JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Sitting in front of a large glass window in the Rusty Cat Cafe, cats leap from surface to surface, jumping and tackling each other in a fit of playful bliss.
These cats are all up for adoption at the recently opened cafe in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where anyone can enjoy this view for themselves.
Already, the excitement of this newly established business is in the air.
“When I first came here 20 years ago, the streets of Johnstown were dead at night, and over time we’ve seen that evolve to where we have great restaurants downtown, and you see a life after 5 o’clock downtown, which is wonderful,” said Donna Christopher, owner of Rusty Cat Cafe. “It was always in my heart to find something again that we didn’t have.
Beyond finding a home for these furry friends, the cat cafe helps address a much bigger problem for the Rust Belt town: In 2023, the city of Johnstown lost its animal control contract, resulting in an influx of dogs and cats roaming the streets.
That led Laura Huchel, former City of Johnstown council member, to found the Johnstown Animal Welfare Society, or JAWS. The organization is a coalition of foster-based rescues that takes in stray dogs and cats and finds them homes through the Rusty Cat Cafe.
“We are currently continuing to experience the animal control crisis. It’s bad: feral cat colonies, multiple in every neighborhood,” Huchel said. “You walk down some alleys, it’s like Cats the Musical, they come out of everywhere.”
An animal control problem
According to Huchel, this surge of stray cats and dogs started post-pandemic, with people leaving the city and their pets behind, too.
This problem only got worse when the Humane Society of Cambria County canceled its animal control contract with the City of Johnstown in 2023 after being at full capacity.
“It’s bad enough when it’s cats, because domestic cats can’t fend for themselves very well on the street, but they can,” Huchel said. “The dogs, though, it’s heartbreaking; they starve.”
Loose animals also pose a public safety risk: Stray dogs are becoming more frequent, and with no animal control response, dogs are getting hit by cars and fighting people walking their own pets, said Huchel.
As a member of the city council at the time, Huchel was eager to find a solution.
Eventually, she connected with several cat-trap neuter release programs in different neighborhoods throughout the city, including Flood City Kitties, Dr. Dahlin Talks Animals, Cinnamon’s Closet, It’s All About The Cats and Kit-Cat Habitat.
“My goal became to band as many groups as possible in the local area doing rescue together, so that we could share resources, share funding opportunities, share knowledge and all the things we needed to be more effective and try to take a more active role in helping the city with its animal control crisis,” Huchel said.
JAWS
Founded in late 2024, JAWS requires foster families to meet certain membership requirements in order to take in animals into their homes.
Foster families then trap animals on their own, and JAWS partners with local vets to get the animals treated. The organization also has a low-cost spay-neuter program, making it cheaper for people to adopt.
The City of Johnstown has taken initiative to support the group’s efforts, including passing an animal breeding ordinance in January that requires individuals breeding animals to acquire a permit or face fines, and partnering with JAWS to conduct trap and neuter blitzes, where foster families aim to trap 26 cats in 24 hours.
Occurring every month, the blitz targets cat colonies in different neighborhoods throughout the city, trapping, spaying them and returning them to the same place in an effort to slow reproduction. The last blitz occurred on June 21.
JAWS currently has 103 animals in custody, and, as of May, they have served up to 560 animals since being established, Huchel said. So far, the organization has taken in cats, dogs, bunnies and even chickens.
Animal rescue efforts in Johnstown got even more of a boost when Donna Christopher unveiled her plans to open up a cat cafe and partner with JAWS to find these animals a home.
“It’s really helpful to get these cats seen,” Huchel said. “It’s more than just a photo on a website; they can come in and meet them, it’s a very powerful tool in that way.”
Rusty Cat Cafe
For six years, Christopher was unsure about what she should do with the empty building on Walnut Street.
But after visiting several cat cafes and her involvement with JAWS, Christopher realized a cat cafe would not only bring something different to the community, but also serve as a venue to get cats adopted by loving families.
The cowboy-themed cafe takes in 15 cats at a time, provided by foster families on a rotating basis. All of the cats are up for adoption, and those interested can apply through JAWS.
Since opening on Valentine’s Day, 65 cats have been adopted from the Rusty Cat Cafe.
“It’s kind of like a dating show when (customers) come in,” said Charles Stolar, the general manager at the Rusty Cat Cafe.
“As the crew, we learn the cats because we spend so much time with them. So, when someone’s like, ‘’We’re interested in someone,’ We’re like, ‘Who are you interested in?’ Let’s give you the story.”
Stolar was the first employee hired at Rusty Cat Cafe, wanting to work there despite being allergic to cats. He says the layout accommodates both cat lovers and those who can’t be around them.
The cat area is in a separate room, visible from the cafe area via windows. This allows people to view the cats from afar or pay $10 to spend an hour inside with the cats.
“We have a lot of couples that do that, one will be sitting out here and the other one is just sitting in there having the time of their life,” said Stolar, with a laugh.
Already, the cat cafe is getting repeat customers, including a couple who goes on date nights to the cafe, watching the cats through the outside window and a young girl who has brought in every one of her family members.
“They had to put a budget on her to come into the Rusty Cat, because she was coming two or three times a week,” he said, adding many people come in to get updates on when their favorite cats get adopted.
Bringing people to Johnstown
The cafe’s social media presence on Facebook and TikTok has also attracted people from neighboring states, including New Jersey, Ohio and Delaware.
“As a business owner, I want to bring more outside people to our town, and that’s what a lot of our small businesses want to do in Johnstown,” Christopher said.
Like many Rust Belt towns, downtown Johnstown has struggled for decades after the steel mills started closing in the 1970s, resulting in many people leaving and businesses shuttering.
For Stolar, a Johnstown native who returned home after the pandemic, the cat cafe is part of a larger effort to revitalize downtown.
“I want more for Johnstown, and I feel like if everyone leaves our town, somebody has to stay here and do stuff, and I get to be a part of that now,” he said.
The cat cafe also dismantles the bad stigma of cats in rural communities
“It bridges the gap to people who their only interaction with cats are the strays outside, and they just have that bad vibe about them,” Stolar said. “They come here, we have great coffee, it’s positive in here, we have good music, it changes your perception of dealing with the cats.”
The Rusty Cat Cafe is open Tuesday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., serving up breakfast and lunch, as well as coffee and crafts.
The cafe hosts special events, including a recent vendor market and accepts food and monetary donations that support JAWS.
Christopher and Huchel encourage people to visit Johnstown, for the Rusty Cat Cafe and beyond, and, one day in the future, maybe there’ll be a dog bar.
“What if I boarded the stray dogs that are part of the rescue, and (families) can play with the dogs (at) the dog bar,” Huchel said, with a laugh. “That’s my long-term retirement plan.”
Rusty Cat Cafe is located at 338 Walnut St., Johnstown, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.rustycatcafe.com/.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
