A cat cafe is a theme cafe where patrons can watch and play with cats while enjoying a beverage or snack. Customers pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafes can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. Cat cafes originated in Taiwan in 1998, and the first Japanese cat cafe opened its doors in Osaka in 2004. They have become very popular in Japan, with Tokyo home to at least 39 and Japan as a whole having over 150 cat cafes. Cat cafes have been spreading across North America since 2014, with the first cat cafe, Cat Town, opening in Oakland, California. The goal in North America generally is to help get cats adopted by partnering with local cat rescues.

The interiors of cat cafes can vary greatly, ranging from professionally decorated spaces with great atmosphere to sad, smelly rooms with harsh overhead lighting. Some cat cafes even offer living room-like areas where customers can play with the resident cats while enjoying a drink. There are several types of cat cafes based on the cats they have in residence, including:

• Rescues as Permanent Residents: The most common type of cat cafe is one where the cats have been rescued (from the wild or local streets), but live permanently on the premises. This is very typical in Europe, fairly popular in North America, and to a lesser degree, in Asia.

• Rescues Available for Adoption: Some cat cafes partner with local animal shelters to provide a temporary home for cats that are available for adoption.

• Cats Owned by Customers: A few cat cafes allow customers to bring their own cats to the cafe.

Cat cafes often have strict rules to ensure cleanliness and animal welfare, in particular seeking to ensure that the cats are not disturbed by excessive and unwanted attention, such as by young children or when sleeping. Many cat cafes also seek to raise awareness of cat welfare issues, such as abandoned and stray cats, and often have cats from local animal shelters to help them lose any fear of humans and advertise them for possible adoption.