Cat café offers free visits for teens in the wake of Oxford shooting, wave of threats
That feeling of joy you get when you come home after a long, stressful day and you play with your pet is real — playing with cats and dogs is shown to elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine.
The Humane Society of Huron Valley is offering free visits to their cat café for teenagers after the school shooting at Oxford High School sent a ripple of threats and fear throughout the southeast side of the state.
“Cats are therapeutic,” said Karen Patterson, VP of Humane Education and Volunteering at the Humane Society of Huron Valley, in a news release. “Studies show that cats’ purring helps lower our stress and blood pressure, and literally help us heal.”
The Tiny Lions lounge and adoption center is free to high school students through Dec. 12.
Located at 5245 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor, and open Wednesday – Saturday from noon-7 p.m., and Sunday from noon-5 p.m., the lounge is full of kittens waiting to love and be loved.
“The kittens’ zest for life and ‘live-in-the-moment’ mentality can help get our mind off things,” said Allison Manz, manager at the café, said in the release. “I’ve witnessed it countless times; people come into the café in one mood, and leave in a much better one. You can’t help but smile with kittens around.”
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Students can make reservations online at TinyLions.org using the code HIGHSCHOOL.
Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cat café offers free visits for teens in wake of Oxford shooting
