By Ed Offley
Friends of felines in the Panama City Beach area now have a place to call their own.
The Central Purr is open for business next to Suncoast Pets at the Beachwalk Center Shopping Plaza, located at the western corner of US 98/Front Beach Road and Navy Boulevard.
While visitors can buy coffee and cookies for snacks, the main mission of Central Purr is to provide a comfortable place where people can interact with and enjoy the resident cats, said staff member Derrol Fulghum. “They are all rescue cats.”
He reached down and picked up a male cat named Luke and gave him a hug. “He looks like a piece of rye bread.”
The spacious room is arranged with tables and chairs, and a pair of sofas, where the human visitors can sit and be jumped on, climbed over or rubbed against by the four-legged residents.
The idea for Central Purr arose last fall with a small group of Beach residents who volunteered at Suncoast Pets to help customers who were looking to adopt cats at the store. When the adjoining storefront became vacant, Suncoast Pets owner Natalie Stokes alerted her friends. Geri Laws and Crystal Dillon quickly established a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, leased the space, and prepared it for opening. Fulghum, a retired Army journalist who had wanted to start a cat café for six years, quickly joined the group.
Central Purr can accommodate up to fifteen cats, said staffer Deb Pearson. The all-volunteer staff coordinates with area rescue agencies around Bay County and a number of volunteers who have made foster homes for stray or abandoned cats. Once a cat has become used to being around people, it is eligible to become the next resident of Central Purr.
“We never like to say no” when a rescued cat is offered to the café, Fulghum said.
Since the organization exclusively relies on donations, Central Purr charges visitors a modest fee to hang out with the cats: $5 for 30 minutes, $10 for an hour, and unlimited visiting for $30 per month. Reservations can be booked at the café website, www.centralpurrpcb.com.
But what Fulghum, Pearson and the other volunteers really want are for their cats to find a forever home. “All of the cats are eligible for adoption,” Fulghum said.
In the first three weeks of operation after a soft launch on March 29, the café has been fully booked during its current hours of 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, he said. “We have already had seven cats adopted by people who came to visit.”
Central Purr is also hoping to expand its volunteer staff.
To celebrate its formal grand opening on Saturday, May 9, Central Purr and Suncoast Pets will hold a “Pets Gone Wild” festival with vendors and giveaways. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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