Hi everyone,
We are back with another post about one of the UK’s cat cafes – You & Meow. The cat cafe is located in Bristol and our visited had the cutest little black kittens ever (just don’t tell Nubia that we’ve been playing with other black cats. 😉
One of their favourite places in the cafe were these barrels. Stacked on top of each other they provide the purrfect place for exhausted cats and kittens to hide in and it’s definitely something we’d recommend people to recreate at home. Cats like “3-Dimensional” space as it provides them with areas to climb up into and hide in when they wish to have a bit of peace and quietness.
Sadly black cats still have the stigma of bringing bad luck in the UK and thus it was refreshing to see that this cat cafe didn’t just take in one black cat but THREE of them that needed a home.
Being kittens they, of course, had LOADS of energy and were all over the cat furniture. I struggled a little following them around with my camera but it was a lot of fun to watch them run around and climb up on the various cat furniture.
Did you know that sadly the other reason black cats find it difficult to find homes is that people believe they don’t make good photo subjects for Social Media etc? Well… I hope you’ll agree with me that this is absolute rubbish! Black cats look especially amazing in the sun! As Nubia proved in our little garden post. 🙂
If you happen to be in Bristol we’d highly recommend popping into You & Meow for a little visit! It’s the purrfect place to relax from a busy shopping/sightseeing trip to the city.
Thanks,
Marc
Awww. Bless. Those that think black cats don’t make good pictures don’t deserve any cats. These photos are gorgeous and I still can’t believe that black cats still have stigma of bad luck. They are lovely and have the love to give to their owners to show appreciation, as well as wanting love in return.
I know it’s so sad that they still have this stigma 🙁
Thanks for the warning. Black cats are irresistable but then I’ve never met a feline who could not command my attention…
Same for us! Going into a cattery is dangerous for us… LOL
Those barrels are a great idea! Of course, the black kittens inside make them even better!
🙂
black kitties rock
🙂 Nubia thinks so too
Looks like a fun place to visit. I like the barrels too!
Do the cats stay/live at the cafe or are they up for adoption. I knew about black cats and bad luck, but I hadn’t thought about the social media aspect. When I had my iPhone 5 I couldn’t get a good picture of my cat for nothing. I have a ton of the tortie, but not of the black one. But with my new phone it is much easier to capture the black goddess that is Teagan. Plus, I think she is a little more receptive to getting her picture taken.
Most of them are permanent residents as they don’t want to upset “the colony” but they are supporting their local shelter. 🙂
I find it very interesting that some cafes are the permanent homes for the cats. I had just assumed they were adoption “agencies”. The cat lounge here has been open for about 4 years and has adopted out more than 300 cats.
It depends on how they are setup and the country. The UK is quite specific about whom they give a license to when animals are involved and generally most councils here don’t like the idea of a place that has public, drinks and food and constantly changing cats as they want to sign off based on the cats present.
I think that’s why most of our cat cafes support shelters through notice boards, outreach and monetary contributions while only having a few shelter cats for adoption.
The cat lounge where we got our cats does not sell food . . . it is a licensing issue here, too. You can bring in whatever food you want, but having an actual CAFE with cats is a challenge. That is why some places they call it a lounge. Either way adoption or permanent home, it is great for people and cats alike!
I wish they wouldn’t make things so difficult to run these places. Here you wouldn’t even be allowed to bring food or drink into a place if it’s not signed off in the way they want it signed off. Which of course would make it difficult to run a cat cafe – can’t live on charging entrance fees / donations. ?
The place here does run on charging entrance fees and donations. Plus they do a lot of classes and they allow for events. People have birthday parties there and stuff. But I don’t think it would be as popular if food was not allowed.
Yeah. Every cat cafe I know that doesn’t offer food eventually ends up shutting down as they tend to be not popular enough. ?
Sounds like such a mixed bag – don’t offer food because it is easier (licensing for food is expensive and a hassle) but then shut down because of lack of funding or go through the expensive and lengthy process of getting a food distributing (or whatever) license. The cat lounge in San Jose was only supposed to be a pop-up. It was only going to be open for five or six months, but then it turned out it was so popular and the creators saw such a huge need for it they managed to keep it going (after a brief interruption). They have adopted out 392 cats in five years.
That’s an amazing amount of adoptions
They just hit 401! Yay!
I’m from Bristol and had no idea this cafe was here! Also I had no idea there was a black cat stigma? I don’t think it’s so common now 🙂
Glad to have been able to show you something new in Bristol. We travel there quite a bit as we have a good friend that lives there.
Sadly black cats are still facing difficulty with some. :/