The first cat café in Canada, Le Café des Chats, opened in Montreal in August 2014. Some Japanese cafés have introduced other animals, like goats, to differentiate themselves in a saturated market. Pairing cats with café culture became popular throughout Asia in the early 2000s, landing in Tokyo in 2005, and flourishing there.Ĭat café are so advanced in Japan that there is legislation specifically governing cat café. The concept of cat cafés began in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998. There are currently only two cats in the café, but Chai would not say where they came from. He said he's partnering with another cat rescue group in the city. So after Toronto's only cat café was left cat-less when the Humane Society removed all of its cats, Chai had to find another supplier. He would only adopt out cats when he was sure the Humane Society would replace them.Ĭat cafés, including Montreal's Café Chat L'Heureux and Toronto's TOT the Cat Café, are spreading across Canada, offering coffee and kitty love. In Toronto, Chai had a unique but ultimately problematic way to keep the supply consistent. The café had to wait until the next "shipment" of cats, hand-picked by the BC SPCA, arrived. "Due to the overwhelming success of adoptions in our first few weeks, we have run out of cats!" read a sign on that café's social media feeds. In Vancouver, a cat café called Catfé had its grand opening in December 2015, only to close temporarily less than a month later. Keeping a steady stream of cats in a cat café has been an ongoing issue for several owners. Chai was instituting a minimum purchase for anyone wishing to interact with the cats - a barrier the non-profit Humane Society did not approve of.
The Humane Society supplied the café with shelter cats hoping the animals would get more exposure and be adopted by customers.īarbara Steinhoff, the executive director at the Humane Society, said problems arose not over the treatment of the cats but the for-profit activities of the café. We prioritize the cats."Įxner said she wants to see the cat café shut down, and is filling out a complaint with the OSPCA.Īlready, rumours of cat mistreatment have flashed across social media, which Chai said is hurting his business.Īdding fuel to the controversy, the cats that populate Chai's café have been taken back by the Toronto Humane Society.
"There's a lot of beautiful things happening in the café," said Chai. He said the cats are fed twice a day and their water bowl never goes dry. Kenneth Chai, the owner of TOT Cat Café, said that he and Exner had "different standards" for cat care. "They constantly forget to feed them, or give them water, or properly monitor their health," she said.
She accused the café owners of not being interested in caring for the animals that are the basis of their business. "This job has been the most stressful job in my entire life," she wrote in a public Facebook post. She quit earlier this month saying she couldn't keep up with the around-the-clock care the cats needed. There are currently 255 cat cafés in 37 countries and 143 cities, according to Coffee With Cats, a website that tracks cat cafés.īut a recent controversy in Toronto's only cat café, the TOT Café on College Street, has highlighted how difficult it is to run a business with felines.Ĭat cafés in Canada offer lattes and furry felinesīrandy Exner, a former employee of TOT Cat Café in downtown Toronto, said she found herself coming into the café even on her days off to feed the cats. Having a coffee with a cat close by was once a privilege only cat-owners could enjoy.īut today, cat cafés are offering that opportunity to all: order a hot beverage and enjoy it in the midst of adoptable cats in a cafe setting.
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