Merlin

My friend and I went to drink coffee at cat café.  I am writing a story about a cat and wanted to see what cats do all day?  I expected we would order coffee and say hi to a few cats as we worked on documents.  Just before we entered the café, we revisited the idea of going into the cat lounge.  Just pass the entrance of the café doo, a cute grey and white cat perched on the table in the lounge greeting us.  A thick glass window separated us.  The cat’s eyes glanced at the side of my jacket, working them down to my iPad carry cover.  His head paused and then his adorable eyes dropped down staring at what I call my stylish grey boots.  I don’t know what he thought as his head tilted sideways.

“Look at this sweet cat. Look at the way he is looking at me,” I said to my friend.

The cat brought his head back up staring right at me with his beautiful green eyes and then shot a glance at my friend.

My friend was sad that the cat was by the window and couldn’t come out.  “Merlin” was his name. He was beckoning us to come in. He tried to reach through the glass window with his paws.

The Café

While still standing out by the window, we glanced at other cats, napping and moving about in their cat beds in the lounge.  Meanwhile, two college-aged kids (a young lady and a young man) walked in and ordered their drinks and waited across from us for their drinks to come out.  When we reached the counter, the young lady raced back to the counter to get some human snacks—cakes with glazed toppings with cat faces and cookies with cat emojis.  After she paid and picked up her snacks and drinks, the barista looked at us asking us, “What we will be having?”

I ordered a mocha and asked the barista if there was “walk in availability today to see the cats.”  There was a sign that said, a reservation was recommended to enter the lounge.

The cat café charged a fee per 50-minute session.  The session included a cup of tea or coffee, regular or specialty caffeinated beverage. The barista responded us “yes, there is room. There would also be another party of two who would be entering the cat lounge with us.”

Though reservation

was strongly recommended, we went on a weekday, where it was “their first day in a while that they were not busy.”

She took our order and prepared our mocha, finishing off with unique latte arts.  Used to seeing hearts, leaves, or a blank froth design, this time, I received a surprise. On mine,  she tilted the cup, pouring with a sprouted steel pitcher, swirling the cup, attempting the face of a cat.  One ear was slightly off, but I appreciated her attempt.  She placed my drink on the counter and started to work on my friend’s drink.   On the very top of my friend’s drink, a cute cat emerged on the foam.  She used her stencil this time.

As soon as we paid for two sessions, another person came out. He was known as the “the feline guardian,” and was going to be our guide who was going to stay with us the duration of time in the cat lounge.

If you didn’t pay for the lounge, you could drink your beverage at one of the opened seats.

The Cat Lounge

The guardian went over the do’s and don’ts of the cat lounge rules as we entered the room.  The room had big windows looking out the Wallingford Street, which allows a lot of natural lighting. I tossed my backpack and my iPad and placed my coffee on the table as I said hello to all the cats that met me with curiosity.     Only two other people joined the session with us, which gave us more time to spend time with the cats.  The young woman I met said, she had a cat and missed cats now in her life, and she thought she would come in for a visit.

The cat lounge was designed with impressive cat architecture. Cats could walk around the top ceiling, and the cat stairways seemed fun for the cats.  It looked like some thought went behind it.

The cats and their personalities

We were surprised to hear that they had 21 cats, about five cats were resident cats.  The mixed breeds were all up for adoption.  The café worked with the shelter.  More about that on https://seattlemeowtropolitan.com.  We walked from cat home to cat home, while the guardian answered our questions.  We were allowed to take pictures but not with a flash.   The cats had their own personalities.  The cats that didn’t want to be social at the time we were in the lounge, they went through a little cat door to the back room. Those who did stay either greeted us personally.  Some remained napping, not wanting to say hello (I guess they partied hard the night before).  Some expressed a playful behavior.  Amongst those who stayed, there were a few cats that didn’t get along with other cats.  The guardian advised us that the cats that weren’t as socialized to the public not to pet them unless the cats gave us the signal that it was ok.  Some made their boundaries known by hissing, meowing, growling and swatting with their paws.

A fluffy black cat

was lying next to the feline guardian thigh on the bench. Another cat came to jump on the seat to get to the guy’s lap.  The fluffy black cat prevented the spotted cat from jumping on the bench by meowing aggressively.  On another occasion, while the guardian was talking to us, a fluffy grey cat jumped from the floor to the table, peeking in my backpack. I didn’t know cats were that interested in my bag.  Now, I see why the cat earned his name.  The guardian said the fluffy cat liked backpacks.  If cats had seven lives, then maybe he was backpacker at another lifetime.  After he was through sniffing my bag, he sat on top of my iPad carry case, as if it belonged to him.  No doubt, who was setting the rules at this place.

More Personalities

Even with all the talking sounds, some cats still slept through.  Some walked around, and some wanted to get petted.

The bony cat meowed; he was vocal. (Just because he was all bones didn’t mean he didn’t want love).  One had vampire teeth, but he was harmless.

Another one got a lot of affection in his first home, but the owners left the cat at the shelter.  Now, the cat didn’t know how to take in all the new affection.  Another cat hid way up in the corner where no one could get to it.

Cat toys

They were cat toys in little narrow pails.  It didn’t look like the cats were into playing when we got there at the time of the day, although one did start to play.

At the end of our session.

By the end of fifty minutes, Marlin went to a bed and fell asleep, as if he was exhausted from hosting.

Right before our session ended, the guardian gave each of us two cat treats to feed to any of the cats that we liked.  I went around Marlin’s cat bed to see if he would want a treat.  He woke up and gave me a look.

“Of course, I would,” is what I had interpreted the cat glance to be.

Some rules:

They allow 16 people in the room but no one under age 8.

Respect the cats.

Be kind to all cats.

It was nice to be around the cats, and I would do it again.

Parting thoughts

By the end of the session, my friend was too engrossed with the cats and didn’t want to leave.   He was too busy interacting with the cats that he didn’t even drink a sip of his coffee.  I too, forgot about my cup of coffee (the coffee was good) on the table, as I was invited into their world.  If you are looking to adopt a cat and want to get an idea how they interact, or what they do parts of the day, a cat cafe is a good place to stop by and say hello to a kitty.