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Pet paradise, yay or nay? Pet cafe owners say it’s a dog-eat-dog world

SINGAPORE — Feline lover Elaine Tee owns a three-year-old American shorthair cat, but that has not stopped her from visiting cat cafes around the island, and even abroad.

Visitors playing with cats at The Cat Museum located at Purvis Street, on Sept 7, 2017. Photo: Esther Leong/TODAY

Visitors playing with cats at The Cat Museum located at Purvis Street, on Sept 7, 2017. Photo: Esther Leong/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — Feline lover Elaine Tee owns a three-year-old American shorthair cat, but that has not stopped her from visiting cat cafes around the island, and even abroad.

The 27-year-old has visited cat cafes here at least 10 times, spending an hour each visit feeding, petting and cuddling a variety of cats that can range from local pet-rescue breeds to exotic ones like the munchkin. She has forked out more than S$200 in total on her hobby.

Well-travelled and savvy, Ms Tee is one of many pet-loving Singaporeans who have helped fuel the pet cafe trend here in recent years. Partly inspired by their overseas counterparts in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, a wave of such establishments began opening in Singapore about five years ago to cater to animal lovers who want to interact with the cats or dogs in a cafe setting.

The first, Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa, which means ‘Cat Garden’ in Japanese, opened at Boat Quay in late 2013. Since then, five more pet cafes, including one for dogs, also opened here.

Pet-friendly food establishments, which allow owners to bring their dogs to a cafe or restaurant, have also become popular in pet-loving Singapore. Over a decade, the number of licensed dogs registered with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) rose by 32 per cent, from an estimated 47,000 in 2006 to 62,000 in 2015.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), which regulates food shop licences required for pet cafes and pet-friendly food establishments, the number of such licences fell from 20 in 2014 to 16 in 2016, but that picked up in January this year as the number rose to 22.

IT’S NO BED OF ROSES

Despite Singapore’s pet-crazy climate, the industry has run into a number of speed bumps.

Pet cafe numbers, which reached its highest of six in 2014, have since dipped to four this year. This was according to figures from the AVA for those that hold an animal exhibition licence.

Some establishments have closed in recent years due to a number of factors, with industry insiders citing high rental costs, and the poor economic climate as obstacles.

Last month, the Cat Museum announced that it will be shutting its doors in June after its lease at Purvis Street ends. In September last year, its owner Jessica Seet was told by the Ministry of National Development to stop using the third floor of its premises as a shelter and adoption centre for cats, as it constituted unauthorised use of the space.

Its owners are currently trying to raise S$1 million for a down payment to buy a permanent space and reopen before the end of the year.

“I am really just disappointed,” Ms Seet told TODAY then.

“We’re just trying to do something for the community cats. It’s become not just a place for the cats, but an incredible space where volunteers come together.”

Last December, the Company of Cats closed after almost four years at its Chinatown space. The owners were unable to sustain their operations due to “high operating costs and an increasingly challenging economic climate”, they said in their statement on Facebook.

Speaking to TODAY, one of the owners who did not wish to be named, said that the drop in footfall in the Chinatown area also affected their business.

Some, however, made headlines for the wrong reasons.

In 2014, Cuddles Cat Cafe drew the ire of cat welfare groups and animal lovers after seven of its 30 cats died at its premises in *Scape.

The cafe was closed just four months after its opening, and its owner Jonathan Tan Wei-De was sentenced to two weeks’ jail and fined $3,500 last year for offences related to the cats’ health.

Other pet cafes told TODAY that they have been dogged by challenges such as decreasing customer demand and fierce competition.

Mr Jefferson Soh, owner of The Cat Cafe which opened in Bugis Village in 2014, said that business was “very good” in the initial six months as there was hype around pet cafes.

He said: “Now, it’s hard to say. There’s probably a difference of 30 to 40 customers per weekday compared to then. It peaks on weekends.”

While operating costs are high, Mr Soh and his wife, who runs the cafe with him, run a tight ship when it comes to expenses – their biggest expenditure is rental and staff salaries. The cafe, which holds 15 cats in a space the size of a five-room Housing Development Board flat, also serves simple meals, cakes and pastries.

“One issue is looking for a place to rent that is cheap and spacious… and how long the cafe lasts also depends on how long the occupants can go on,” added Mr Soh.

