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Recline & Unwind With Felines
Japanese "Princess Girls" Live Life Like A Fairy Tale

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roodles
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
sweet. In japan I can indulge my love for cats without being seen as a cat lady!
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pseudonom is ON STRIKE.
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
This is like a dream come true! They need to have this in every college town for those of us lonely for our babies
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dirtybee
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
I CAN HAZ KITTEA?
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girl.of.your.dreams
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
all i can think about is the dog version of this. you're sitting with your friends, drinking your tea, petting the cute puppehs... then a basset hound sneezes and wipes his face on your leg. seconds later, a greyhound starts chasing a chihuahua, knocks into a table, and spills several cups of tea. a dachshund tries to hump a golden retriever, but can't quite reach. the retriever yelps. there's a moment of silence, then a bulldog farts.

sigh. it'd be just like home.
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velcrosneakers
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
Am I going to get stoned for saying I want a place like this but with orphans instead of cats? I want to play with cute kids but I don't want to have any of my own. OK, maybe this is one of those "keep it to yourself" thoughts. Ha ha haaa...

Seriously though, I came up with this idea but thought it was too far fetched. I wanted to open up a bookstore/cafe that serves brunch and has a Cat Corner for customers.
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Brigit
03/25/09

@velcrosneakers: volunteer in the local library? I once did this awesome activity in the library spending the afternoon teaching kids about scientific classification with rocks/minerals.

And your idea sounds like a dreamy place.

*Dreams of warm pastries, comfy chairs, and purring kitties*
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
I should open our house up to the public, make up a simple menu and start serving tea. We have 9 indoor cats and I can guarantee there will be one on your lap within 5 minutes. If you're chewing mint gum I have 2 that will try to stick their heads in your mouth in the same timeframe. If cats really aren't your thing we have 2 greyhounds that will gladly lie down at your feet and fart.

I'm missing out on a freakin' fortune here.
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/25/09

@Gretchen (hates insurance adjusters and will get new timpan...: Ah, mint chewing gum, how you beguile the kitties!
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MockMyWorld
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
If we had a place like this in NYC it would be a magnet for unwanted Department of Health visits, I'm sure. But man, do we have the customer base for it, in spades! Plz to open one, somebody? It would be recession-proof!!

Also, while we're on the topic of Cafe Variants That Ought to Exist But For Some Reason Don't...could someone also please open a Reader's Cafe where everybody comes with their favorite printed matter and nobody talks, AT ALL? Like a library, except with coffee, food and comfier chairs? It could have one room where soft instrumental music was playing, for those who like that as reading accompaniment, and another room where there was complete silence except for people ordering and dispensing coffee in low, pleasant, ultracivilized tones.

Cell phones and Blackberries would be confiscated upon entry, unless you could prove yours was TURNED THE FUCK OFF!!
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Cattivella
03/25/09

@MockMyWorld: Man, that coffeeshop idea reminds me of my favorite study room in college. It was right above the campus coffeehouse and though it wasn't posted in the room to keep quiet, it was basically understood that you didn't talk and you answered phone calls outside. So you grabbed a cup of coffee, headed upstairs and hung out on a comfy plush couch or chair to study. -sigh- I miss college.
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Tart of Darkness
03/26/09

@Cattivella: Barnes and Noble used to be a little bit like this but without the cats. This was in the not too distant time before everyone in the universe had to have a cell phone and talk on it ALL the time. Now I don't believe it is possible to create such a space.
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MissTicklebritches
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
Am I the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea? What about the poor kitties? Don't they deserve stable homes? Seriously. Cats are living, breathing, feeling animals who need love. They aren't professional entertainers.
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/25/09

@MissTicklebritches: Well, for what it's worth, it does say "Unlike other pet rental services, the cats at Calico Cat Café are cared for in one location by experienced pet lovers and not passed around from home to home."
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MissTicklebritches
03/25/09

@chritter: It's still not the same as having actual homes where they can rest and feel secure. Are there people there who make sure that if a cat's napping, people will leave it alone? Is there room for cats to have some time out if they're overstimulated or upset?

