Cat Cafes and Lounges: The Purrfect Place for People and Felines – In Good Health

Syracuse and Rochester feature several cat cafes, with plenty of the amenities

By Joe Sarnicola

Jane and Olivia and their cats at Pawsitivitea Café in the CNY Regional Market in Syracuse.

Interacting with animals can “decrease stress, improve heart health and even help children with their emotional and social skills,” according to the National Institutes of Health.

This would include owning a pet (if anyone ever really owns a pet) or seeing them on a farm or in another friendly setting. And one of those other friendly settings would have to be cat cafes.

A what?

The Cat Flower Garden, the world’s first cat café, opened in Taiwan in 1998. The café offered baked goods and a selection of tea and coffee in addition to allowing time to spend with the cats. The concept quickly spread to Japan and there are now cat cafes in many other countries around the world; including the United States and specifically the Central New York and Finger Lakes regions.

In the United States, the food serving area must be separated from the cat area and the businesses must conform to all applicable restaurant health and safety regulations.

To spend time with the cats, customers have to book a session ahead of time, usually for a small fee. The cats live in a safe and comfortable environment, like a home living room. Visitors can sit with the cats, pet them, play with them or just relax watching cats do what cats do.

Each café has its own rules in place for the safety of the cats. They usually include: no loud noises, running or chasing the cats; do not disturb them if they are eating or sleeping; visitors must wear socks; and a limit on the number of people in the cat space at any one time.

Cat cafes are not shelters, so they do not rescue or accept stray animals. Most of them partner with shelters and other animal organizations. The cats are available for adoption and visiting a café is a good way to see if a specific cat is a good fit for people looking to adopt.

In the Eastview Mall, in Victor, is the Lazy Cat Lounge and Café, operated by Sarah Thorne.

Previously owned by Lisa and Todd Cragle as Purrs and Paws, this café has found home for more than 600 cats since opening in 2020. According to the company website, the café has served to help some of the more timid animals or animals from difficult backgrounds to learn to socialize and to trust people again.

Owner Alisha Reynolds opened Pawsitivitea in the Regional Market in Syracuse after visiting the Catnip Café in Norfolk, Virginia. She was impressed by the experience and she wanted to open something similar here by combining her strong sense of compassion, her culinary training and her experience in retail.

“Opening a cat café seemed like a better option than working three jobs,” she said.

Reynolds likes to add fun themes to her business, such as a pretend Halloween party in July, with some of the cats wearing fun, but safe decorated vests or cat and goat yoga, where small goats actually visit the cat area. Visitors to Pawsitivitea’s cat lounge must enter a small room and close the door behind themselves before entering the cat area. This ensures none of the cats can get out of their safe lounge space.

“People love the concept of a cat café,” she said. “Plus we have adopted out more than 350 cats since we opened three years ago. We have some awesome adoption partners and our cats go through a quarantine process before coming to us.”

The Wired Whisker, a cat café in Duluth, Minnesota, has a blog on its website devoted to the benefits of interacting with cats in a café setting, what the owner, Misha, calls “cat therapy.” Some of the benefits she lists are the calming effect of a cat’s purr and sitting with a cat in a peaceful environment can reduce stress and even improve mental clarity.

The cats benefit as well. Whatever their backgrounds have been they now live in a safe, loving space and they are able to spend time with people who show them love. And of course, many of the café visitors adopt the cats after meeting them in person, which leads to a life-long bond with the cats.

More information about the cafes, their cats, their adoption processes and their café menus can be found by visiting their websites.