Are cat cafes a good or a bad development?

Here at Kawaii Animals HQ we are lucky enough to have two feline mascots, Bruno and Lily.  They sit with us in the office.  We’ve tried to give them tasks, like filing or making the tea but they prefer to lie on the soft cushions we’ve put at the end of all the desks.  We wouldn’t be without our furry companions.

The news that Edinburgh has a new cat cafe has made us think about the idea of cat cafes.  Maison de Moggy has opened up in the Stockbridge area and was fully booked out for its opening day.  People were queuing up to spend an hour playing with the new feline inhabitants who range from a Norwegian Forest cat to Ragdoll kittens.  Click here to read of the lastest cat cafe in the UK. It does seem as if the welfare of the cats is paramount with the organisers but it still raised some questions with us.

I suppose one of the reasons we are so intrigued by the idea of the growth of cat cafes around the world is what would you do if you loved cats but couldn’t have them at home?  A location where you could book an appointment to have an hour interacting with cats would be very appealing.  But, are these cat cafes really in the interest of the cats? Cats do not normally congregate in groups so do they suffer stress when forced to live with other cats? Or, is it a brilliant way of giving a new home to stray or abandoned cats? If they are properly acclimatised to each other can they live happily together? There are a lot of questions.  I guess our major concern would be the safety of the cats.  How do the cafe owners ensure that the cats are safe and do not run out onto the street? And, for those cats that are used to wandering outdoors, is it cruel to keep them inside?

The world’s first cat cafe opening in 1998 in Taipei, Taiwan and the idea quickly spread to Japan where there are over 40 cat cafes.  There are now cat cafes all across the world.  Some of them have phenomenally creative names.  There is the Catmosphere Cat Cafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand where there is a space cat related theme.   We also like the creatively named La Gatoteca in Madrid.

I guess the only way for us to really formulate a view on cat cafes is to visit one.  As much as we would love to visit the Catmosphere Cat Cafe in Thailand I guess we will have to choose a British cat cafe to visit.  If we manage to get to Maison de Moggy or Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium we will let you know.  And, if you know of any other UK cat cafes let us know.

Click here to see our range of cats … they don’t need to be fed but they definitely need to be played with!