Sorry, this just really upsets me.
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/25/09

@MissTicklebritches: Well, I think what some of the other commenters are saying is kind of on the mark. Of course, every cat would do best in a loving home, but this doesn't really seem exploitative or pet-hostile (and I'm host to three of the little beasties). I've known stores that have "house" cats that live there and the customers all know them and pet them when they want to be petted, and they can go in the back and nap whenever they want, this kind of seems like that kind of thing on a larger scale. Their clients are pet lovers, after all, I suspect/hope they'd object or not feel comfortable if there was any sign the animals weren't happy.
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disco2000
03/25/09

@MissTicklebritches: For some cat personalities, this would be a dream come true. I have a maine coon, and he loves attention and strutting for new people. Another cat I had runs when anyone new comes in the house and hides for hours. I would imagine they seek out cats with the types of personalities that thrive in this environment. Also, cats can't really be forced to do anything they don't want to do. If they don't want to play, they'll go off in a corner somewhere and sleep.

In fact, we are here on earth for cats' entertainment, not the other way around. They probably find it very amusing to watch people come in daily to ooh and ahh, wondering at what point we lost our minds.
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MissTicklebritches
03/25/09

@disco2000: sorry, guys. it just leaves me cold. it could be a good model for an adoption center.

i think the problem i have is that i think of my cat as my little girl. it just seems as icky to me as someplace you could go to rent a child for a few hours.
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Princess Leela
03/25/09

@MissTicklebritches: This made me think of the Hemingway House on Key West. I just visited last month and there are dozens of kittehs all over the joint, most with the famous extra toes. They are definitely part of the tourist draw. Some of them were rather shy and preferred to hide out under the trees and such, but others were so gregarious that it amazed me. When our tour went upstairs through Papa H's bedroom, a huge orange tabby was just hanging out on the bed giving himself a bath, totally ignoring (or maybe enjoying?) the 35-40 people crowded around staring at him. Then a littler black kitty followed us around the rest of the house, pawing at the tour guide's leg to make him hand over a treat.

I suspect this place is similar in that if there are cats that aren't so much into hanging out with people, they just sleep in a corner and chill ... while those who are attention hogs are the happiest kittehs EVAR. To them, perhaps it is a great home ... could be better than if they were stuck alone in an apartment while Mom or Dad went to work 12 hours a day, no?
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/26/09

@MissTicklebritches: Heh. I can see where you're coming from, but I definitely don't think of my cats as helpless little children. I think one of the commenters above jokingly referred to them as "sociopaths with fur," which is more along the lines of my outlook (even though I love them to pieces). I definitely exist to serve their furry asses, thankless job though it may be sometimes.
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Fatwetdog
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
I went to Nekobukuro, the cat playground in Ikebukuro. You go through rooms and cats just walk all over the place. And the rooms are all themed, like the "train" room, which looks like an old-timey train, or the library room, where the shelves are covered in fake books with titles that are puns on cat things. Like "Akage no Nyan" (Where Akage no Anne is Anne of Green Gables, and Nyan is the sound a cat makes.) And some of hte books are hollowed out, so the cats can run through them like a book tunnel. All the decor is made to look like other stuff, but it's really a cat jungle gym, so they can run along the ceilings or sit inside a TV.

The cats are really friendly. They see tons of people every day, so some of them just jump right in your lap. Some of them have folded-over ears, and some of them have really short daschund-like legs, and one of them was a Maine Coon Cat the size of a freaking Husky. (The Japanese women were all like "Holy shit!" when they saw him.)
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boxspelunker
03/25/09

@Fatwetdog: I WANT TO GO. All I did in Ikebukuro was get really lost, went to a love hotel, got drunk and ate ice cream in the bathtub with my friend. I wish I had known about this place - she loves cats and so do I. NEXT TIME.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
03/25/09

@Fatwetdog: I have a Maine Coon! He's not just a giant, he's unusually beautiful and loves to be held by strangers. People are always going "holy shit!"
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la.donna.pietra
03/25/09

@MidnightBikeRide: Maine Coons FTW! My Beatrice is almost definitely part Maine Coon--she's a huge fluffy brown and white tabby.
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Crackers In Bed
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
this is worth all the allergy medicine it would take for me to live through!
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argle-bargle? or fou-ferraw?
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
hmmm. are you allowed to pet the kitties?

