A visit to Meow Parlour, New York City’s first cat cafe

Imagine you’re city-dwelling cat lover with no cats. Perhaps you’re a student living in a dorm. Or your roommate is allergic to cat dander. Or (perish the thought!) your landlord doesn’t allow pets. Even cute, quiet, purring ones.

How do you get your kitty fix? You could always mooch off a friend: “Hey, whatcha doin’ tonight? Want to hang out? Do you still have Fluffy?” You could volunteer at a shelter–a very good thing, by the way, even if you have only a little time.

Or you can plunk down a small amount of cash and sit with well-socialized cats at a cat cafe, which seem to be springing up all over the US like mushrooms after a rainstorm.

A cat that looks amazingly like my Calvin keeps an eye on the New York City street scene from within Meow Parlour.

Recently, I was lucky enough to visit New York City’s first (and currently only!) cat cafe, Meow Parlour, where I sat down on the floor and played with nearly a dozen cats. Afterward, I chatted with Emilie Legrand, one of the co-founders of the cafe.

Underneath the tabletop, cats can peer through the letters.

The idea of opening up a cat cafe in Manhattan was one that Emilie and Christina Ha talked about as they worked at Christina’s bakery Macaron Parlour, a patisserie  known for its French macarons (which are an entirely separate species of pastry from the two-O macaroons).  “Cats and pastries are my two passions,” said Emilie, probably speaking for her partner and about 8 billion of the rest of us (including me.) It’s not surprising that the Kickstarter campaign for the concept met its goal in less than a day, and sold out soon after.

I want one of these tables for my own cats.

One of the biggest challenges was navigating the sea of city regulations; being the first meant charting a new course through them, finding innovative ways to comply yet still make the dream come true. It was easy enough for the two partners to get the required animal handling certificates, but they couldn’t get past the health department’s rules about not having animals in an establishment that made and served food.

Cat’s eye view of the table.

Realizing that there were no laws preventing people from bringing food and drink into a place where animals lived, they found the perfect work-around: open up a bakery–Meow Parlour Patisserie–close by, just around the corner. Patrons can stop and pick up coffee, tea, soups, sandwiches–and pastries–on their way to the cafe, or they can have their order delivered while they’re visiting with the cats.

Waiting for customers.

The best part of Meow Parlour (other than the pastries) is that the cats are all adoptable through KittyKind, a not-for-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer cat rescue and adoption group in New York City.

For cafe cats, they choose animals who are most likely to do well in the social atmosphere, as well as ones that don’t do well in cages — the cats who get depressed trapped inside a metal box all day, and thus are often overlooked by potential adopters. Photos and brief descriptions of the cats are hung on the walls, and a Meet the Cats binder offers additional information if a visitor makes a new feline friend and wants to offer him or her a permanent home.

I met most of the adoptable cats. Every one a sweetheart.

As for me, even though I have four cats (and three dogs) at home, I succumbed to what Emilie called the “Snuggle Effect.” The cafe is a refuge from the craziness of everyday life in the city. “Coming here is relaxing,” she said. “People tend to speak more softly. And when they leave, they have a smile on their face.”

Here’s proof:

I made a new friend. I walked out without him, but the smile stayed with me all day.

Below are some additional photos of the cat cafe and its inhabitants:

The entire back wall is made up of climbable bookshelves and cubbies for cats to hang out in.  Cats can also hide behind and under the wood benches if they don’t feel like being social. (Workers can reach the kitties if they need to; the benches swing open.)

I believe that’s Squinkles lounging in the scratcher, which seems to be a favorite hang out.

There are other places to hide as well, including a safe room accessible through a cat hole, a feline-sized version of the baseboard mouse hole.

In or out? A cat’s eternal question.

Or a cat can turn her back on the world, which works just as well.

Leave me alone.

All the cats get along for the most part, including these two, who were playing and wrestling , oblivious to the humans who had to walk over them.

It’s nice to meet friends at the cafe.

Lucky Lemon, the orange cat playing above, spent three days hiding when he first came to the cat cafe. A kind visitor spent time with him and helped him come out of his shell. He greeted me when I first got there, and we had a grand time playing Catch the Feather on the Pole; I didn’t believe it when Emilie told me he had been shy.

Look at the sweet face of Lucky Lemon!

Today, we’re participating in the Monday Mischief blog hop. Take a look at some of the great blogs below:

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