Meomi Cat Cafe owner Edwin Tan said that it can be a challenge trying to balance customers’ demands with the cats’ welfare.

As the cafe at North Bridge Road allows children above six years old, the younger customers can be harder to handle, he added. Staff members sit with customers to explain the cats’ behaviour and share details about each of their seven felines.

While he said business has been quieter as compared to when the cafe first opened in 2014, he is “not that emotionally affected” by it. He is more concerned about his lease, which is up for renewal soon, as well as their licenses from the NEA, AVA, and Urban Redevelopment Authority. The AVA and NEA licences have to be renewed every year.

He added: “If there’s any more drop, we’ll have to come up with some ideas to try to increase business. It’s a business that involves animals so it’s never smart to be too aggressive or commercialised.”

Cat lover Ms Tee pointed out that pet cafes in Singapore are generally small and usually constrained by one-hour timeslots.

Although her visits have tapered off since she got her own cat, she still frequents dog or cat cafes in South Korea and Japan while on vacation, and she noted that they usually charge a flat rate. One in Seoul, in particular, charged about S$12 with no time limit, while another in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district had two floors with over 20 cats.

“When we were there, one of the staff started grooming the cat in the cafe and she would let us take close-up shots,” said Ms Tee.

“I think unless you build a connection with the animals, you won’t really go back for multiple visits. The remaining (pet cafes) are doing a good job, but I don’t think that if anyone else opens one, they can differentiate much and earn (money).”

DOGGY BUSINESS WOES

The pet-friendly cafe industry has also had its ups and downs.

Industry insiders told TODAY that many last two or three years before shutting down. Mr Dave Lim, owner of Sun Ray Cafe in Serangoon, said that he has seen more than five close since starting Sun Ray in 2010.

He said: “After I opened, there was a period of two or three years when the trend was cafe-hopping. At that time, cafes and pet-friendly cafes opened quite a bit… After that, rules started tightening.”

Sun Ray Cafe also saw controversy last year, when a customer’s dog bit another dog, causing the owner of the injured dog to complain to the authorities. For that, the cafe received four demerit points for failing to ensure that all dogs taken into its premises were leashed.

After the incident, the cafe’s business took a slight hit. Mr Lim insisted that dogs in the cafe premises be leashed, and even put a notice in his menu.

“When all these incidents start to happen and people start focusing on the rules, some restaurant owners (who used to close one eye) don’t allow you to bring your dogs to sit outside anymore,” Mr Lim added.

Happenstance Cafe owner Randy See said that pet-friendly cafes cater to a niche crowd. About 95 per cent of customers at Happenstance, which opened in 2014 in the Boon Keng area, are pet owners. This means that every cafe has to stand out in order to attract customers, such as offering them new items on the menu during Chinese New Year.

“Recently, business has been really bad compared to the previous few years. We will give ourselves two more years,” he told TODAY.

WHAT’S NEXT?

While some pet cafes had raised concerns from animal welfare groups for their treatment of the pets, the situation here is healthy, said the groups.

However, they added that while pet cafes in Singapore take good care of their animals, regulations should be further tightened. Cat Welfare Society executive director Laura Ann Meranda suggested that more surprise inspections could be sprung on operators.

The AVA conducts inspections at least once a year to ensure the cafes are complying with licensing conditions. Those who fail to do so could be given warnings, have their licenses suspended or revoked, or fined up to S$5,000.

Ms Meranda said: “Currently, there are stricter penalties for animal cruelty and a tightening of laws and practices governing the pet industry. It will still be up to all of us to speak up when we observe untoward practices.”

Ms Christine Bernadette, co-founder of Causes for Animals, noted that both owners and customers need to be educated on dog behaviour and how to manage playtime and meals. Medical care is also a must, she added.

In 2016, Sunny Heights, a daycare centre for dogs, was closed for a month due to the outbreak of a serious bacterial infection.

Ms Bernadette said: “We believe most cafes would be taking good care of these animals, but it would be best for regulations to tighten so Cuddles Cat Cafe is a one-in-a-million rare case that will not happen again.”

For now, pet and pet-friendly cafes are here to stay. But Ms Tee is unsure if the trend, which has spread to Europe and North America, will stick around for much longer.

She said: “For Singaporeans, going to pet cafes might be a one-time thing. And there are not that many cat lovers here.”

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