The most wonderful place on earth

Hello everyone!

I have discovered the best place on the planet. Maybe it's a tie with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Okay, I'm being facetious, but today I visited somewhere I've been wanting to go for years: the world's first cat cafe. And it did not disappoint.

In the past two days, I've also been to a nightmarket and the gardens of the National Palace Museum, but I will post separately about that because Cats Can't Wait.

We actually decided to go to the cat cafe on a whim; it was on my list of things to do in Taipei, but we were mostly looking for a way to get out of Andrew's apartment. (The people next door decided that 8am-5pm is a great time to use deafening power drills. They didn't let us know beforehand because they figured if they did it quickly enough, no one would notice.... False.)

As it turned out, the Cafe Dog and Cats was located just a metro stop away from the National Palace Museum, which we had also been planning to visit. So we set off this afternoon for a magical land of fur.

Bringing joy to the world since 1998
Chinese translation, courtesy of Andrew: little cat flower garden

Cafe Dog and Cats (or "Cat Garden," as it's sometimes known) is located right across the street from the Zhishan metro station. Funnily enough, the first thing you see when you go up to the doors is this anti-dog sign:

What could this mean???

So no dogs allowed, even though it's the Dog and Cat cafe. Actually, the name's not entirely accurate: they had about a dozen cats, three dogs, and one bird.

cat paraphernalia everywhere

grab a table and a cat

We sat down at a table and ordered some tea and cake. We weren't really sure how the whole thing worked--were you allowed to pet the cats? How did you get them to come to you? Should we pretend we were here for the food?

yep, we're just enjoying this normal coffee at a normal cafe

Soon, we realized that there was no pretense about the fact that the main attraction was the animals. Here's the deal with cat cafes: Everyone is there for the cats. At this cafe, you have to order something off the menu, but it's totally normal to spend most of your time wandering around petting cats. Even the most stoic-looking waitress stops to nuzzle the cats.

hello, tiny cafe patron.

For the next hour (or two), we rotated between sitting at a table drinking tea (staring at cats), and wandering around the cafe (petting cats).

Andrew and his new friend

One of the cats spent about an hour sleeping inside a tiny box. We called it Box Kitty. Andrew fell in love with it.

Another sat imperiously on a cafe table, staring down visitors. According to the little menu on our table, its name is "Boss."

you're fired

Other cats lazed around on tables...

I don't know why blogspot rotated this picture...
(it's a cat sleeping on a table)
...but it looks more impressive this way

This cat's name is "butter"

There were also three dogs. They mostly loafed on the floor. Two were tied to chairs with leashes, and one (this golden retriever) could roam freely. I hope they are getting enough exercise.

i am dogloaf

We tried not to touch the sleeping cats, although other patrons weren't so generous.

 

"Chewy" looks very fetching with that purple bow

The most cats I could get in one picture (there could have been
a fifth, but it was too high up on the shelf)

what is this cloud doing on the floor?

I couldn't wake the cube cats... it would be shelfish.

I almost cried because its little head was the size of a clementine

Halfway through our visit, there was some unexpected drama. The tiniest kitten (pictured above) tried to get the attention of Box Kitty, who wasn't having any of it.

"go awayyyyyyy"

Unfortunately, the tiny kitten didn't get the hint and kept trying to make friends with Box Kitty, which resulted in this:

Because of this incident, Boss supplanted Box Kitty as Andrew's favorite cat. But the tiny kitten bounced back pretty quickly, and curled up inside a bird cage/cat bed.

don't worry baby, you're safe here

It was very hard to leave the cat cafe. We will probably be back. We didn't get to pet all the cats (some were sleeping in a closed-off area) or feed them (you can buy catnip and cat treats) so there's still plenty to do at the Dog and Cats Cafe.

even the walls are giant cats

I ended up buying a bunch of cat postcards (10 for $3USD! What a steal!) and a cute cat-shaped plant holder that I hope will make it back home in one piece. This was my first souvenir so far.

Cower in fear, for I am HoverPot!

Right after I left for Taiwan, D.C.'s first cat cafe opened up. (oh, what poetic injustice.) When I get back, I can't wait to visit it to compare. Of course, if I want to be thorough in my research, I'll just have to visit all of Taipei's cat cafes to get a representative sample....

Overall rating for the Dog and Cats cafe:

Cats (quantity): 10/10
Cats (quality): 10/10
Total: A++

So today I learned that cat cafes are amazing and I don't know how I lived so long without one in my life.