cats and coffee
The end point of the long Saturday drive on our recent southern-Indiana road trip was the town of Evansville. On Sunday, before heading back home, we paid our first-ever visit to a cat café. And it was about as marvelous as you’d imagine.
About a third of the space inside the River Kitty Cat Café houses a delicious coffee bar, plus a comfy seating area where you can enjoy your treats and watch the cats. And the rest of the space (separated by floor-to-ceiling windows) is devoted to the kitties. Once you’re in their area, you can sit and watch the cats play with each other, snuggle with the cuddly ones, or grab one of their many toys and play with them. We had cats sitting on us, following us around, enjoying ear rubs, and chasing balls, wand toys, and each other around the room.
River Kitty’s owners work with their local humane society to bring adoptable cats to live in the café, and every one of the feline inhabitants is eligible for adoption. In its short history, River Kitty has already found fur-ever homes for more than 200 cats and kittens.
Whenever you’re in or near Evansville, Indiana, go play with cats! :)

Want to Read & Relax your way to feeling Calmer & Happier?
Subscribe to our occasional Read. Purr. newsletter and,
as a free thank-you gift, we’ll send you a copy of our exclusive
guide to the Four Bookish, Cat-Inspired Steps to Feeling Calmer & Happier.
Welcome to the online home of The Novel Cat, where reading, relaxing, and snuggling with cats are a way of life. I’m Jennifer, and I help former and aspiring readers maximize life’s simple pleasures — like the joy of savoring a good book — by helping them create quiet spaces (both mental and physical) inspired by the habits of cats, who are masters at finding joy in life’s small details.
