Town’s cat café hits back at charities wanting to ‘phase out’ businesses over animal welfare concerns

A West Norfolk cat café has hit back at two animal charities’ call to phase out the businesses after there has been a 44% increase of them nationally.Purrr Café, based on Purfleet Street in Lynn, has taken to social media to assure its customers that their cats are well looked after and that their welfare comes first.Owners Kelly and Jack Whitmore addressed the national issue, which has come to light since charities RSPCA and Cats Protection have made the public call to phase out cat cafes.

Purrr Cafe opened at the end of 2023 and is believed to be West Norfolk’s first cat cafe.The two leading pet welfare charities say it’s “almost impossible” to meet the welfare needs of cats in this environment and therefore don’t believe they should be operating.Alice Potter, a cat welfare expert at the RSPCA, said: “We adore cats, and so we understand the appeal of cat cafés. While cats, cake and coffee might be a happy combination for people, for the cats living in these cafés, it’s likely to be a very different story.

“We don’t believe these environments can consistently provide cats with a good quality of life and are hugely concerned that many cats will be unhappy as a result.” However, in their Facebook statement, Kelly and Jack said that the cats at Purrr Cafe do not live on the site and are “loving family pets first”.The statement read: “We understand there has been a lot of concern of late about the articles regarding cat cafes in the UK. Our customers have raised the headlines to us. “From what we understand, the main issues raised are the welfare of the cats living at the cafes.“We personally would like to assure the public that we here at Purrr Cafe do everything we can to assure the welfare of all the cats within our setting.”Kelly and Jack pointed out that they work with West Norfolk Council’s licencing department and are guided by them regarding the rules of the cafe – one of those being that nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to enter without an adult. The statement added: “Our staff are trained, and we have strict hourly checks on each cat to ensure they are happy and healthy. These records are kept on site for three years.“Any stressed or unhappy cat is always removed and taken to a safe space with no public access. Any cat that appears unhappy is dealt with swiftly and taken home if needed.”Kelly and Jack said that all of the cats are pedigree and have been raised by the couple in their busy household with children and other pets.They added: “We use an enrichment programme that we run at the café to stimulate their normal feline instincts. We have lots of hidden holes and high areas for them to use if needed. “Our cats have access to the outdoors, we have safe cat-friendly enclosures with cat trees for them to use daily.”The café has a double-door system to protect the safety of cats as well as CCTV in operation.An FOI request revealed that there is a total of 30 licenced cat cafes in England, some 44% of those licences were granted in the last financial year.Alice from the RSPCA added: “Having descended from solitary, territorial, roaming wildcats, they’re likely to find the enforced proximity to other felines as well as unfamiliar visitors wishing to stroke them extremely stressful. “Generally, cats are not sociable and many felines often prefer to live without other cats or prefer to form social groups with their relations.”Sharing an enclosed space and resources with other unrelated cats can lead to a range of negative feelings and emotions resulting in aggression and behavioural issues.“It isn’t always easy to identify whether a cat’s welfare is compromised as the signs can often be very subtle, easily missed or misinterpreted. But we fear this could be widespread in cat cafés, however well-meaning these places may be.”As part of their concerns, the RSPCA and Cats Protection urge local authorities not to grant new exhibition licences for these establishments and not to renew existing licences. Alice said: “We want to see a world where every kind of animal is treated with respect and kindness and foster an understanding that animals are sentient beings with their feelings and needs.“We know people love cats, but we are concerned about the way animals can sometimes be viewed as commodities for our entertainment or profit.“Cats in cat cafés are essentially being used for entertainment – and are often licensed as such – so we’re concerned that they’re paying the price for this by having a poor quality of life.”