We visited Le Café des Chats in Montreal. It was kind of the best
Once you visit a cat café you suddenly come to the realization that every café should be filled with furry felines.
For one, it’s a far more social experience. Instead of draining your cell phone battery, and brain, sipping coffee is a delightful experience when there are kittens roaming around at play. The healing power of animals in public places is a sure fire science – think puppy rooms on campus.
Tellingly, when I arrived at Le Café des Chats on a drizzly grey Sunday morning I was in a mood. And not the good kind. When I left, however, I felt completely rejuvenated. Chalk one up for a combination cappuccino and cat hangout.
Le Café des Chats of Montreal is the first cat café in North America. The basic concept is that its a café but with cats. Still following us?
Le Café des Chats doesn’t have a coffee shop vibe. Instead, it’s more like hanging out in a stranger’s house where you have to pay for food. You have to take your shoes off before the staff will let you in. But everyone is friendly and you will likely end up having an unexpected conversation. Also, the café is filled with cat amenities, like kitty condos, bowls of kibble, string toys and giant, fluffy pillows for lazing upon. There’s also a lot of cat-themed art.
Also, did we mention that there are a lot of puffy cats with free range of the rooms?
All the cats are a part of the family, said the owner, who periodically stoops over to give one of her “furry kids” a skritch.
“We adopted them and love them all. And it’s like our customers have adopted them too because they keep coming back to visit.”
The idea is a good one. And it works, mostly because anyone going is completely in to the idea of gawking at strange cats and vying for their attention. Call it therapy, or at least the next best thing to it.
So can someone please open a cat café in Saskatoon already?
