It is a haven of holistic therapy, organic food and independent
retail and its town sign was famously graffitied with the words
“Twinned with Narnia”.
Last year, when the coffee giant Costa threatened to open a branch
in Totnes, almost 6,000 residents signed a petition against it
causing the chain to pull out.
By contrast this June, when former wildlife hospital owner Liz Dyas
decided to open a “cat cafe” there, it was welcomed with open
arms.
The cat cafe phenomenon began in Asia with the world’s first
opening in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998. They are now hugely popular in
Japan where living conditions are often too cramped for pet
ownership.
Customers pay an hourly fee that allows them to relax with a drink
and a cat to stroke: a form of on-site pet rental-meets-pet
therapy.
n Tokyo alone there are now 39 cat cafes and the UK looks set to
pick up on the trend. A London venture, Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium,
is in the planning stages but, in the meantime, Liz has become
Britain’s first cat cafe owner.
“The cats are my own,” says Liz. “I chose cats that were friendly,
inquisitive and sociable. We were able to ensure that in the
critical stage, eight weeks before opening, they were given a lot
of positive human contact. The cats are now so friendly and used to
people that they will often rush up to greet new customers
immediately.”
Totnes Cats Cafe is open from 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
The rest of the time the Cats Cafe’s Rolo, Lilac, Glee, Jet, Felix
and Mango live with Liz, which means she spends a lot of time
carrying cats in baskets:“But they associate the baskets with fun
now, not with vet trips.”
The cafe itself is a bright room with comfy seats, cat toys, and a
bar where cakes and coffee are available.
A double electric door system means there’s no possibility of
feline escape on to Totnes’s busy Fore Street, and the six moggies
have a giant climbing wall on which to amuse themselves (and
patrons).
Customers sit and order drinks and snacks and wait for the cats to
interact with them. “They’ll often get talking to each other as
well, because of the common bond of cats,” says Liz.
That said, one of the cats, Lilac, does have a reputation as a bit
of a thief: “She went off with a lady’s purse recently.”
A session at the cafe costs £2 for half an hour and most people
stay from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Liz divides customers
into several distinct types, including “university students missing
their cat at home” as well as “people in sheltered accommodation”
or “people living in high rise flats” and “people with a partner
who is allergic to cat fur”.
Liz has been working with animals for more than 25 years. She has
done a lot of research into cats and says positive contact with
them has “great therapeutic value”.
However the animal welfare charity Cats Protection has criticised
the cafe, saying it “firmly believes this kind of environment is
not suitable for domestic cats” and that the cats “will become
stressed as a result of being in a confined space with a
continually changing group of people”.
John Bradshaw, who has written a book that will be published soon
called Cat Sense: The Feline Enigma Revealed, says: “It is rare for
six unrelated cats to live harmoniously in one confined space.
"Social stress is common in multi-cat households and often goes
unnoticed by owners.
"The interior of the cafe seems quite small and I would consider it
essential for the cats’ welfare that they be allowed additional
space where they can withdraw from the visitors whenever they
choose.”
