Crazy Cat Cafe, Gold Coast behind the scenes to learn about the cafe and the cats’ personalities
LOOKING after a cat cafe in the heart of Surfers Paradise might sound like a dream job, but owner Jackie Moureau says it’s harder than it looks. Take a sneak peek behind the scenes of the Crazy Cat Cafe - and meet the 16 kitties who call it home. SEE THE VIDEO
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THE Gold Coast’s very own Crazy Cat Cafe recently celebrated its second birthday on September 9 — and so we decided to go behind the scenes.
WELCOME TO THE CRAZY CAT CAFE
WHEN I arrive at the Crazy Cat Cafe in Surfers Paradise on a Tuesday it’s already bustling.
The friendly staff greet me as I enter the small but cosy area. On my right are shelves loaded with cat-related items and a bar table with views to Surfers Paradise Blvd — and inside the cats’ play area. We’re separated by a large glass divider.
I can already see more than 10 cats out and about exploring, with about eight people inside trying to get them to play with feathery toys.
Most are not having a bar of it — except for one of the cafe’s newest additions, Khan, who is a Bengal cat (the breed notorious for literally being like a little tiger). He’s being absolutely adorable swatting it, pretending to not be interested one moment and then pouncing the next.
To the left of me is the cafe work area, just big enough to have two staff members comfortably work behind the counter. The cafe is licenced so that dads taking their kids to see the cats can kick back with a beer.
I’m shown through two doors which lead to the play area.
It’s a small, but comfortable space.
On the wall are all 16 cat’s profiles. In a corner there’s a television (for the cats) and there are three or four couches to relax in. There’s also a table and chairs if you wanted to take your drink and food inside.
There’s even a large wheel for the cats to use, but really, it’s just Tom and Jerry the athletic Abyssinians who actually exercise for fun.
The other 12 cats — Khan, Jimmy, Bert, George, Pete, Boris, Bonnie, Clyde, Clark, Tilly, Nikolai, Harry, Sally and Hamish — have better things to do.
Like relaxing. Or eating. Or sleeping in someone’s lap.
A CRAZY, PREGNANT IDEA
INSIDE the play area, I meet Jackie Moureau, the owner of the Crazy Cat Cafe.
After spending some time with our photographer awwing at the cute ‘boop’ photos he’s managed to capture, Jackie and I head back outside to chat.
We sit facing the play area so we can see what the cats are up to.
Jackie tells me the idea for a cat cafe came when she spotted it online some years ago.
Pregnant at the time, she wanted to find a job where she wouldn’t have to send her kid to kindy each day.
The cafe had to be in Surfers Paradise, she tells me, because it would be the only place on the Goldie where the cafe would be able to get enough foot traffic.
Their current home was only suitable spot available when Jackie, who is South African and a former HR manager, decided to open the cafe with her business partner, Neil McIntosh, who also happens to be Scottish, allergic to cats and doesn’t drink coffee.
“We had never made a coffee in our lives,” she says of her manager, known as Apples,who helps her run the daily operations of the cafe.
“YouTube was great. We did a barista course a couple of days before it opened. It was fun. At the start it was scary, but now we know what we were doing.”
She says she also wanted people to be able to interact with the cats, so she opted sourcing the cats from reputable breeders.
“Most cafes get rehomed cats in there and adopt them out,” she said.
“But we wanted (our customers) to have that whole experience, where they could touch them and pick them up. Not just watch them, like other cafes.”
Although a few ‘rescues’ have snuck in.
Nikolai was a local boy whose owner was suddenly told to get rid of him.
He’s now a permanent resident of the cafe after settling right in.
Jackie says locals and tourists have taken to the cafe, with business doing well despite fluctuations of 80 to 180 people coming through a week.
BEHIND THE SCENES
JACKIE describes her cats as being at ‘work’ when they’re in the cat cafe — although that could be debatable considering they take a lot of naps.
But there’s no doubt with all the hustle and bustle of different people coming through that the cats could be stressed some of the time, something Jackie takes into consideration.
“Before anyone comes in (to be with the cats), they have to read our rules and sign a disclosure,” she said.
“The staff will give them a brief of the most important things too. We also have little signs asking if anyone sees anyone being rude to a cat … to come let us know. They keep a close eye on the cats.
“But people have been really good. We’ve only had to kick out half a dozen. We’ve got a zero-tolerance policy.”
One of their important rules — which I see enforced by Apples during the interview — is to pick up the cats properly by supporting their bodies. Jackie explains if you do it incorrectly it can damage their organs. She says Harry the Birman Munchkin — the cat with stumpy legs — used to be picked up incorrectly a lot because he was so cute.
