application we would hear back in a few days. When we didn’t hear back we decided to go back to the Café. This is when we met Carla and things went south.

We had a second interview with Carla who was condescending and rude. When we told her we only wanted to adopt one cat she was incredulous. She told us everyone follows her recommendation to get two cats. She then told us the cat we picked was too young to adopt out even though we had been told its siblings had already been adopted. I asked her if we could pay the adoption fee and bring the cat home once it was old enough. Her response was that no one has ever done that before and they don’t have a process for that. Everything about this interaction was just off. Finally, we got an email back that we had been denied for two reasons. One, the cat was sick and can’t currently be adopted (we can wait or take it to the vet) and two, she got the impression we weren’t willing to take the cat to a vet in the future. We had been taking our elderly cat to the vet every month for the last two years, not a problem.

The reality is that this “non-profit” doesn’t want to adopt out their cats. Between the two of us we have 80 years experience with cats, we have never not owned a cat in our lifetimes. We own our own home in a stable environment and make mid six-figures. I’m sorry but if we aren’t suitable then they are simply not willing to adopt out cats. Take a look at the other reviews about their adoption process. If you want to come play with cats for an hour it’s a fine space. If you want to adopt then save yourself weeks of back and forth just...

My fiancé and I used to go almost every week and loved it there. However, in the past couple of months I’ve noticed that the cats in the main room are extremely food aggressive to the point of scratching and biting. I offered our treats to a mother and her son and she told me they were too scared of the cats attacking to try and feed them anymore. There is a kitten room and my husband and I happened to fall in love with a bonded pair. We would never want to separate a bonded pair so we decided we would love to adopt them together. We filled out an application and were told we’d hear back shortly. We are two adults who rent a home and have stable jobs and are animal lovers with no children or other pets. I have always owned dogs and he has always owned cats, we were excited to hopefully get our babies. Well, let me tell you that it’s been about a month and we have heard absolutely nothing and have received no responses to our inquiries so I can only assume for some mystery reason we were denied. I don’t believe the owner has any intention of giving the cats to good homes based off of many other reviews I’m seeing. I think she is another one of these cat hoarders who has opened this business under the guise of cats being adoptable so she can feed her addiction legally. We won’t be returning or giving this place our business anymore. Most of these cats are not adoptable and behave like feral street cats anyways, and I’m sure once the kittens are old enough they’ll be thrown into that mix. Also, the room that is sectioned off for the cats with leukemia is small, dark, dirty and depressing. Those poor kitties deserve better. But yeah, keep doin Gods work. Great job.

Update: Carla, I find it amusing that you needed to use my (assumed) age as a factor your sad attempt at a comeback. You mention that you hate “cancel” culture, yet whined about the fact that you can’t shut me up and remove my review, that’s rather contradictory. You clearly have nothing of value to say. Your tantrum and rambling reiterate the fact that you are incredibly unprofessional and only serve to embarrass yourself when you respond to the reviews that upset you. For your sake I really hope you learn to control yourself and compose yourself like an adult - since you seem to value age and maturity. Also, you may want to work on your comprehension skills. I wanted to adopt the kittens, not the adult cats who are in fact, again, aggressive and do not get along with each other super well like you implied. If those kittens were already approved for adoption by someone else it’s your job to be forthcoming and honest with the people who pay to visit your establishment. I have read the other negative reviews and recognize the fact that you appear to be lying and exaggerating in many cases in an attempt to defend yourself. All I have left to say is that everyone should really pay attention to how this woman conducts herself and consider adopting elsewhere like the...