Kitty love is universal: what could be more relaxing than being with your favorite guys: friends, partners, spouses, cats…maybe that’s why cat cafes are opening.

“Can I have cheezburger?” No, cute little kitty, you can’t.
But you can hang out at this cat café!

Chatting and napping, great combination.
John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Image

London’s first cat café, Lady Dinah’s Cat
Emporium, is set to open soon and now officially has a location: In the heart of
Shoreditch in East London (152-154 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6DG, if
you want an address). Lauren Pears,
the brains behind Lady Dinah’s, raised over £100k through crowdfundingearlier this year
and now that they have secured a permit to start building, the café
is one step closer to being a reality Pears’ dream is for Londoners
to “kick back and relax with a cup of tea and spend time in the
soothing company of our purring feline friends” for the low, low
price of a fiver (or 3 pounds per visit if you buy a 9 LivesCard).
The next step (besides building the café) is
finding the cats to fill the cat café! Lady Dinah’s will be working
with the Mayhew Animal Home to rescue kittens for the luxurious
Victorian café, where they “will have free choice…to stay indoors
with patrons, or relax outside for some time-out in their private
two-story, cats-only garden.” (#VIKittens
only) The opening is planned for October,
after a period of time in which the kittens will be able to become
acclimated to the café and social with each other. Oh, and if
you’re looking for a job, they’ll be hiring soon. Follow the café’s
progress here. The first cat café opened in
Taiwan in 1998 and their popularity spread to Japan where one
opened in Osaka in 2004. Since then, over 100 cat cafés have popped
up in Japan, with 50 in Tokyo alone (also, they have rabbit cafés)!

Great social environment
for all – kitty listening, engrossed in conversation
Alexander Klein/AFP/GettyImages

And cat cafés have
gone global: There’s one in Korea and one in Vienna, Austria.
And none for the U.S.