Cat Lounge Dublin

D3V!L

This place is due to open in Smithfield sometime soon, http://catlounge.ie/. On their facebook page they have pictures of fairly young kittens.

Having reared cats in the past I know how timid kittens are and easily spooked. They need to be properly acclimatized to new people rather than thrown in to a busy cafe with noisy randomers all day.

There has been no indication of what happens in the evening to these cats and the cat lounge owner has taken to deleting questions about their welfare from the page.

I've already reported them to the ISPCA but surely there must be some sort law prohibiting this ?

Attol

I've also reported them to the DSPCA.

I shared it on my Facebook page as well to raise my concerns to my network. It seems like a cynical, exploitative money making scheme, unfortunately.

"While on the surface this sounds great and conjures up ideas of loads of cats being adopted it's very concerning that the owners seem to be avoiding any questions about the welfare of these animals. Where did they get them? Are they for adoption? What happens when they are no longer kittens? Where do they stay at night? If this was being done for a good cause and in the interests of animal welfare surely the owner would be happy to answer these questions"

Apparently the cats will be stored in cat carriers at night on the premises, according to the owner.

Others on the page raised concerns about the age of the kittens in the pictures and said they weren't old enough to even be fully vaccinated.

kathleen37

Cat carriers? Jees -that's rubbish!!!

D3V!L

They removed the reviews section from their Facebook page today to stop the negative comments. Obviously have something to hide.

CaoimheSquee

Apparently they are rehomed from a local vet. The vet apparently passes on the more social ones that would be more suited to interaction and enjoy the attention.
That's what I read anyway but have no definite idea

gctest50

how about a cat pub ?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-34871580

AndrewJRenko

Cat Cafes exist all round the world. The only thing unusual here is the young age of the cats involved. My experience with kittens would be them being generally active, engaging and playful, so I'm not quite sure what the problem would be, assuming it is managed properly.

kathleen37

The issue is the age of the kittens from the pictures posted. Apart from anything else, there would be a hygiene issue with kittens that young due to them still having "accidents".

In my eyes, the bigger issue is keeping cats in cat carriers overnight. That is terrible.

I;ve been to the two cat cafe's in Paris and the one in London and both have to comply with really strict hygiene regs. They are very transparent in posting the regs they follow. They are also exceptionally transparent in relation to all the cats/older kittens that people have access to, in relation to where they come from - process for adoption etc.

If this place was happy to be transparent, I'd be happy to visit. I'm not seeing anything which currently makes me feel comfortable about this place.

Nody

kathleen37 wrote: »

The issue is the age of the kittens from the pictures posted. Apart from anything else, there would be a hygiene issue with kittens that young due to them still having "accidents".

In my eyes, the bigger issue is keeping cats in cat carriers overnight. That is terrible.

Well the whole cat carrier overnight suggests they don't have a walk off area to go to when they want to be alone which is the big no no for me. Any cat cafe needs an closed off area with toilets, beds etc. where the cats can go for peace and quiet if they want it.

the beer revolu

Their website makes no mention of food or beverages. I'm not sure if it is a cafe.

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D3V!L

the beer revolu wrote: »

Their website makes no mention of food or beverages. I'm not sure if it is a cafe.

Its not, they have an automated coffee machine.

SillyMangoX

This could have had so much potential. I’ve been to cat cafes in Paris and London, where they are a proper cafe with good food and drinks, and the set up can’t be faulted. They have loads of places for the cats to lounge, to hide away, to run and play. The one in London had a cat wheel for them to exercise too. The entire downstairs part was built with just cats in mind with a huge tree as a centre piece (like actual fake tree not scratching post) with bridges leading to walkways along the edge of the walls, up high; out of reach of people. The cats had plenty of places to hide and you were not to disturb a sleeping cat full stop.
Looking at the pictures here, there’s a few sofas. A coffee machine. And one scratching post. No sight of hidey holes, tunnels; anything to get away for a break if they need it.
Their lack of transparency speaks volumes to me, and as a huge cat lover; I won’t be supporting the place.

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5rtytry56

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Are customers just randomers? Sure anyone could go in and really harm an animal unless they are recorded like you would be entering a gym for example?

Very bad publicity for the place - I havent been as I reckoned it was not in the animals best interests - has anyone else and what are their thoughts?

Randomers are fine with this 'establishment'.
Re your assessment 'Very Bad Publicity' many customers will be the 'culturally curious'. I.e. It won't affect their conscience that much tbh.

