Cat Paradise in San Diego!

Last week I had the pleasure of going on an outing with my lovely room mate. We were so excited to visit the newly opened The Cat Cafe in downtown San Diego. It met all our expectations and beyond - it was such a great experience and we had a lot of fun. I've never been to a cat cafe before but I've heard about them. I believe they originated in Taiwan and has spread to neighboring countries such as Korea and Japan. However, I know for sure that they are still a new concept here in the United States, so it was so cool that one opened so close to us! Entering the cafe is a cute room selling an assortment of drinks and pastries.The way to enter the cat room was to purchase an item. I ordered a hot chocolate and my room mate ordered a mocha frap. Both were delicious! The drinks were very affordable and not super pricey like how some cafes can get. After getting our drinks, we headed to the cat room to get a dose of fluffy cats!

Most of the cats were asleep when my room mate and I arrived.

{ photo credit: Daniela }

I think there were six cats total. My room mate and I immediately spotted the only cat awake at the time, a black female cat in the back.

{ photo credit for third picture: Daniela }

She was really friendly and enjoyed receiving rubs. She was also pretty playful and we had fun swishing some cat toys in front of her and watching her bat a ball around. I was so honored when she climbed onto my lap and rubbed against me! She even - I'm not sure I can say it without swooning - licked my hand. I completely fell in love with her that day. After some intense cuddling, she gracefully slid off my lap and slipped into the private cat resting room. Although we didn't see her for the rest of our visit, I was so glad I got to see and meet such a charming little lady.

This cat was pretty friendly with another visitor at the cafe. I recall feeling jealous when he snuggled up with the visitor and even stayed still while the guy snapped a million selfies with him! I was definitely jealous...what a handsome fella!

This cutie was asleep when I arrived but near the end, had woken up briefly when a woman came to take his weight. After she was done taking his weight, I think he went right back to sleep. He was definitely very cute and stayed still while I snapped a ton of photos of him. He seemed to be quite popular with the ladies even while sleeping because there was a group of giggling teens surrounding him.

{ photo credit for both pictures: Daniela }

This cat's name I think was Giselle? She didn't seem to really like us but that's okay! We watched her from a distance ~ she was really slender and a very pretty kitty. She went into the private cat resting room several times.

I was really lucky to have been able to stay at the cafe for about one and a half hours because when we first arrived, the room was pretty empty (maybe about 10 people besides us?). However, at around 2 PM, the owner came in to let us know that there was a line outside waiting to come in, so we had about another 20 minutes before we had to let the next group of people in. The owner was very nice about it and seemed to genuinely care about the cats' welfare. I liked how he really wanted to find forever homes for the cats. All in all, I liked the idea of a cat cafe; it's a great way for the cats to find potential forever homes. I believe that The Cat Cafe is working with the San Diego Humane Society so that's a bonus! The cats here are all in perfect condition for adopting. I used to work as a volunteer at PetSmart in the cat kennels and it was always depressing to see the cats cooped up in their cages. Letting the cats roam in a wide room is definitely a great idea and it lets people see and play with them. I'm so happy that a cat cafe opened here in San Diego. Best of luck to the owner and I will definitely be visiting again soon!