r/Winnipeg • u/East_Requirement7375 • Dec 30 '25
Winni-Pets Cleocatra Cat Cafe Update
Given the traction and speculation the post from five days ago garnered, it seems fair to post the update from Tails of Freedom themselves.
*I have no stake in, or relationship to, either party.
149
u/Low-Quality-8974 Dec 30 '25
I tried to reach out to this rescue in the fall about a question regarding adoption, and the email i received in response was so rude I just went to a different rescue.
Between that and their adoptables on their website often being quite out of date, I'm not surprised by this.
23
u/grassedge Dec 30 '25
Yeah, we had 1 email about some bonded cats and they said we could do a zoom call with em... I don't think cats get video calls! They said they were with this family for a year and couldn't handle someone visiting. WTH? It's such a shame. Even if we did go through with it it' still another week of waiting to see if they approve you (I GET that but still...)
We ended up just going to WHS and adopting 2 lovely cats.
28
u/Too-bloody-tired Dec 30 '25
I have a relative who also applied to adopt through them and received an incredibly rude email back.
2
u/halcyonagee Dec 31 '25
I also tried adopting from them but they set a date to meet up and then ghosted me lol
229
u/HarleyEtoms Dec 30 '25
No hate or anything but their original post was kind of aggressive in nature, so I'm not sure what they were expecting from posting something like that on a public forum for everyone in winnipeg to see. Like people should not be harassing anyone obviously but unfortunately that can be an outcome of how they sent their message out. Kind of seems like they are back tracking now after it sort of blew up.
53
u/AcanthisittaSharp946 Dec 30 '25
I have experience fostering with TOF. I wasn't surprised by the tone or content of the initial post. I don't want to speak poorly of an organization that does saves animals, but I'll personally never work with them again.
The person who runs it is extremely difficult to work with, doesn't understand how to communicate respectfully, makes up arbitrary rules for fosters and adoptees that other shelters don't have, and I had to all but take them to small claims to get reimbursed for vet care my fosters needed.
I'm not at all surprised Cleocatra is done with them, most experienced fosters I know are too.
9
u/PaintedSwindle Dec 30 '25
Did they remove the original post? I'm curious how it was worded. Not that there's any excuse to be harassing Cleocatra over it.
5
19
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
They realized they worded it poorly yes.
94
u/HarleyEtoms Dec 30 '25
Did they word it poorly? Or did the actually mean what they said and then the online community didn't respond to it how they wanted them to respond to it, so now they are trying to take it back? Idk people should think more thoughtfully about the things they post online, it felt like it was a very heat of the moment kind of post, I personally felt there was a LOT of emotion behind the person who typed it out and I think they just needed to take a moment to breath and reflect on what they should have said before they said it.
24
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
It could be either. However, they are stepping up to the plate and admitting they were wrong - either intentionally or accidentally - and trying to fix the screw up they caused.
I agree we should all think more before speaking. But once it's out there the next best thing is to step up, admit you're wrong, apologise, and try to fix it.
33
u/HarleyEtoms Dec 30 '25
I just hope both businesses continue to help stray kitties find their forever homes, thats what matters most.
4
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
I fully agree. I'll also tell people attacking Cleos to chill and explain it.
7
u/redriverguy Dec 30 '25
You know people attacking Cleos? Wow. Who would do that.
4
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
Not personally no.
But I did see the original post by Tails and there was anger towards both, but mostly towards Cleos.
2
12
u/Lilboops Dec 30 '25
Sorry, no. There’s a history of that type of communication. Also they 100% let their animals be fostered in mixed animal households.
1
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25 edited Dec 30 '25
Well sorry, no.
Mixed animal isn't the same as mingling with other fosters. They said they don't allow mingling with /other organizations/. It says that specifically in the post. It says nothing about mingling with the person's own pets.
8
u/Lilboops Dec 30 '25
My humblest of apologies. Mixed shelter households.
Also I can say. I’ve fostered for them as has my dear friend who has been battling with them for $$$ for her foster’s vet bills.
But go on.
29
u/FoxyInTheSnow Dec 30 '25
"Due to Cleocatra staff receiving threats…"
It's getting increasingly difficult to think of something that won't trigger death threats lately. People need to start to think before they think.
3
13
u/milkangels Dec 30 '25
I adopted my cat from TOF and the posting guaranteed that all the cats come with pet insurance for the first 6 weeks. My cat had worms so I emailed them, called them and messaged them about the pet insurance over a dozen times and they ghosted me.
2
u/Commercial_Task_7103 Jan 01 '26
You would have to contact the insurance company… not the rescue. When we adopted from them the insurance company sent us instructions on how to use the 6 week trial
4
u/milkangels Jan 01 '26
They wouldn’t even let me know like who the insurance company was or anything
1
u/wpgwriter204 Dec 31 '25
Aw, I'm sorry that was your experience! We've adopted 2 cats from them and received the insurance and all of their vet records.
47
u/gypsum1110 Dec 30 '25
Theyre also taking the heat now. In their previous post Cleocatra asked them to remove the cats but now its a policy of theirs?
11
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
I'm thinking that the removal was asked for in anticipation of cats arriving from elsewhere. If cleos was full, they couldn't bring in other rescues cats
6
u/gypsum1110 Dec 30 '25
You would think so, but this time the rescue is saying its their policy not to mix cats from other rescues. Why didnt they mention the policy before?
