Field Research

Field Research

Last year we did some ‘field research’ in Europe and Canada to see how other cat cafes are doing it. Here are a few highlights. Have a scroll through the slideshows to see all the new furiends we made.


Cat Cafe Budapest

We were impressed by the kitty climbing wall in the back room that takes them well out of reach of any human. There were multiple rooms and three levels to this cafe, but the cats mostly congregated in the main room with its large sunny windows. They were adept at highjacking human seating. They were also quite adept at sleeping. 


Cafe Neko, Vienna

Six cats live in this quiet cafe tucked in a corner street away from the hustle and bustle of the tourists. We were incredibly charmed by the little black cat with wide glowing green eyes who liked to climb all over everyone and rifle through their purses. We dined on salmon canapes that made the cats jealous, and admired the architecture and colourful decorations.


Café des Chats, Montreal

Le Café des Chats was the first cat cafe in North America, opening its doors late last summer. It’s a sunny nook full of relaxed cats and cat lovers, chillin’ together. The owners sat down with us and told us about their journey and shared a lot of useful information. We loved the comfortable atmosphere and especially the fluffy sunbeam-loving tuxedo cat.


Café chat l’heureux, MONTREAL

Café Chat L’Heureux was more of a full service restaurant with the added bonus of cats scurrying around your feet and lounging around on the walls... it was incredibly busy all Saturday, day and night... we had to come back later because there was such a long line-up! Montreal has a heck of a lot of cat lovers.

A visit to Richmond’s cat sanctuary

Scenes from our visit to the Richmond Animal Protection Society cat sanctuary in 2014. The sanctuary is maintained with the help of around 100 volunteers, and is funded by donations and revenue from the RAPS thrift store. It currently houses over 600 cats on its 6-acre property, providing a safe and secure forever home for formerly homeless, helpless kitties that are feral or unadoptable.

Although most come from the city of Richmond, RAPS has also taken in cats and kittens from throughout the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, in order to save them from euthanasia in their home community.
— Richmond Animal Protection Society website

It was so great to see so many cats living in harmony together, and the kitties were pretty happy to hang out with us humans too. 

The RAPS cat sanctuary is open to the public every Sunday from 1 to 4 pm. Visit their website here for more information.