One of the fur babies just enjoying life at Caturday Studio. — Caturday Studio/Facebook
On the floor, the tables, the chairs – cats lounging contentedly are sprawled all over the cafe. Be careful where you tread, though, as you don’t want to accidentally step on the furry felines.
This is what you will encounter when you visit a cat cafe, as we learned on our visit to one in Selangor recently. All 24 cats at the cafe were laidback and well-behaved. One of them, Daisy, did keep trying to “steal” customers’ drinks, but the black-and-white furball had stolen everyone’s heart so completely that we could only cuddle instead of reprimand the cheeky thing.
The cafe’s serene scene was momentarily disrupted when a sudden ring of a bell brought the languid cats to attention. A flurry of furballs soon descended upon the bell-ringer, 23-year-old Yuan Jing who manages the cafe’s daily operation in Sunway, Petaling Jaya. The cats settled down once they were fed their catnip.
“I was managing the Central Market branch in Kuala Lumpur before I was transferred here,” Yuan Jing said, as patient and polite with customers as she was with her feline companions.
“Students from nearby colleges and universities love coming to this cafe when they don’t have classes to attend,” she said of the cafe’s weekday clientele.
A group of friends huddled in a corner, laptops open but they were more fixated on the cats plodding around them.
Another student was silently drawing on her tablet. You’d think she was laser focused on her assignment, but a closer look showed she was actually drawing the four-legged model posing – or rather, sleeping – at her feet.
“I like to come here to do my assignment, it’s very relaxing,” the 19-year-old university student who goes by Hilary shared. The cafe, with its clowder of cool cats and neutral colour palette, does exude a calming atmosphere.
“Sometimes, I just draw the cats,” she added with a laugh. Since her first visit in March, she has been dropping by once a month, either on her own or with friends.
Yuan Jing feeding the cats at Monster. A Garden Cafe in Sunway. — GISELE SOO/The Star
Opened in October 2023, the cafe is the second outlet under the Monster. A Garden Cafe brand, the first being the Central Market outlet that opened a year prior.
The Sunway outlet’s menu – which features waffles and drinks – isn’t as varied as its Central Market counterpart, but a particular illustration on it piqued our interest. This image prompted us to order a cup of hot chocolate, and we were not disappointed when it arrived – the drink’s latte art of a smiley cat was as adorable as the one depicted in the menu.
“Thanks to Yuan Jing,” said Nelson Tham, crediting his diligent staff. The 33-year-old owner of the cafes shared that they currently have the luxury of using the Sunway branch as “an experiment lab”, and anything good concocted there will then be made available in both places.
Let’s celebrate cats
Did you know that there is a Guinness World Record for the “oldest cat cafe still in existence”?
The Kitten Garden in Taiwan is the proud record holder in this category, having been in operation since 1998 – making 2024 its 26th year in business.
Often cited as the world’s first cat cafe, it was the catalyst for the cat cafe boom in Japan. Thanks to the Japanese tourists who loved the concept so much, it was brought over to their homeland and the first Japan-based cat cafe, Neko No Jikan (Cat’s Time), opened in Osaka in 2004.
By 2014, the concept had spread to as far as North America. Now in 2024, there are around 125 cat cafes in the United States and over 150 in Japan.
Malaysian cat cafes may not number in the hundreds, but what few we do have are “purr-adise” enough for us. It was 10 years ago that we saw the opening of The Country Cat Cafe in Setapak (KL), said to be the first of its kind in the country, followed by Meow Meow Cat Cafe in Kuching (Sarawak) later that same year.
Many others had popped up since, but only a handful were able to stay open for long, hence the smaller number we currently have compared to other countries.
If you’ve been wanting to visit local cat cafes, this month gives you the best excuse as International Cat Day is observed on Aug 8. What better way to celebrate than to go cat cafe-hopping?
The special day was established in 2002 by International Fund For Animal Welfare with the aim of raising awareness on caring and protecting felines. According to International Cat Care (icatcare), a cat welfare charity that was founded in 1958 and has been the custodian of the annual celebration since 2020, this year’s celebration will revolve around the theme, “Celebrating Cats”.
“With an estimated 600 million cats worldwide, both owned and unowned, the theme Celebrating Cats invites cat advocates to come together and share their love for cats – fostering a sense of community and shared passion for championing their welfare,” icatcare posted on its website.
In conjunction with International Cat Day, we’ll suggest a few cat cafes in Malaysia where you can make a few new feline friends and, who knows, you might even end up giving some of them a new home.
The cat cafe life
For a greater appreciation of cats and cat cafes, let’s continue our peek behind the scratch posts and learn what it’s like running a cat cafe – or two, in Tham’s case.
A former fund accountant at the Malaysian firm of the Royal Bank Of Canada, Tham quit that job just before the pandemic hit. He pivoted to the cafe business, originally planning to open a “plant cafe”.
“At first, I wasn’t sure about having my cats in the cafe, but when I was setting it up, I brought all my cats along to keep me company,” he shared, adding he came to the realisation that it should be a plant as well as cat cafe after seeing how his pets uplifted the customers’ spirits.
