Hello!  

We are the owners of Cat Cafe Manchester, and we thought we’d take this opportunity to address a few points raised on social media over the last few days.

Firstly the biggest one, rehoming our cats.

All ten of our cats have found their forever homes in staff members, family and friends who love them very much.  We are aware that the news story of our closure got picked up by several media outlets who used the clickbait “Cat Cafe Cats desperately seeking new homes”, but this is not and never has been the case.  The cafe has always had an emergency foster plan prepared should we not be able to trade. This plan included both temporary and permanent rehoming plans for a variety of situations, should they occur.

Secondly, opening a new branch with new cats.

Why are we rehoming our cats if we plan to reopen?  Because we do not believe it is in our cats best interest for them to live in an empty cafe any longer whilst we are closed. We expect the lockdown to continue until Easter, so we are rehoming our cats because it is in their best interest. 

Our cats are used to a busy, bustling cafe with many knees to sit on and many people to play with. With just 1-2 staff members to 10 cats they are not receiving the amount of loving attention they are used to. Therefore we know this is the kindest thing to do, despite how hard it is for us.  As well as this, Cat Cafe cats retire at 5 years old.  Harvey, Georgie, Aslan and Bert would all be due to retire this summer. 

Thirdly, we’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate the good that cat cafe has done within the community.

We have run regular free events for people with anxiety and depression as well as sessions for adults and children with autism.  Animal assisted therapy has always been at the  heart of why Cat Cafe was started, and this is the reason why it will be sorely missed by many.

We have continued to support local animal shelters, and this will continue through Cat Cafe Liverpool.  Our team collect donations of food and supplies in the cafe that our staff deliver to shelters, and we have also run organised events to raise money for rescue cats. 

Our closure is no ones fault.  We, like many other businesses, have fallen victim to the effects that COVID-19 has had on the whole hospitality industry.  At the heart of our decision is that we want to do what is best for our cats, and we don’t want them to have to wait for the kind of attention they deserve any longer.  We will keep you all updated with how they are getting on when they move to their new forever families where they will be warm, cosy and very happy indeed.

Finally we’d like to say a massive thank you to all the lovely messages and comments we have received. It means the world to us to know that Cat Cafe was loved by so many people. We are also aware that there are two Go Fund Me pages that have been set up by our lovely customers. We are overwhelmed with the kindness that people have shown in such hard and testing times. All donations received will go towards helping Cat Cafe Manchester open in a new unit when this pandemic is over. The link for this can be found here.

Until then please stay safe, wash your paws and be kind to each other.

All our love, Sarah & Ellie.