Dreams really do come true. A cat café will be opening soon – on Caturday the 27th of May, to be precise – in Goes! As we all know, UCR has a very pawsitive feeling towards cats, we even have our own feline society on Facebook. But to be perfectly candid, who doesn’t have a pawsitive feeling towards cats?. Multiple cat cafés have been set up in the Netherlands. You can find one in Amsterdam (Kopjes), Den Bosch (Mispoes), Groningen (Op z’n Kop), The Hague (Ditjes & Katjes), Rotterdam (Pebbles Kittycat café) and Hengelo (KatDeau), which only has hairless cats! Kat & Schotel has a beautiful website, which provides you with all the information you need. However, finals would not be finals without a lil’ summary from your favorite student magazine.
The cat café has space for 22 visitors. You can go with a friend who also loves cats, but the café especially focuses on people who would like to go alone. The café even supports helping out lonely elderly and will organize special activities for just elderly. To be honest, my cold heart melted a litter bit when I heard about that. As if the cat café wasn’t clawesome enough, it also focuses on how cats should be treated and promotes the adoption of hopeless cats! The owners will let customers get acquainted with the cats and will tell them exactly what every type of cat needs, so you can adopt your own from a shelter. But even if you can’t get yourself to care about elderly, singles or cats, maybe this fun fact will bring some happiness to your dreadful life: Kop & Schotel is also trying to hire individuals with a chronic illness and a disability who in other situations might not be able to apply.
The café has a ‘cat tax’, which is €2,50, unless your bill surpasses 40 euros. You can also get a stamp card (pretty sure I will get one myself), with which you can save up for a fun tote bag or a cup of tea or coffee. It also has some house rules, which includes washing your hands before you touch the cats and taking pictures without flash. You can book a seat if you want to be certain of a spot in the café.
You might wonder: who are the cats that will be walking around in this café? So did I. Luckily, the café already posted a sneak peak of their ‘kroegtijgers’. The cats are all residing at the shelter in Vlissingen, with which the café has strong ties. The cats are having a good time together right now, so they will definitely be used to each other when you come in to pet them. The youngest cat is three years old, and the oldest one is sixteen, which seems to be about the age of the average first year lately. You cannot adopt any of the cats in the café itself, because the owners do not want to force the cats to constantly switch between different environments. However, if a cat does not feel comfortable in the café, they will make sure they get a new home in which they can live like a true king.
If I have learned anything from my research about Kat & Schotel, it is that the owners of this café are truly the best people that I will ever come across and that they definitely gained a regular customer before even opening. I hope to see you all there at some mewment in time!
Renske Wienen, class of 2018, is a cognitive science, chemistry, and life science major from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Featured picture source: Kat & Schotel
