If you’re a crazy cat person who misses the outside world but doesn’t want to rely only on humans for entertainment, check out these three cool cat cafes in NYC! Obviously they’re located on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.
Koneko
26 Clinton Street (Lower East Side)
Koneko, which means “kitten” in Japanese, was the first Japanese cat cafe to open in the US. Here you can enjoy some sake, beer and wine while accompanied by your cat (or you can adopt one of theirs).
The menu also includes sweets, Japanese snacks, and waffles and fruit for breakfast.
The cafe is split into three spaces, and they’re all of course filled with felines: The Upper Cattery, the Lower Cattery, and the outdoor Catio!
Koneko also hosts cat-based events and features cool artwork throughout its space.
The mission of this cattery is to help at risk cats find forever families.
Koneko has probably gotten more press than any other NYC cat cafes. They have been featured in the New York Times, Daily Beast, Gothamist, Time Magazine, Time Out New York, and on many more blogs and publications.
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Meow Parlour
46 Hester Street (Lower East Side)
This was the first cat cafe to open in NYC. Like Koneko, they have their own cats which you can adopt or just play with.
Their menu comes courtesy of Macaron Parlour (which has an Upper West Side location … at 560 Columbus Ave, between 87th and 88th Streets). So if you’re a modern, macaron eating cat freak, this is clearly a place you should be visiting.
And they have CAT YOGA.
Brooklyn Cat Cafe
149 Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn Heights)
Brooklyn Cat Cafe opened in 2016, which was early for this newly popular trend (they were the first to open in New York, and one of the first in the country).
They’re also the only cat cafe run by a non-profit animal rescue organization (the Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition).
Like Koneko and Meow Parlour, their primary mission is to save cats by getting them adopted.
They also provide educational workshops for animal rescuers.
In addition, they have a live kitty-cam which can be accessed 24 hours a day, in the event you can’t show up in person.
And here’s probably the strangest thing to know about this cat cafe: they brought in two local rats to care for some of their kittens (just those 8 weeks old or younger). Apparently they groom, babysit and care for them.
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If cat cafes are a little too much for you, but you still want to help rescues find parents (or if you want to adopt), here are some resources you can check out:
The Animal Project NYC – 2475 Broadway (the Petco at 92nd Street. I adopted my two cats, Larry and Clementine, from them; their photo is at the bottom of this article!)
ASPCA Adoption Center – 424 East 92nd Street
Animal Care Centers of NYC – various locations
City Critters – 991 Second Ave and 1107 Broadway
Manhattan Cat Specialists – 230 West 76th Street
Hudson Animal Hospital – 238 West 61st Street