as much as this appeals to me, i don't think the kitties i know would go for that... they'd get bitey and scratchy with a bunch of strange people all up in their faces.
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LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman
03/25/09

@argle-bargle? or fou-ferraw?: Depends on the cat. My Millie would freak out in a big way and find a place to hide. Harley, meanwhile, would be pouring the tea and purring like the motorcycle he's named for, making friends with everyone. I had a guy in my apartment fixing my Internet connection, and Harley was trying to love on him, too. That cat will befriend anyone.
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Brigit
03/25/09

@LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman: My Mota is scared of anyone that's not a "regular" at the house (even if it's a huge black ant). Ewok on the other hand, will demand to be petted by anyone that comes into the place. He's a pushy little devil.
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argle-bargle? or fou-ferraw?
03/25/09

@LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman: ha! harley... so cute!

i kind of wrote that comment with kids in mind, and now i'm thinking that maybe not all children are as in-your-face with animals as the ones i'm thinking of... which really is about the patrons of the establishment, not the kitties.
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la.donna.pietra
03/25/09

@argle-bargle? or fou-ferraw?: Phinney (aka Phinney-boo, aka Mr. P. Boo, aka Phinneas Maximus, ad infinitum) would be the equivalent of a $5000/hour call girl in a place like that. He is the most affectionate cat I've ever seen. He'll hop on any stranger's lap, purr up a storm, and lick him/her rapturously.

Then he'll play endlessly with some string. The downside is that he never, ever chills out.
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Ailanthus-altissima
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
I'd do this, but I'm afraid my cat would get jealous and shun me when I got home.
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Brigit
03/25/09

@Ailanthus-altissima: Because you'll smell like cat-floozies.

My friend's cat always got upset when she visited my 3 furballs.
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Mediokra
03/25/09

@Ailanthus-altissima: INDEED. My kitteh would totally be jealous. I'd go anyway though, because one can never have enough cats in one's life.
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Ailanthus-altissima
03/25/09

@Brigit: Is that your cat in your avatar? He/She resembles my little guy. I love tuxedo cats.

@Mediokra: Agreed. I might have to shower on the way home though, just in case.
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
Rent-a-Kitty? No litter pans? No cleaning up kitty-puke? Okay, can some budding entrepreneur franchise one of these places in NYC, plz?
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Ascendo_tuum
03/25/09

@chritter: Prince Mal would not be pleased ;).
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chritter is a nocturnal feminist mancatfish
03/25/09

@Ascendo_tuum: Ai! I've been caught stepping out on the Prince! I won't tell him if you won't!
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LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
How purrfectly delightful! I'll take some black tea and sit furrever.
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Cookie Dough Monster
03/25/09

@LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman: Meow that's what I'm talking about!
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LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman
03/25/09

@Cookie Dough Monster: I'd probably run up a very high tabby.
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Cookie Dough Monster
03/25/09

@LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman: Especially if you spill your tea on a Persian (rug).
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Treeless
03/25/09

In reply to Recline & Unwind With Felines
I admit, sometimes I walk into the local used bookstores when I have no time to browse, as the best ones are stocked with kitties, and I can get a quick fix.
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argle-bargle? or fou-ferraw?
03/25/09

@Treeless: when i first moved away from home (before i got my doggie) i lived near a headshop with three resident labradors. i would go in just to pet them. luckily, the shop ladies never minded. they understood exactly what i was doing.
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lalaland13
03/25/09

@Treeless: That's how I ended up with my orange tabby. He was in a used bookstore that fostered rescue kitties. I love the combination of kitties and books.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
03/25/09

@Treeless: Sometimes I go to the science building on campus just to look at the terrariums in the bio wing. I don't take any science courses, but even just watching the fishes or making eye contact with a lizard for a few minutes can make me feel better.
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lucystrawberry: Tier 2 is the new black
03/25/09

@Treeless: I totes do this during my yearly vacation in Niantic, CT. There is a place called the Book Barn that has tons of cats. They are so plentiful it looks like a cabbage patch when they lay in the grass...but with CATS.
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