Java Whiskers Cat Café, Stockholm

When it was my fiancé’s birthday in February, he booked for us to go to Stockholm’s first cat cafe, which had opened just the week before. I was so excited you would have thought it was MY birthday!

I had never been to a cat cafe before so I was not sure what to expect. I would love to hear from readers who have been to cat cafés in other parts of the world to get an idea of how similar or different they are in comparison to this one.

When you walk into Java Whiskers you have already seen cats sunning themselves on gorgeous pelts in the windows. Straight ahead is where you order from the glass display cases in front of you. On the right hand wall is merchandise. This area contains a small café area for patrons who do not wish to be with the cats, but would like to see them. If you are early you can also order something and sit here. To your left is a glass wall/door with the rules written on them, through which you can see the cats and the customers who have booked and paid for time with them.

You give your name or book a time at the counter (when we were there you had to book in advance so we had booked a couple of days previously), and order your food. If you are going to spend time with the cats don’t have to order anything if you don’t want to, because you can just sit with the cats.

You walk through a small ante-room where you wash your hands to prevent the cats from getting any lurgies, and then you go into a large lounge area. It is very cosy with sofas, armchairs, a faux fire, and tables and chairs. There are plenty of toys for the cats, tiny cat sofas and places for them to climb and go into if they wish to have some solitude.

The cats come from a local cat shelter and are all up for adoption. When they have gone to their new forever homes (these ones were all booked within a week), there will be another batch coming for lots of love and cuddles and hopefully, new homes.

When we were there they had nine cats, all chosen because they love people and other cats. In addition to the lounge area, there is another room just for the cats.

We sat and had coffee and cake and watched the cats. Some of them came to us, others I went and cuddled with. They were all beautiful, but my favourite was Bruno, a gorgeous brown tuxedo.

The rules are pretty self-explanatory – no feeding the cats, no flash photography, no loud noise and respect the cats if they wish to sleep or rest. Everyone respected the rules. We had an hour which went by so quickly.

We could not figure out if several of the cats gravitated to us because they could smell our cats, because we were so relaxed and still (most people were trying to entice the cats, we just sat and watched), or because they could sense we loved cats.

This café would be so nice to visit if you were unable to have a cat but wanted cat company, if you were allergic but would like to take a look at them through the glass, if you were looking to adopt, or to give a special treat to a cat-loving friend or family member.

I am definitely going back soon!

And from Java Whiskers’ Instagram