Business Monday: Cuddle with kittens who want a furever home at the Kona Kat Café

Tucked away in a shopping center along the bustling Ali‘i Drive is a store where you can buy all things related to cats — shirts, books, hats, socks and toys — or you can go into the “Catio” and play with up to 20 once feral kittens and a handful of older cats.

It’s the Kona Kat Café, which animal lover Jenny Hulen and her husband Carl opened in November 2023.

Hulen, who was a physical therapist for 30 years, got the idea for the business in 2016 after visiting a cat café in Dublin, Ireland. While there, she recalled playing with the kittens and thinking to herself: “One day, I’m going to do this.”

The business has a retail shop and the “Catio,” a separate closed-off space with glass where the kittens live. Customers can reserve time to sit for an hour to interact with the energetic felines. Most are up for adoption.

Now in the Catio are about 19 kittens, including the calico tuxedo called Elowen, a red tabby Atlas, a dark calico Gala and Leo, a beautiful, fluffy orange feline. Gigi, sleek and black, is the shop cat and belongs to the Hulens.

“On this island, there are hundreds of thousands of feral cats because there are no predators, so they just breed,” Hulen said.

The best way to control the population is with a trap, neuter and release program run by nonprofits. For adult cats that are wild, they are returned to where they came from.

But feral kittens are given a chance at a forever home through the cafe, where they can learn to socialize with people as young as 7 years old.

Hulen said there are not many places on the Big Island that can take kittens. The felines currently at the Catio were from CatSnip, a nonprofit in Kapa‘au.

Hulen said the nonprofit can fix 100 cats at a time during neuter and spay clinics.

“The adults go back into the wild, and they keep the kittens if they can, if they have space,” Hulen said.

The café helps out with the extra kittens, which are fixed and have had their shots before arriving in Kona, with about 12 to 18 felines living in the catio at one time and about 10 of them getting adopted each month.

A list of kittens available for adoption is available on the café’s website.

“Once we adopt the cats out, more cats are in line to come in,” Hulen said.

There is no shortage of furry animals for the café, with a waitlist of 100. So far, more than 300 of the kittens and cats who have lived at Catio have been adopted.

The café also is a place where adults children can reconnect with animals.

“A lot of people, a lot of kids, are disconnected from nature,” she said. “They’re on iPads and playing video games, and it’s just being able to bring kids in and just totally get rid of technology and just sit and play with animals again.”

Hulen said kitten time also is therapeutic for everyone.

“It’s just so healing, and also I’m a healer at heart,” she said, adding, “I like creating spaces for people to come and feel better when they leave.”

Andrea Walker was at the catio with her sons, Walker, 7, and Westley, 4, just over a week ago, with the intention of adopting kittens.

While Hulen normally doesn’t allow children under 7 in with the kittens, Walker said she accommodated a meeting since they planned to adopt.

As soon as they walked into the Catio, Walker said the cats ran right up to them. Her sons were both excited.

“We were trying to be as mellow as possible so we wouldn’t scare any of the kitties,” Walker said.

Hulen got kittens Midnight and Java and “they just were purring immediately and crawling all over us,” Walker said.

Now that they have their forever home, Midnight was renamed Jinu and Java was named Pepsi.

Walker felt like the environment Hulen created was comfortable and safe for the cats. Hulen also teaches people how to safely hold the animals.

About two weeks ago, Catherine Dunn, visiting from the San Francisco Bay Area, was leaving the Catio with her two young daughters, aged 8 and 11, after spending an hour with the kittens.

Dunn brings her girls to the catio every time they visit her parents on the Big Island at Christmas and during the last two summers.

“It’s probably our eighth visit,” Dunn said. “They would probably come more if I let them.”

The Kona Kat Café, located at 75-5725 Ali‘i Drive, Suite #B105, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The last Catio reservation is at 3 p.m., and socks must be worn. People can bring their own socks or purchase a pair in the shop.

The hourly rate to spend time with the kittens is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 65 and older, and $15 for children ages 7 to 18. The kama‘aina rate is $15.

Cats range in age from 2 1/2 months to the oldest they’ve had was 13 years old. It costs $120 to adopt a kitten 7 months or younger. Cats up to 7 years are adoptable for $100 and cats over 7 years old are $70.

Animal lovers save $25 when they adopt two cats or kittens at the same time.

Adoption fee includes spay/neuter, microchip, initial flea/tick prevention, initial deworming and current vaccinations. 

Hulen said those visiting from the mainland who are interested in adopting a cat are able to do so and can take the feline home with them on the plane if they fly on Alaska, Delta or Hawaiian Airlines. She estimates 25 Catio cats have found homes with families who visited the Big Island.

The minimum age for entry into the Catio is 7 years old, and children under 11 need a supervising adult to go with them.