New cat cafe gives back

SINGAPORE — You’d be forgiven for thinking this was the Year of the Cat — or the cat cafes, to be specific.

The Company Of Cats is the third cat cafe to open in Singapore. Like its predecessors Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa in Boat Quay and The Cat Cafe, which opened in June in Bugis Village, The Company Of Cats’ eight resident felines were formerly strays or abandoned pets.

In addition to giving rescued cats a good home, The Company Of Cats’ primary aim is to be a socially conscious business. Part of its profits are donated to the Animal Lovers League, a non-profit organisation that houses and re-homes critters in need. “They have close to a thousand animals that they take care of, so that’s something we try to help out with by donating profits to them,” explained owner Tay Shuyun, who left her marketing job to run the cafe.

Tay also plans to hold “events and programmes here to educate people about animal welfare”, including talks and workshops. “It’s a bit ambitious, but I hope to do adoption drives here,” she said. “We’re just doing whatever we can to help out — not only the animal-welfare part, which we obviously try to advocate, but also through our actions. We also try to be friendly to the environment — we recycle and use environmentally sustainable packaging. We try to be a responsible business.”

The space, a heritage shophouse in Chinatown’s Mosque Street, includes a separate dining area with no entrance fee, while the Cat Room’s visitors are capped at 15 people. Tay said the room can actually accommodate more, but “we don’t want the cats to be too stressed out”. “There’s no point having a lot of people here if the cats are unhappy and hiding,” she added.

The resident kitties are a bunch of colourful characters, including two Russian Blues and a Ragdoll named Elliott, who is always by the door.

“He just wants to be the first cat that you see — to get all your attention when you come in,” said Tay (laughs), who added that she was open to adding to the menagerie should more cats need a roof over their heads.

With two more cat cafes set to open their doors in the next few months, Tay said: “I think it’s great that there are now these businesses around; that we are able to give these rescued animals a good home, because not everyone can do that. There are so many organisations and rescuers out there who do so much more than us. We hope we can contribute.” May Seah

The Cat Room’s entrance fee is S$14 (including a soft drink) for the first hour and S$5 for each subsequent half hour. Closed on Mondays.