Graces7

google "cat temple tokyo"

http://japansocietyny.blogspot.ie/2015/06/cats-purr-vade-japans-history-and.html

AndrewJRenko

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I've been, and the kittens were well looked after. I really don't get the attacks on the establishment for being the victims of a crime. Is every petting farm expected to do Garda vetting of every visitor now, just in case? The problem here is the person who stole a kitten.

kylith

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I've been, and the kittens were well looked after. I really don't get the attacks on the establishment for being the victims of a crime. Is every petting farm expected to do Garda vetting of every visitor now, just in case? The problem here is the person who stole a kitten.

Unfortunately there also seems to be problems with the cafe. The kitten that was stolen is 5 and a half weeks old. Too young to have received all its inoculations and therefore certainly too young to be handled by random members of the public. Also, if it’s true that they’re kept in travel crates over night how long is that for? 9pm to 9am when they open? What supervision is there? Where do they toilet? Is there food and water?

AndrewJRenko

kylith wrote: »

Unfortunately there also seems to be problems with the cafe. The kitten that was stolen is 5 and a half weeks old. Too young to have received all its inoculations and therefore certainly too young to be handled by random members of the public. Also, if it’s true that they’re kept in travel crates over night how long is that for? 9pm to 9am when they open? What supervision is there? Where do they toilet? Is there food and water?

Have you tried asking them the questions, instead of asking people who are less likely to know the answers? I've seen their patient, sensible responses on FB before to any welfare issues that were raised, and they were very reassuring.

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AndrewJRenko

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I'm not sure that 1-1 supervision makes any sense. Are you saying that when they have 15 visitors, they need 15 staff members, 1 watching each of their guests and doing body searches are exit time to make sure no-one has a kitten under their jumper?

It seems just a little over the top, in response to the extremely unlikely scenario of kitten theft.

boomerang

Those five week old kittens should not be in a cat cafe, period. Waaaaaay too young at five weeks! They won't even be fully vaccinated until 11-12 weeks old and won't have full immunity until at least a week after that. There are adult cats in the cafe who while may be fully vaccinated now, may have had cat flu in the past and remain carriers. Those kittens should be in a loving foster home, not put on display.

BowzieBoo

To clear up some of the misinformation posted here:

Cats are not kept in cages, exception post vet visits (ie after neuter or spay)
Cats have access to water and food 24/7, as well as a separate room with a scratch tree and litter tray to retreat if they don't want attention
Cats are not forced to interact with humans, they are free to walk away, have plenty of high shelves and large scratch trees for peace and quiet.
Visitors are not allowed to pick cats up or hold on to them, unless a cat chooses to sit on your lap or climbs on your arms - if it's on the cats terms, it's ok

The cats are all rescue cats, waiting to find their forever home and can be adopted from the lounge (pending home checks)

In regards to Lizzie:

Description as follows: male, dyed blonde-ish short hair, over 6ft, no visible tattoos or scars, jeans,t-shirt, bomber jacket with large blue cotton over the shoulder bag closed by white zip, no logos, presumably Dublin accent. Female, slim build in leggings, trainers, shoulder length naturally dark hair with bad bleach job making the top layer appear yellow, suspected to be foreign however she did not speak to staff. The male had removed his jacket whilst in the lounge, then put it back on standing in front of the crate with the kittens, whilst the female walked to the toilet (making for a distraction). It was at this point the male hid the kitten in his bomber jacket, which are by nature bulging looking and staff did not notice he was hiding the kitten underneath. Couple in their twenties to thirties.

The kittens, due to their age, are kept in a large dog pen. This pen is now closed with a padlock.

CCTV - based on Gardai and Solicitor advice, the CCTV footage couldn't be released, as much as it should've been out there immediately! It's frustrating, but there are legalities to be followed too.

kylith

BowzieBoo wrote: »

To clear up some of the misinformation posted here:

Cats are not kept in cages, exception post vet visits (ie after neuter or spay)
Cats have access to water and food 24/7, as well as a separate room with a scratch tree and litter tray to retreat if they don't want attention
Cats are not forced to interact with humans, they are free to walk away, have plenty of high shelves and large scratch trees for peace and quiet.
Visitors are not allowed to pick cats up or hold on to them, unless a cat chooses to sit on your lap or climbs on your arms - if it's on the cats terms, it's ok

The cats are all rescue cats, waiting to find their forever home and can be adopted from the lounge (pending home checks)

In regards to Lizzie:

Description as follows: male, dyed blonde-ish short hair, over 6ft, no visible tattoos or scars, jeans,t-shirt, bomber jacket with large blue cotton over the shoulder bag closed by white zip, no logos, presumably Dublin accent. Female, slim build in leggings, trainers, shoulder length naturally dark hair with bad bleach job making the top layer appear yellow, suspected to be foreign however she did not speak to staff. The male had removed his jacket whilst in the lounge, then put it back on standing in front of the crate with the kittens, whilst the female walked to the toilet (making for a distraction). It was at this point the male hid the kitten in his bomber jacket, which are by nature bulging looking and staff did not notice he was hiding the kitten underneath. Couple in their twenties to thirties.

