Purr-fect: Ward and Marcelino playing with the cats at The Meow House. — Vietnam News/ANN
When Alex Ward and Geneva Marcelino came to Vietnam and realised that there was a missing link between the work that the local animal shelters were doing and the understanding about rescuing and adopting animals in Vietnam, they set out to open cafes that would help in the adoption of dogs and cats.
The journey began three years ago.
Marcelino opened an animal rescue agency named Pawfect Match in 2019 to work with local shelters and help stray animals in Vietnam to find their forever home and form a sustainable rescuing process.
Ward, who came from the US, and Marcelino, also wanted to create a visible space to support the rescuing and adopting process without having to rely much on donations. Hence, R House, a dog cafe, was opened in 2020.
After gaining experience, they opened a new spot.
This time, the place was created for cats, a cafe named “The Meow House by R House’’ or Meow House for short.
The Meow House is a cat cafe, which is also a foster home for cats.
So far, out of the 15 cats that have been staying in Meow House, two have been adopted.
When someone wants to adopt a cat, the adoption process is carried out very carefully.
“The first step of this process is to identify the cat that they feel a connection with that they would like to adopt,” Ward said.
“From there, they will message our partner agency Pawfect Match. Pawfect Match has a very comprehensive questionnaire in which every individual will get asked about their current work status, living status, their history with animals and having pets”.
“So, if they complete the interview or the questionnaires, the questionnaires will be given to the shelter and the shelter has the final say if it was a match or not,” Ward said.
“And then the adoption process starts out with a two-week adoption trial.” — Vietnam News/ANN
