BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A cat lounge and adoption center at the Stanford Shopping Center is closing down, months after facing a threat from the city of Palo Alto to shutter the operation.
Thoa Bui, co-owner of Mini Cat Town, said the location was always meant to be a temporary pop-up.
Mini Cat Town was a hit, so Bui said she’s hoping to sign a lease somewhere else in Palo Alto before closing at Stanford on April 2.
“It seems like people really enjoy the kittens … They love our cause. The community has been very, very supportive,” she said.
On Dec. 2, a code enforcement officer from the city told the owners of Mini Cat Town that their operation was considered “kennel and boarding” and not a retail pet store, according to an online petition that gathered 1,791 signatures.
The city gave Mini Cat Town 30 days to re-home all cats, cease operations and leave the space, the petition said.
But since the initial order was issued, Planning Director Jonathan Lait has paused enforcement until the spring to allow for more discussion, Shikada said.
Bui said the city has since given Mini Cat Town a green light to operate in the city.
Bui said she’s looked around University Avenue and Town and Country Village.
If Mini Cat Town doesn’t have a new location by April 2, then the cats would be moved to the nonprofit’s other locations at malls in Milpitas, San Jose, Pleasanton and Santa Rosa, Bui said.
Mini Cat Town was started in San Jose in 2015 by sisters Thi, Thoa and Tram Bui.
As kids, they saved their $1 weekly allowance to purchase food for feral cats that roamed their neighborhood.
As teenagers, the Buis learned how to humanely trap feral cats, have them fixed at an animal shelter and then released back into the neighborhood no longer able to have kittens. The Buis said they saved their paychecks from Baskin Robbins to pay for their efforts.
By the time they graduated high school, all 100-plus cats in their neighborhood had been fixed, and any kittens were placed in homes, according to Mini Cat Town’s story.
In college, the Buis started fostering cats and documenting their work on social media. A video of their dog cuddling a foster kitten went viral, allowing the Buis to continue their work on a larger scale. They said they’ve rescued over 1,500 cats.
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