Being an avid cat lover and borderline crazy cat lady when I recently visited Hong Kong with my fiance, we knew we had to visit this cat cafe which was only 2 blocks from where we were staying. We were initially extremely excited to visit since it was our first cat cafe experience, and the reviews online of this establishment was generally good.
The cafe was situated on the 3rd floor of a part residential and commercial building. When we entered the cafe we were greeted by a beautify silver tabby napping in his bed as well as little cat related merchandise made and designed by local artists. We were asked if we've made a reservation which we said no since we were not aware that it was required. Luckily they had tables available. We noticed a sign at the door which mentioned membership was required to visit the cafe, but during our time there no one pushed this upon us so we left that under the rug. We were given menus and an educational booklet when we sat down at our table. The menu included many different types of drinks and snack foods. Culinary and barista skills was not exceptional, but for the atmosphere and time spent with cute cats it didn't bother me much.
However, our experience turned for the worse minutes after sitting down. We heard frantic and distressed meowing, and after looking around we discovered a less than a month old kitten was being man handled by multiple customers for photos, and was clearly in distress. This lasted for nearly 15-20 minutes, and finally they let the poor kitten back into a glass shelter beneath the cash. They had basket with a blanky, kibbles and a water dish. Within a minute, I saw the kitten throwing up and started to shiver and foam around his mouth. I notified the server, and they told me they were aware that the kitty was sick. This really surprised me as they knew a weeks old kitten was sick, and they still let customers man handle him and put it under immense amount of stress. As a vet assistant, I knew that this kitten was going to die if this went on, as from experience it looked like the kitten was hyper-thermic and was not getting the proper nutrition (seeing the kibbles instead of wet food). I gave them my advice, and whether they were going to take it was beyond my control.
Even though I was quite bothered by this, I continued to stay for a while to observe. During our stay we saw about 8-9 cats, and even though in their educational booklet they have strict rules with treating the cats with respect; it was in reality the opposite that I witnessed. Kids were chasing after cats with toys attacking them, and people putting props on cats trying to take photos when the cats clearly did not enjoy it.
In conclusion, even though this cafe would appear to have good intentions and rules are in place to "protect" the cats, it would seem like they are not governed for the sake of profit. To me it was a huge disappointment, I still gave it 2 stars based on that they were founded on good intentions. I really hope and pray that they could do better for the cats in the future, but I will probably not visit them again.