The First Cat Café in North America Opens in Montreal

The first cat café to open in North America begins serving guests this upcoming weekend. As Eater Montreal reports, Le Café des Chats has passed its inspections and invited in a few feline friends. Management confirms that the coffee shop "is based on a very popular concept in Japan that has been developing for years in major European cities such as Paris, London, Vienna and Budapest."

Owners Youssef Labib, Nadine Spencer and other stakeholders have brought in "a dozen cats adopted from animal welfare groups." The cats have all been microchipped, vaccinated, and neutered. Toys and scratching posts will keep them occupied, and they'll have access to a litter box area via a pet door. Hand sanitizer will be dispensed at the entrance of the shop, and the animal's caretakers have created a guide to "explain appropriate conduct (no sudden, loud noises, no flash photography, and so on)."

There is not yet a cat cafe in the U.S., though plenty of cat concepts are on the horizon. New York City hosted a cat cafe pop-up earlier this year, and since then Denver, Portland, and San Francisco have been teasing out their own permanent feline-infested coffee shops.

· North America's First Cat Café Opens This Saturday [Eater Montreal]
· All Coverage of Cat Cafes on Eater [-E-]