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It’s the cat’s meow in a purrfectly cozy setting at Yay for Strays, the newly opened cat café on Ottawa Street.
“We really wanted like a cosy, comfy feeling. We want you to feel like you’re at home when you’re here,” said Yay for Strays owner Chantelle Gaudette.
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“I am a cat lover. I truly love all animals,” Gaudette said. “I feel like the world has some negative people in it and it’s not in a good place right now.
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“So for me, when I’m with animals … (I) feel a sense of peace that I don’t have with anything else. They’re my everything.”
Gaudette says the shop is the first bricks-and-mortar cat café in Windsor.
![cats](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/windsorstar/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cats3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=1hIZ4lrYn_6ZGDY9R2r1cg)
The quirky space — with a café and gift shop at the front and a cat lounge at the back — had it’s official opening Saturday.
A steady stream of customers flooded the colourful space.
“I really actually like the décor,” said customer Ari Piekny, who stopped in for a cheesecake-in-a-cup dessert and some bonding time with the café’s felines.
“I’m getting like a grandma’s house kind of vibe. Like when you would go to your grandparent’s house at like age seven.
“Everything was like cosy. That’s what I’m getting from this.”
![cats](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/windsorstar/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cat-cafe-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=hojBvhCG5cskeBLo_EABPw)
Several felines roam the lounge — all on loan and up for adoption from the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society — finding refuge in the escape room, napping on a cat condo or sprawled across the carpet waiting eagerly for someone to scratch their ears.
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There’s cushy sofas to lounge on, tables and chairs where one of the many board games can be played and a well-stocked library.
Gaudette’s brother Cole hung all the artwork and cat perches that fill the cat café walls.
![cats](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/windsorstar/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cat-cafe-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=ZlyPYfwqZRcNkv6CfHDLAg)
Yay for Strays is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 1326 Ottawa St.
Admission to the cat lounge is $7 for half an hour, $10 for an hour.
![cats](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/windsorstar/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cat-cafe-4.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=2JyjHlhYHJkc4-OIvJPv1Q)
![cats](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/windsorstar/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cats5.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=2yF_dI7B_RHnGQploA1SlA)
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