Kitten Cuddle At Charlotte Airport Is A Purr-fect Pre-flight Treat

Lori Ennis
by Lori Ennis
The Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina honored International Cat Day in just about the best way possible–their first ever Kitten Cuddle!


We all have our favorite airports, and the folks at North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International are doing a hot diggity job of making sure they’re at the top of the list by sponsoring a Kitten Cuddle.


Coinciding with International Cat Day, they joined with CMPD Animal Care And Control to bring ten adorable little kittens to the airport for the sole purpose of passengers ‘oohing,’ and ‘ahhhhing,’ over the little darlings as they waited to fly. Well, they also hoped to find them forever homes, and being part of the airport’s TLC from CLT program was the perfect plan.


Related: Service Dog Gives Birth To 8 Puppies In Tampa Airport Terminal


The airport is hoping to make flying more enjoyable for their customers, and if snuggling sweet little kitties doesn’t do it for you, I’m not sure anyone really wants you on that airplane anyway.


Airports like Denver International and Calgary International already have used cats to help reduce the stress levels in passengers who may be a bit nervous about hanging out in a metal tube that defies gravity for a few hours, and the folks at the Charlotte airport thought that a cuddle-fest would make them stand out a bit.


They weren’t wrong.


As you can imagine, the kittens were a huge hit, bringing passengers from all over to the clowder for some tummy rubs and tail-chasing and two little sweet hearts even found families who realized they couldn’t leave without them.


to yesterday. The first Kitten Cuddle in partnership with CMPD Animal Care and Control was a success! 2 of the 10 kittens were adopted!


Posted by Charlotte Douglas International Airport – CLT on Thursday, August 9, 2018


Melissa Knicely is the spokesperson for Charlotte Animal Care and Control and says that shelters all over the country are full of kittens and cats who need adopting. She hopes that peting the kittens at the Charlotte airport before they board will remind travelers that most likely their local shelters have adoptable cats just like them waiting for forever homes.


Lauri Golden is the airport manager for customer engagement. She said they wanted to start conversations and engagement for their customers about what they could do both there and in their own hometowns.


Related: Want to Save Lives of Orphaned Kittens? This Is How You Do It


And, it started conversations for employees of the airport as well, as one adoption was by Lizabeth Brookhart. She works at one of the retail concessions in the airport and said she couldn’t stop snuggling with her kitten once she started and knew he had to be hers.


We can totally understand that!

Lori Ennis
Lori Ennis

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