Advice for Other Cat Carers 193
group and instability this creates can be highly unsettling and extremely stressful
for the cats concerned. Therefore, this practice is not recommended (see An
Alternative Idea later).Staff
● Staff should have at least a good basic education in feline behaviour, health and
welfare and have received their education via a reputable course provider.
● Staff must be able to recognize and report as soon as possible any signs of feline
stress (see Appendix 18).
● A sufficient number of staff should be employed, not only to run the café efficiently but
also to be able to closely monitor the customers’ interactions with the cats, and to
intervene and educate if any interactions are inappropriate or unwanted by the cat.
Design and equipment
The interior should be designed to provide the cats with unrestricted opportunity to
get away from, or interact with, customers or the other cats as they wish. This should
include:
● Ample access to elevated areas, e.g. plenty of shelves and walkways where the cats
cannot be reached by people.
● Hiding boxes in all areas, all of which should have entrance and exit holes so that
when a cat goes inside it does not get trapped there by a person or another cat.
● Easy access to rooms separate from the public space, where the cats are also pro-
vided with resting areas, elevated spaces, etc. This should also be the area where
the cats are fed and have access to litter trays.
● A good idea can be to provide exclusive individual access to areas, away from
the other cats, where each cat can be fed, rest and use litter trays. These areas
could be designed in a similar way as described previously for individual cattery/
shelter pens and be accessed via microchip-operated cat flaps.
● Soft comfortable bedding containing the cats’ scent should be supplied in a vari-
ety of locations.
● Suitable toys, such as wand toys that customers can use safely (see Appendix 2),
should also be made available.
● Plenty of resources for the cats must be made available to avoid competition. A rough
guideline for all resources is one per cat plus at least one extra (see Appendix 3).
Customers
● The number of customers should be limited so that the cats are not overwhelmed
with too many people at one time, and staff are easily able to serve and supervise
everyone. An appointment system whereby customers pre-book a timed session
can be a good way to keep numbers under control.