Cat cafés are bad for the cats in them because cats are still essentially unsuited to communal living and unsuited to living in the city where you’ll find cat cafés. The cat café is a mistake because it is a business built around a misunderstanding of the needs of the domestic cat of today who is still not fully domesticated. The domestic cat is on a journey of domestication which is yet to be completed whereas the dog was domesticated thousands of years before the cat and is therefore better suited to living with people in often overcrowded environments.
In short: the inherited presence of the wild cat ancestor in domestic cats makes him/her unsuited to cat café life.
These are the counter arguments to the positives associated with cat cafés which are springing up in major cities. There is a trend towards creating more of them.
The answer as to whether cats are suited or unsuited to cat café life depends on how sociable the domestic cat has become over the 9,500 since domestication. There are many multi-cat households in which the owner would probably report that their cats are very content. Does this point to the fact that cats have shed their desire for a solitary lifestyle, the lifestyle of their North African wildcat ancestor?
Also feral cats often live in colonies near food sources. They get along alright within a stable hierarchy. Once again this supports the view that domestic cats are able to be sociable because feral cats are closer to the wild cat. If they can get along in colonies surely domestic cats can too?
However, even the best cat experts, veterinarians and behaviourists (and even experienced cat lovers/caretakers) don’t fully understand what is going on in the head of the domestic cat. There is quite a lot of guesswork regarding domestic cat psychology. Cats don’t make it easy for us; they are good at presenting a normal face to the world. This is instinctive for survival. It can be hard to know if a cat is stressed and if stress is a contributing factor to illness.
Most ‘cat experts’ (how expert are cat experts?) concur that the domestic cat is not yet fully domesticated and we know that the African wildcat is solitary by nature so it seems that the truth lies between the two extremes.
Some individual domestic cats will be accepting and even like living in a group while others won’t. This is a case of individual domestic cat personality overcoming the inherent unsociability of cats.
Therefore cat cafés can work successfully for the cats who populate them provided the cats are chosen carefully and managed sensitively. There is a question mark over whether this actually happens.
An aspect of cat cafés that I have always liked is that they improve the public profile of the cat. Conversely, a doubt I have about them is that they are businesses at heart. They are not charities even if the cats are rescues from shelters.
It is doubtful if you can blend business with cat welfare. Excellent cat welfare can be expensive while business likes to keep overheads down to a minimum. Can cat cafés always provide the best cat care? Add that issue to the one mentioned in the first part of this article and the jury is still out on the success or otherwise of the cat café.
Photo by MsSaraKelly on Flickr under creative commons license.
I think the Idea for Cat Cafes for those Who Cant have Cats in their homes, but can have like a Cat Session where they have Quality time Patting Cats. Or spending time with them while having a hot drink or something to eat. I remember Michael did an Article either earlier this Year or Last Year. Cant remember when.
I live in Adelaide,South Australia and there is a cat café near the city but it is for people to come in and meet the cats and get to know them so they can be adopted.it is a great idea and the adoption rate is really good.the cats have a lot of room to move around and seem to be really happy.i visit now and then to pat the cats(I have 4 cats of my own)and have a drink and of course give donations.the people that run the café are lovely and are so dedicated,it really is a nice atmosphere and a nice way for the cats to have a second chance of happiness.
If someone would ask me . . . Ahsan! do you want to open a cats/ kittens cafe?
The answer shall be in a big “YES”
but I will impose some conditions on that…
Conditions:
1. Every wall may have sealed Glass cages with cats all around the cafe.
2. Every customer will pay $1 as welfare for cats money for every single meal.
3. Only cats lovers are allowed to step in, i.e will require a membership card. Non members NOT ALLOWED.
4. A charity money BOX will be set aside on the counters.
5. There will be no serving of any Cat related meal in the cafe.
Such Cat friendly cafe must be promoted and opened in the markets so that this kind of place may give awareness to the general population, not to be afraid of cats or not to hurt them but to support them positively.
Not to degrade the status of a domestic cat. Already people have negative intentions about FERAL CATS, even they are self cat owners.
My heart always goes for the welfare aspect, and I will move on with my ideas . . . . . . . . . . <3
Cat cafes are not automatically good places for cats. It depends on what is happening outside of the café. If cats would otherwise be euthanized at a shelter then living in a cat café is good or if a cat would otherwise be living on the street and be killed then a cat café is good. Conversely, if cat could live in a perfect home environment then that is better than a cat café.
Agreed <3
To me, cat cafes are workable for cats as long as customers are accepting of what cats need and desire.
And, the management needs to provide for their needs.
Finicky customers need to hit the road if they have problems with cats hopping on counters and tabletops, helping themselves to morsels of food from their plates, and eliminating in the same general area.
My household works that way.
Certainly, I have inhaled and ingested tons of cat hair over the years, shared many meals with felines, and have 3 litter boxes in my kitchen.
The question is whether the concept is good or not. I used to think they were good but I am not so sure now. It is an attractive idea but are the cats being shoe horned into a commercial enterprise which is not altogether suitable for them?
Ofcourse it’s not good, because cat welfare isn’t the primary concern. It’s about income, as always.
But, it’s better than any idea yet.
Cat cafés are good only so far as the cats in the café are shelter cats with an uncertain future. That must be better for the cat but if all cats were well cared for it would undermine the concept of the cat café.
After having earlier this morning read the post on this site about the psycho who sealed the kittens up in a plastic bag, I was having kind of a mental “disconnect” – acts of cruelty like that are so very disturbing (and no, I did not bother to watch the terrible video).
I don’t know if my later reaction was “understandable”, but when I received the email notification about “Cat Cafes are Bad for the Cats in them” I simply started screaming.
When I clicked the link from my email directly to this article, I was met by the photograph of a cat in a bowl, and a man in the background likely eating, and almost snorted coffee out of my nose onto the keyboard.
Needless to say, it took only a moment to realize my mistake.
(Michael, you seem to posses a rather highly developed sense of that famous “British Humor”. Either that, or I just read too much between the lines sometimes).
I have read that the “Illuminati” and “New World Order” folks eat kittens.
Yes – Cat Cafe’s are a recipe for disaster!
Elluminati
bloody SATANS
eating kittens for them is nothing big, they inhale human blood and flesh.
cat cafes are devil’s choice 🙁
I mean such cat cafes
Yes, sometimes I write in what I hope is a subtle and challenging way. I am asking a question in this article. That is all. The cat café is good and bad for cats it depends on the arrangement and it depends on the cats.
Cat cafés are presumed to be good but I’m just asking, “are they automatically good?”