Twist in woman’s $40 living room ‘cat cafe’

A Canberra resident’s ad promoting a “cat cafe” in her loungeroom caused quite a stir after it was posted to a local Facebook group.

A cat foster carer associated with Paws for More had advertised the cafe on a Canberra social media page. Picture: David Caird

The animal foster organisation linked to a bizarre ‘cat cafe’ in Canberra has distanced itself from it and retrieved some of the kittens involved.

A cat foster carer associated with Paws for More had promoted the cafe on a Canberra social media page.

The ad declared that the cafe would be run from the woman’s living room with customers having to provide their own coffee.

“Canberra now has a cat cafe! It is a VERY small cat cafe run from my living room,” the woman wrote in a post to a community Facebook group.

The ad continued: “BYO coffee (so I don’t have to get food preparation skills or insurance anytime soon) … and six adorable foster kittens, one of whom is still available for adoption!”

The woman hoped to charge $20 an adult per hour (minimum $40) and $25 a child over 10-years-old per hour ($50 minimum).

The advertisement in question. Picture: Facebook

The advertisement made its way onto Reddit where users were scathing.

“How is this a cat cafe if you have to bring your own coffee?,” one person asked incredulously.

“WTF is this a scam?,” another wrote. “If I want to go sit with cats I can just go volunteer at my local shelter FOR FREE. I’m sure they’d let me bring my own coffee too. She’s delusional.”

“I think I’ll open a beer garden, but its BYOB,” a third quipped.

But others defended the woman.

“There’s a cat cafe in Long Island that does this,” one user wrote. “Like, they have coffee and hot chocolate (and both are like the instant stuff) but that’s it. I mean nobody is going there for the coffee.”

Four of the six kittens have been rescued, according to Paws For More. Picture: Aaron Francis / Herald Sun

But Paws for More, the charity the woman was associated with, wrote on their Facebook page that they had travelled to Canberra to personally retrieve the kittens involved.

“We tried our best to retrieve the cats without conflict or incident to avoid any negative situations for the kittens which are always our primary focus,” the post read.

“We were able to retrieve four of the kittens in care unfortunately we could not convince the carer to hand over the other two … We have issued a warning to the foster carer to cease and desist any operation involving Paws For More name, or operating in any manner that suggests involvement with our operation.”

The organisation said they did not believe the foster carer involved meant genuine harm to the kittens or the organisation and had previously shown great care when fostering.

RSPCA ACT told news.com.au they were aware that a ‘cat cafe’ was being promoted in Canberra.

“Safeguarding the welfare of our animals within the ACT is our priority,” the statement read.

“Domestic Animal Services and RSPCA ACT are working together to confirm the cafe’s compliance with animal welfare codes of practice and licensing requirements under the Animal Welfare Act 1992 and Domestic Animals Act 2000.

“RSPCA ACT wishes to acknowledge and thank members of the community who raise animal welfare matters of concern via the Inspectorate and encourages people to continue to do so.”