The kittens, due to their age, are kept in a large dog pen. This pen is now closed with a padlock.

CCTV - based on Gardai and Solicitor advice, the CCTV footage couldn't be released, as much as it should've been out there immediately! It's frustrating, but there are legalities to be followed too.

Hiya. Are you associated with the cafe? If so can I ask why a kitten so young it hadn’t been fully vaccinated was in the cafe? I also see on Facebook that this kitten needs medication. What is wrong with it?

BowzieBoo

kylith wrote: »

Hiya. Are you associated with the cafe? If so can I ask why a kitten so young it hadn’t been fully vaccinated was in the cafe? I also see on Facebook that this kitten needs medication. What is wrong with it?

The cat lounge acts like a foster home for rescue cats until a permanent home is found. The three kittens in the lounge were separated by their mum at 3.5 weeks old (not by the rescue, they're just trying to do the best for the kittens). Due to their young age, they were kept in the large dog pen away from direct contact with other cats until vaccinated.
Unfortunately no one assumed it would be necessary to have to padlock the crate, people shouldn't be such scum. It's padlocked now.

the beer revolu

In fairness, I don't think anyone could have predicted that someone would pay to visit a cat café (you can't just walk in) and steal a kitten.

Anyway, there's every chance that they will give this kitten a perfectly good home. So while it's a scummy thing to do and a bit odd, chances are that the kitten will be fine.

Dandelion6

I live in the neighbourhood and walk past the cafe every day and look in. I've also visited. The cats are not kept in crates overnight, they have lots of hiding places, lots of elevated places (there are shelves and walkways all around the interior), plenty of water. The employees are noticeably dedicated to their happiness and well-being and from everything I can see, they're doing a great job. Hope they get the kitten back.

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AndrewJRenko

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This was a threat - an indication to those who took the kitten that they were caught on camera and need to return the kitten. As it happens, the CCTV quality wasn't great, so there wasn't a huge benefit front the clear image with the faces anyway. They had Garda/legal advice not to release the images, so they were in a bit of a bind. Unfortunately, the threat didn't work, but it was probably worth a try.

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Somebody fell/jumped into the lion enclosure in the zoo once, years back. Do we need 1:1 supervision at the lion enclosure just in case?

There is no cat cafe/lounge in the world that relies on 1:1 supervision. The risk of a cat or kitten being stolen is tiny, and it makes little sense to impose unnecessary regulations. They don't take walk-ins for cash anymore, so that is one lesson learnt - a reasonable one.

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AndrewJRenko

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Accidental? She accidentally climbed over a six foot fence, then a second four foot fence, then pushed through six feet of dense undergrowth?

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/zoo-horror-as-woman-bitten-after-climbing-into-tiger-pen-26374197.html

Seems fairly deliberate to me - so presumably you expect 1:1 supervision in future, right?

This isn't a circus featuring animals, and it's not a sea world. It's a cat lounge. If you don't support, that's up to you - but it's a pretty cheap shot to use the opportunity of crime committed against them to have a dig at them, just because you don't like their approach.

Dandelion6

The people who run the Cat Lounge have admitted they messed up here. It's not a capital offence. The <snip> who some of you were so quick to report them to (over misinformation) have made <link removed> their own screwups.

The other cats seem to be doing well and the Lounge has probably done a lot more to encourage responsible people to adopt. Let's give them a little credit that they've learned from this mistake, unless and until proven otherwise.

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AndrewJRenko

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No-one is trying to hide anything. All the questions have been answered.

What outstanding questions do you have that haven't yet been answered here in this thread?

BTW, no-one is mauling the cats or kittens. Shame on you for making stuff up, given that you haven't been there to see what happens.

And no - no vested interest, other than a one-time customer.

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D3V!L

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They deleted any questions I had for them about the welfare of the cats.

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AndrewJRenko

D3V!L wrote: »

They deleted any questions I had for them about the welfare of the cats.

What questions?

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AndrewJRenko

That's a shame, they seemed to be very proactive, trying new things to attract new audiences, but I guess it just wasn't enough to cover the costs.