by Linda Charlton, South Lake Tablet
In honor of #PetFireSafetyDay (July 15) the folks at Orlando Cat Cafe have continued their tradition of donating pet-sized oxygen masks to Lake County Fire Rescue. Cat Cafe owner Sandy Cagan presented three sets of masks to fire rescue personnel Thursday morning in a brief ceremony at the Cat Cafe. South Lake commissioners Sean Parks and Doug Shields were also on hand. The Cafe is located in Cagan Crossings in the 4 Corners area of Lake County.
Cagan is the proud pet parent of two Maine Coon cats, and conceived the Cat Cafe as a way for folks to meet potential furry family members in a relaxed, fun setting — or for folks to just relaxing around cats without the responsibility of owning any. She says her goal is to make sure that “every fire truck in the county” has one of the pet mask sets on board. Current price is approximately $150 a set,
Fire chief Mike Robertson (Lake County battalion 90) offered that there are currently about 10 mask sets in use in the county, not counting the three sets donated on Thursday. Each of the packages of masks has three masks in it: small, medium and large.
Speaking of the pet masks, Chief Robertson said “We use them quite often in house fires. A lot of times people are more distraught about their pets than anything else.”
When they don’t have pet masks, they improvise. The pet-sized masks are quicker,
The Orlando Cat Cafe opened in September 2016. Half of it is a standard coffee shop. The other half, in a connected room, is where the cats are. A bulletin in the cat room on Thursday stated 1,788 adoptions since opening.
Well, that number is at least one bigger now. Shortly after the mask presentation Dan and Gayle Haslam were in the cat room, filling out adoption paperwork for Buddah, an 8-month-old fluffy tabby.
“She’s got Maine Coon and she’s just beautiful,” Gayle said. Dan’s take was “I don’t know why nobody adopted her earlier. I guess she was waiting for us. Our first cat was a Maine Coon — her cat, 50 years ago. We figured why not go out with a Maine Coon.”
