Inside D.C.’s first cat cafe, where you can cuddle by the hour

You probably won’t get a chance to pet Olivia. The gray-and-white spotted kitty is the current favorite at Crumbs & Whiskers, the Georgetown cat cafe that opens Saturday. But because Olivia is so friendly — making her way from lap to lap, purring and mewing and begging for a scratch behind the ears — she may well be adopted before then. ¶ And if that happens, the cafe’s 24-year-old owner, Kanchan Singh, will burst into tears. ¶ Not for the first time.

“Olivia and I had a moment the first day,” she says. “We were both on the pillows, and Olivia and I had a moment, and then I cried to her. She was in pain, and I could tell. I’m going to cry again. Oh my gosh, I’m such a baby.”

Singh has a big heart. Her fans have big pockets. Those two things came together via a nearly $36,000 Kickstarter campaign to create this bright two-story space at Wisconsin Avenue and O Street NW, where people will pay $12 an hour ($10 on weekdays) to pet cats.

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