She said he stopped enjoying being at the cafe — so now no one except staff are allowed to pick him up. Since then, he’s flourished.
The cats at the cafe also need to enjoy living in a colony and if they don’t, Jackie will take them home and find them another place to live privately.
The cat cafe is allowed to have a maximum of 16 cats at the property at any one time, although she usually takes one or two cats home for a few weeks every fortnight for a ‘holiday.’
“But some of them hate home and they just stay here. Like Tom and Jerry, they hate going home,” she said.
“If they’ve got a bit of a cold, we take them home and make sure they’re not run down. You can monitor what they’re eating back home better too. It’s always about them.”
The cats can always retreat to the backroom only accessible by staff. Cats use the use the three little cat flaps installed in the wall.
The back room is only small, but there are five clean litter boxes for the cats to use, a couple of beds for the cats to sleep in and a sink. Tilly is curled up in one of the beds, seeking solace from the bustling cafe.
There’s also a few bowls of dry food “on tap” for the cats to nibble on.
Jackie says the cats are fed at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Some cats diets are supplemented with mince as a third feed, while catnip is also brought in as a treat.
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Cleaning the cat cafe begins two hours before it even opens its doors. Staff will clean out litter trays, check their faeces, groom the cats, then weigh them at least once a week.
There are just four staff members rotated throughout the week.
Jackie admits it’s not a walk in the park for the staff looking after the cats.
“I’m pretty selective,” she said.
“There’s a lot that they have to do. It’s understanding the priority are the cats, but so are the customers. And cleanliness, we’re very heavily watched by council.
“It’s not for everyone. Everyone thinks ‘oh cool, a job with cats,’ but there’s a lot behind the scenes. These are like your babies, you’ve got to look after them.”
Jackie says the job is heavily policy and procedure driven, with staff given checklists for everything.
When the cafe shuts, staff stay back for an hour to feed the cats for the last time, give them extra vitamins in their water and brush their teeth.
Jackie says having 12 security cameras helps keep the cats safe day and night too.
“If anyone ever did ring and said there was a window smashed, I can quickly look in,” she said.
“Sometimes the cat will do a random poo … so I can look back at the camera and monitor, just to see if they’re okay.”
MEET THE CATS
KHAN: Bengal, 1, gifted to the cafe.
“We ask people to play with Khan because he loves attention. A bit of a show off. A drama queen though, if you pick him up, he’ll meow so loud. Everything’s so dramatised. If you don’t give him attention, he’ll pee everywhere.”
JIMMY: Domestic Short Hair, 2, rehomed due to allergies.
“Jimmy is our nightclub owner. He loves women.”
BERT: Burmese, 2.
“Bert is our gangster. You don’t have to say much more. He’s naughty, you can always tell when he’s looking for mischief.”
GEORGE: Maine Coon, 2.5.
“George is our surfer boy, all he cares about is the waves if he was a human. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
PETE: Devon Rex, 2, gifted to cafe.
“Pete is the nicest soul I’ve ever met, whether human or animal.”
BORIS: Siberian, 2.5.
“Boris is our hermit. He hates people. But we have to keep him here because a cat hates everyone. But he’s addicted to Shae (a staff member). He loves being here.”
BONNIE: Ragdoll, 2.5.
“Bonnie is our sleeping beauty, she just goes from lap to lap. She doesn’t get out for less than $10,000 a day.”
CLYDE: Ragdoll, 2.5.
“Clyde is the class clown, he turns it on every now and then.”
CLARK: Manx, 9 months, toddler was too much for him
“Clark is very hyperactive. He is always running around and trying to play. He loves smooching.”
TILLY: Siamese Chocolate Point, 1.5.
“Tilly’s funny, she’s a snufflebox. She’s allergic to dust, so we’ve had her at home and at the vets so many times. But there’s nothing wrong with here.”
NIKOLAI: Russian Blue, 10 months, landlord issues.
“He just loves everyone.”
HARRY: Birman Munchkin, 1.5, gifted.
“Everyone loves Harry, he’s so cute. He even has his own Facebook page. But no one’s allowed to pick him up.”
SALLY: Persian, 1, gifted as loves full time attention.
“She’s a little old lady who sits out at the front rocking saying hello to everyone. She knows all the goss.”
HAMISH: Scottish fold cross DSH, 1, family moving.
“Hamish is a bit of a shy boy. Only comes out for food. Otherwise he just watches people from the shelves. He likes pats, but not being held.”
TOM: Abyssinian, 2.5.
“Tom is our couch potato, he watches cat TV on YouTube.”
JERRY: Abyssinian, 2.5.
“Jerry loves the wheel and goes nuts. He’s our mother hen.”
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