I own a cat cafe – by staying open we are giving them a better life
Owners and customers of cat cafes in London have dismissed new suggestions from the RSPCA which suggested the popular establishments be ‘phased out’ because of stress on the felines.
There are more than 30 cat cafes licensed in England – but the RSPCA believes many more are operating without regulation.
RSPCA cat welfare expert Alice Potter said: ‘We adore cats and so we understand the appeal of cat cafes. But we don’t believe these environments can consistently provide cats with a good quality of life and are hugely concerned that many cats will be unhappy as a result.’
Metro’s experience at two popular London cat cafes proved wildly different from what the RSPCA said.
In North London, Whiskers and Cream is a different kind of cat cafe – rather than helping facilitate adoptions, like other locations, the cafe is the permanent home of ten sleepy cats.
Owner Kay Allen, 63, opened the location in Holloway in 2019. The business had a ‘rocky’ start due to Covid, but former NHS psychiatric nurse Kay worked hard to create a better life for the rescue residents.
‘All of our cats are rescues,’ she told Metro. ‘And as you can see, they were very settled.
‘I could never rehome them. But this news with the RSPCA wanting to phase out the cat cafes – it’s not the first time they’ve suggested it.’
Kay said the RSPCA is right to have concerns about cat cafes which aren’t safe and may not be practicing the best cat care, but the City of London already carries out animal welfare checks for businesses like Whiskers and Cream.
‘We have a license, and the amount of information they check is very comprehensive – the cats, the environment, food and more,’ she said.
Kay said that she’s only had issues with customers twice out of the six years Whiskers and Cream has been operating.
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And if the cats become overwhelmed for any reason – which Kay says also doesn’t happen often – they have a quiet area downstairs.
There’s also enrichment for the cats all around the cafe – toys, climbing walls, scratching posts and plenty of customers to keep them engaged.
‘You can see these cats all love each other, they know each other. They’re sleeping together. they’re sitting with customers. This is their environment and they are happy,’ Kay added.
Over in Marylebone, Java Whiskers isn’t just a cat cafe – it’s also an adoption agency, having helped facilitate the adoptions of more than 720 cats in the past five years.
Assistant manager at Java Whiskers in Marylebone, Ruth Parratt, 28, told Metro: ‘The cats are completely in charge.
‘If they don’t want to go up to a human, that’s fine. The cat’s job is to just be themselves, and the humans can come watch them and love on them.’
Each of the three Java Whiskers locations (two in London, and one in Sweden) works with a local shelter to take in surplus kitties, with the Marylebone location able to house up to 36 cats at once.
‘We take in the extra cats that might need a bit of help socialising. Often in shelters, cats can get left behind if they’re not quite running up to people.
‘We do have cats that are a little bit scared of humans, but it helps them to watch humans and get used to them,’ Ruth explained.
Java Whiskers does have a list of rules and a waiver for guests to sign before they can meet the cats – along with sanitation processes to make sure the cats aren’t exposed to anything.
What has the RSPCA said?
Daniel Warren-Cummings, central behaviour officer for Cats Protection, said: ‘Cats are simply not built to share space with a high number of other cats and it only happens because humans force the matter.
‘Although many cat cafe owners start their enterprise out of a desire to help unwanted cats, they will ultimately commit themselves to having high numbers of cats to meet consumer demand, which makes it difficult to run these businesses in a way that truly protects cat welfare.
‘Stress severely impacts a cat’s physical and emotional wellbeing but unfortunately cats are very stoic when they are stressed and hide the signs.
‘For example, some cats adopt a strategy of feigning sleep when they are stressed, leading consumers to mistakenly assume they are simply resting.’
As for the new RSPCA guidance, Ruth wasn’t convinced. ‘I think it definitely depends on the cafe, how it’s managed, how it is structured,’ she said.
‘I think if there’s a cafe with no rules where visitors are allowed to pick up the cats, I would understand the concern. But here, our goal is to have the cats here temporarily and get them adopted.’
Java Whiskers customers Andres, 22, and Celeste, 23, told Metro as resident kitten Jeff climbed a wall nearby: ‘I think the cats are very chilled, and the fact there’s a little room they can go to if they need to take a break from the people makes it better.
‘The cats seem to have full autonomy. They can do whatever they want,’ Celeste added.
Cat cafes - a sweet idea or stressful for felines?
I’m a massive cat lover – which is ironic, considering I’m severely allergic to them. The RSPCA’s guidance surprised me. Videos I’ve seen on social media at various cat cafes showed the felines walking up to customers, asking to be pet and snoozing peacefully in the shop windows.
Upon entry to Java Whiskers’ ‘kitten room’, I was pleasantly surprised at how laid back all of the young kittens were. Jeff, in particular, was very vocal and playful.
Couples sat and sipped coffee while waving cat toys for the kittens to play with. Knowing these cats would be adopted and taken into their forever homes was also a plus.
Whiskers and Cream was also an establishment which clearly values their resident cats. Two doors separate the cats from the outside, sanitation is required before entering and all of the cats get along.
There was no fighting for food or water between the felines (Jack and Jasper both drank from the running fountain at the same time, before grooming each other).
This isn’t to say that other establishments might not meet the standards which cats deserve – but a broad sweep of cat cafe closures would be rash.
Whiskers and Cream customers Aidhra, 21, and Sammy, 22, told Metro they didn’t understand the upset over cat cafes.
‘It’s very calm, clean and the cats seem happy. Some of these cats have been raised here, it’s the only environment they know,’ Aidhra said as resident cat Winnifred strutted by.
‘It’s just cute and calm.’
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