With the exception of one cat, Pumpkin, you can befriend Tham’s cats at his cafes. “Bambi, my oldest cat, and Dumbo are at the Central Market outlet. Ryan is at Sunway,” he shared.
There are now 36 cats at the Central Market cafe, but this number might increase or decrease based on how many more get taken in and how many are rehomed in the future.
Tham with one of his cats. — NELSON THAM
“Half of the group is rehomed to us, some belong to my business partner and very few were bought from a trusted breeder. I picked some of them up from the streets as well,” Tham said.
“Even though we would love to keep them all, we also have to rehome the cats that we own,” he expressed his regrets. “Their well-being is always our top priority. I always remind myself that I am a cat owner first, business owner second.”
He himself has had the experience of rehoming Bambi’s son and daughter to a close friend. Interestingly, Bambi’s daughter is named Monster. It was her name, plus the existence of a monstera plant at Tham’s first cafe, that led to the name Monster. A Garden Cafe.
“We do allow customers to bring their own cats to our cafes,” he confirmed, “but their cats must be fully vaccinated first.” He also advised customers to bring the cats’ carriers, so they will have their own hideout when they’re feeling nervous.
Another significant aspect of Tham’s cat cafes is the fact that they allow children to visit. “Most cat cafes don’t, but we want to provide a space for children to get to know cats and learn to respect other life forms,” he explained.
“So, we hope that parents won’t bring their kids in with the idea of treating the cafes like a park or an arcade. If the kids are misbehaving, our staff will have to provide guidance. This is to protect our cats and, more importantly, to protect your children.”
Tham draws from his childhood experience in encouraging this enlightening interaction, sharing how he was once scratched – “from my forehead to my chin” –by a cat for putting his face too close to it. Explaining that the cat never meant any harm, as it was simply a defensive reaction, Tham hopes it is this kind of understanding that his cafes could foster.
Two of the eight resident felines at the cat-friendly Spring Spring Cafe. — Spring Spring Cafe/Instagram
Klang Valley and beyond
As mentioned, Monster. A Garden Cafe currently has two outlets. The Sunway branch recently extended its opening hours as it will be introducing “movie nights with cats”. The Central Market branch has different opening times for weekdays and weekends.
Check out their Instagram (@monster.a.garden.cafe.kl) page for more information.
If you’re looking for an eatery that’s not fully a cat cafe but still cat-friendly, check out Spring Spring Cafe (@springspring_pj) at Taman Paramount in Petaling Jaya. Here you can indulge in Japanese dishes like donburi and okonomiyaki while enjoying the company of its eight resident cats.
For cat lovers in Negri Sembilan, you can head to Seremban’s Kucingdankopi (@catz_purrr). It started off as a cat hotel with grooming services, but grew to include a cafe when customers suggested that it would be great to sip on coffee and snuggle with cats while waiting.
A new attraction in Langkawi is the H.Y. Xuan Cat Station. — H.Y. Xuan Cat Station/Instagram
Malaysian islands
Kedah’s Langkawi island finally has its own cat cafe when H.Y. Xuan Cat Station (@h.y.xuan_cat_station) opened last year. Located in Kuah, this place also serves as a cat hotel, breeder and groomer. Open daily, it’s a great place for families as the felines here are friendly and cuddly.
Meanwhile, Penang has been home to various cat cafes over the years, though unfortunately not all have been blessed with the same longevity as a cat with nine lives. However, last year saw the opening of two cat cafes in the island’s capital, George Town.
Munchkin And The Gang Cat Cafe (@munchkin_andthegang) focuses mainly on the eponymous breed. It’s open daily, but do note that only children aged 10 and above are allowed in.
Another cafe, Catonomy (@catonomy_pg), celebrated its first anniversary recently in June. Here, you get to play with cats while dining on Japanese meals and admiring the cafe’s facade and interior, which retain the heritage architecture that Penang is known for.
Catonomy in Penang opened last year. — Catonomy Penang/Facebook
Sabah and Sarawak
Meow Meow Cat Cafe (Facebook: Meow Meow Cat Cafe Kuching) not only holds the distinction of being one of the first cat cafes in Malaysia, but also the longest running one.
Open daily, you can also book the cafe for parties or events. You might even find your next fur baby through this cafe, as it also actively rehomes rescue cats.
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah may not be synonymous with cats, but it is home to several cat cafes. Among the newer ones are Cat Times (@cattimeaeropod) at Aeropod and Caturday Studio (@caturdaystudiokk) at Lintas Jaya, both of which opened last year.
Cat Times has different opening times on weekdays and weekends, and offers grooming and private event hosting too. Do note that this cafe has a time limit of 45 minutes per session.
Caturday Studio, open daily except Tuesday, offers boarding, breeding and cat nutritionist services as well as serve as a co-working space. And while some of the cafes mentioned here have Japanese influences, this one leans more toward Korean.
It not only holds cupsleeve events for K-pop fans but its cats also have Korean names – complete with their MBTI personalities in their profiles! Aside from that, this is also a place where you can find adorable cats waiting to be rehomed.
After all, sharing your home with feline friends is an “a-meow-zing” way to celebrate cats.
Caturday Studio in Kota Kinabalu also offers movie nights with cats. — Caturday Studio/Facebook