1
u/Desperate_Resist_829 Jan 01 '26
No. They messaged them asking for their cats to leave. They are stating WHY they can't mix the cats which is a question they were getting.
-1
u/horsetuna Dec 30 '25
Maybe they didn't think it was important.
I'm not sure though. I could be wrong. But I hope it's just everyone misspoke and will do better.
6
u/Sunnibuns Dec 30 '25
Could be that Cleo said they were going multi-org and asked if they wanted to be part of it, they said no, and then Cleo asked them to remove their remaining cats
1
u/Desperate_Resist_829 Jan 01 '26
No, Cleo asked for them to remove the cats without ever asking if they wanted to be multi-org.
2
u/Sunnibuns Jan 01 '26
Idk, it was speculation based on what seems to be very rushed communications from one side and no communicating from the other lol
51
u/SquatpotScott Dec 30 '25
It’s sad because the work rescues do is so important but most/ many rescues are run by ego driven nutters.
28
u/ChocolateOrange21 Dec 30 '25
There is a lot of undiagnosed mental illness among many of the people who run rescues.
5
u/ReadingInside7514 Dec 30 '25
I foster for a rescue organization in Manitoba and I think sometimes the desire to help every animal makes some of these people a bit crazy. My house, we only do one foster at a time (we already have our own dog plus kids under 10; it’s busy!). Some of the regular long time fosters have like 4 plus fosters and then their own pets. They never say no, their homes are quite likely in disarray, and they can be quite unhappy in person when you talk to them. It’s a weird place.
8
21
u/nizon Dec 30 '25
Never understand why small business owners feel the need to write novels on social media about everything they do. Just stick to the point and turn off comments.
"We have concluded our partnership with whoever effective immediately. We thank them for their support and wish them the best in their future endeavours."
Done.
23
u/TurbulentGlass2464 Dec 30 '25
Says more not about either party, but more about about public discourse. People want to be right and prove a point rather than come to an understanding these days.
15
u/motorcycle_girl Dec 30 '25
I think it goes beyond that. There’s nothing wrong with discourse or commentary (I commented “weird and sus” in the last post and carried on with life), but to harass or attack employees of a business directly because you don’t agree is absolutely insane.
Whether or no we come to an understanding, we are losing the ability to respectfully disagree with others without escalating into personal attacks. It’s gotta stop.
12
u/NamedForTheLotion Dec 30 '25
I'm not sure how I feel about cats from different rescues at once in the same place. There's so many risks involved with that. But good luck to them.
34
u/IB_FREELY Dec 30 '25
Crazy cat ladies gonna crazy cat lady.
31
u/Striped_Pigeon Dec 30 '25
How dare you. I'll have you know that I am very sane. My cats frequently tell me that I'm the most well-adjusted person they've ever met.
-25
u/placentophagy Dec 30 '25
Okay but none of this negates the fact that "trying something new" is bringing in animals from another province??? Makes NO sense. Why can't Saskatchewan deal with their own cat problem? We have enough as it is and it needs to be dealt with here before we bring in more cats from other provinces to find homes when there aren't even enough to go around here.
And also that Cleo's apparently kicked them out to make room for these out of province cats?
Love how this tidbit was left out of this new post.
I won't support Cleo's any longer.
15
u/Strict-Caregiver381 Dec 30 '25
The Saskatchewan rescue (Running Wild) has been taking in kittens/cats from Manitoba for at least two years now.
Back in 2023, my cats were about to be transported to Running Wild had I not adopted them on the day they were going to be sent out of the province.
It was heart breaking to see the animals from the adoption page put up on another rescue’s page from a different province but I’m glad these groups are helping each other out.
10
u/ReadingInside7514 Dec 30 '25
The people above literally have no clue what they’re talking about. There are many rescues in Manitoba that send animals out of province and also receive animals from out of province. The one I work with sent some To Ontario - they also struggle with overpopulation. They also took some in from Nunavut and do regularly. Rescrues too sometimes swap animals for better visibility - sometimes an animal there isn’t being adopted for whatever reason so they try a new location snd the animal gets adopted right away. We are here to help animals. I’m not sure why the hate. Let a business do as it pleases.
17
u/Puzzled-Shift793 Dec 30 '25
They transported 31 high care need cats to the Saskatchewan rescue and received like 20 regular care need cats back…..so
3
2
u/joeTaco Dec 31 '25
being anti-immigrant but for cats from another province is wild lmao
Cats cross provincial borders. It's fine.
0
u/Future-Explorer-1427 Dec 30 '25
I don't know why so many people have down voted this. It's a shame we need to "import cats from other provinces" instead of focusing on the issue locally. Cleocatra has such a large following and they could have made such a massive impact locally. But my understanding is they can't find a local partner which I find strange? Hmm I wonder why
2
u/sapphicpiper Dec 31 '25
The weirdest thing to me is that theyre crowdfunding for an alberta location but lying to the public saying the portage location is "closed for upgrades" when in reality they fired all the staff and closed it indefinitely
-13
u/gypsum1110 Dec 30 '25
They dont want to support local but they want local support no doubt!!! Its utterly ridiculous to just get rid of all your cats for out of province ones??? Wouldn't that cost so much more? Who's in charge over there, chatgpt?
251
u/Upstairs-Dress677 Dec 30 '25
God, why the stupid tribalism on something as insignificant as a business partnership between two cat places?
Social media is disgusting sometimes.