Kittens Are Being Cared For By Rats In The Brooklyn Cat Cafe

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — Remy and Emile were not natural choices to take care of the Brooklyn Cat Cafe’s herd of orphaned kittens. For one thing, they’re pretty young themselves. For another, they’re rats.

That’s right. Rats are babysitting kittens at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe.

Brooklyn Heights’ only cafe/feline adoption center, run by the nonprofit Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition, provides a unique space where cat lovers come to play with and potentially take home the various cats and kittens that live there.

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The cafe is also singular in its practice of pairing rats and cats — who you'd expect to be mortal enemies.

This strange practice of pairing felines with rodents began two years ago when a four-week-old kitten named Ebony caught cat leukemia — a contagious and fatal virus — and needed both companionship and isolation from other cats, the organizers explained on their website.

Enter Ivory, the white rat who could not catch feline leukemia but could (and did) became Ebony’s lifelong buddy.

“Ivory and Ebony would romp and play together until they passed out cuddled up together,” the organizers wrote and described the pair as “best friends.”

Ivory continued his career as cat companion after Ebony died in 2015 until his own death in February this year, according to a memorial posted on the cat cafe’s Instagram page.

“He had always shown such kindness to all creatures – kittens (however obnoxious) and humans,” Ivory’s obituary reads. “He’s been a role model for all of us – practicing tolerance and love of all creatures.”

We are heartbroken to announce that Ivory was euthanized by our vet this morning. His elderly body had been declining over the last few months, and we had been monitoring him closely. We were first introduced to Ivory 18 months ago when he became Ebony's companion. Since then, he had always shown such kindness to all creatures - kittens (however obnoxious) and humans. He's been a role model for all of us - practicing tolerance and love of all creatures. He will be greatly missed. . . #catcafebk #ivorytherat #rainbowbridge #BBAWC
A post shared by Brooklyn Cat Cafe (@catcafebk) on Feb 6, 2017 at 12:04pm PST

Ebony and Ivory were gone, but a tradition was born.

The cafe adopted Remy and Emile in 2017 to care for kittens less than eight weeks old — too young to be vaccinated — but greatly in need of some nurturing.

“People don’t realize how smart and sweet [rats] are,” BBAWC Executive Director Anne Levin told the Huffington Post, who originally reported the story. “They make a purring/clicking sound when I rub their face and nose and they love to cuddle.”

The rats — whom the cafe adopted from Helping All Little Things, a local animal rescue service — can be seen on Instagram taking their babysitting responsibilities very seriously.

Emile and two of our (many) bottle babies are featured on The Huffington Post today! Link in Bio. . . #catcafebk #ratsandcats #catsandrats #bottlebabies #kittens #animalrescue #spayandneuter #petrat #ratsofinstagram #emiletherat #huffpostgram #savethemall #brooklyn #nyc #BBAWC #brooklynbridgeanimals @hilarious.ted
A post shared by Brooklyn Cat Cafe (@catcafebk) on Jul 12, 2017 at 2:26pm PDT

The kitten and rat relationship works, the cat cafe reps explained, because the kittens are small and non-threatening.

“Because the rats are not scared of the kittens, they don’t run away and the cats don’t hunt them,” they said, but added there is one crucial flaw in the dynamic.

“The kittens are convinced that the rat tails are there primarily for them to play with.”

Find out more about events at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe — which include cat yoga and weekly kitten happy hours — on the organization's website.

Brooklyn Cat Cafe

149 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY

Phone: (347) 946-2286

Email: meow@catcafebk.com

Header photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Bridge Animals Welfare Coalition