BEING a Yorkshire lass, the concept of a cat café is not new to me. I can’t remember a time when the local café didn’t have a nice, portly ginger tom sat in the window, and it was always a black-and-white cat down the local pub that even had its own bar stool.
Occasionally, either cat would amble over for a quick stroke or nosey at whatever you were eating. I remember the pub cat was quite partial to salt-and-vinegar crisps!
It seems the “cat café” craze has now arrived in the UK, but on a much grander scale. So what is a “cat café”?
It is a themed café where you can eat, drink and interact with cats of various ages. Most premises keep the cats indoors but some do have outside areas which are fenced to keep the resident cats in. The layout includes play, sleeping, eating and toileting areas for the cats and humans.
They are run as businesses with entry fees charged, although you may see on the individual business website the fee is just to cover the cats’ care.
The world’s first cat café opened in Taiwan in 1998; they spread to Japan, Hong Kong, throughout Asia, Europe, America and now the UK.
“Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium” opened in London on 1st March 2014. The opening was quite controversial, with Cats Protection opposing the planning application and press releases from International Cat Care and the BSAVA expressing concern about the venture.
The café currently houses 11 cats, indoors only, according to the website. Seven were kittens when the café first opened.
This is not the first cat café in the UK: “Totnes Cat Café” was set up in Devon. This cat owner had researched cat behaviour and used The Domestic Cat: The biology of its behaviour (2nd edition) by Turner and Bateson as her reference for socialisation of the cats.
She states on her website that she “gave the cats a great deal of positive human contact in the critical stage between 2-8 weeks, in this way she was able to ensure the cats were happy with each other and humans”. This café had just six cats. It has now shut down due to the owner’s ill health.
A third café has now opened in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Evening News reported a very successful opening on 19th January 2015 of the “Maison de Moggy”, currently with 10 resident cats.
The website explains how the cats have been carefully selected and socialised before being selected for the café environment. Thirty customers are allowed at any one time for an hour’s fun with the cats, with 10 people being allowed in the “relaxation lounge” for a more intimate experience where the cats and customers are encouraged to cuddle up and unwind.
I find the whole concept a little close to performing animals, although I was relieved to see the statement that “all food and drink is prepared in a cat-free environment”!
Welfare concerns
Vicky Halls spoke on the subject at last October’s joint APBC/BVBA symposium. The presentation raised lots of questions about these ventures and the audience was concerned about the welfare of the cats involved and the potential lack of monitoring of these establishments.
In Japan there are strict rules in the cafés, guests remove footwear and are allowed contact with the cats only when the cats initiate contact. They are peaceful, quiet places to contemplate and observe the cats. Children are not allowed.
In the London one, children aged eight years and over are allowed. Totnes cat café would only allow over 16s. In Edinburgh I could find no mention of an age limit.
Interesting concept
I find the concept of the “cat café” very interesting from a cat behaviour and veterinary point of view. I see clients regularly with behaviour in their cats which is associated with unstable multi-cat households: urine marking, inappropriate urination and defaecation, scratching furniture, aggression to other cats and to humans; and medical problems caused by stress: idiopathic cystitis, over grooming, blocked bladder and IBD.
These problems are apparent in households with just 2-3 cats, so I am curious about a situation with 10 or 11 cats where they are confined indoors and meet strangers every day.
The recent BBC2 Horizon threepart series, “The secret life of the cat”, raised a lot of interest from our clients and put the point across really well about cats needing a stable environment, preferring their own company, and that they don’t like changes in their routine or social groups.
Cats like choices, whether it be to interact with another cat or human; they do not like having attention forced upon them.
I think the cat café venture poses a lot of questions:
- Where do the cats come from in the first place?
- What happens to the cats that do not settle and thrive?
- Who is monitoring this establishment that understands cat
behaviour? - Who is monitoring the hygiene?
- Who is monitoring the welfare of
the cats, assessing them for stress?
It is well known that cats can hide stress really well, and often just shut down, look away and hope the threat goes away. A cat can stay like this for hours. Could this be confused with a cat that is sleeping or relaxed? Also, I can see no escape room on either website for cats that do not want to “perform” that day.
Who will assess the cats each morning and make the decision about their ability to “work” that day?
With two cafés now open, I suspect more will follow. The public seem to like the idea. I’m not so sure. I think I will stick to the local pub, with the black-and-white moggy that only wants to share my crisps on his terms, not mine.
