The SPCA recognizes that most people who work in cat cafes, whether they are business owners or visitors, care very much about cats. However, many domestic cats do not do well in confined spaces with other cats, and having so many cats in a busy environment can be stressful for antisocial cats. Selecting individual cats to form a successful social group is a difficult and special task for a cat cafe, where the cats’ sociability with people must also be taken into account.
The SPCA has additional concerns about cat cafes being used to rehome a “transient” population of rescue cats. The constantly changing group of cats and people can cause stress to the animals, increase the risk of infectious diseases and jeopardize the welfare of the cats.
Cat cafes should have rules in place to minimize potentially problematic human contact. Cats should be provided with areas that allow them to avoid contact with people, other cats, and potentially stressful aspects of the cafe environment (e.g., noise, strange odors, movement).
Cats can be extremely subtle in showing signs of stress, instead resorting to behaviors that mask their distress, such as faking sleep. Thus, even in well-managed cat cafes, there is a risk that these signs of stress can be easily overlooked.
