Please contact us at catcafe@jacksonsanimalrescue.co.uk if you cannot find an answer to your question.
While we do accept walk in's, we highly recommend making an advance booking to secure your spot. For our public opening hours, there are two choices of booking- one hour, or three hours. From our research before starting this project, we know that some people don't like the "clock watching" feeling in a Cat Cafe, so we have the choice of the three hour booking so that you can relax, unwind, and not worry about looking at the time. Tables are allocated in order for us to manage reservations, however you are free to wander around the Cafe's two floors as you please. If you require a table downstairs due to mobility issues, please inform us at the time of booking. Payment for your booking is taken at the time of booking.
They aren’t at the moment. If we had a constantly changing group of cats, that would upset the group dynamic at the Cafe, and cause stress. The cats here now will spend a period of one to two years in the Cafe, before going on to find their forever homes. Once they have all gone home, a new group of rescue cats will be introduced to Cafe life. This prevents cats from becoming bored of the cafe, and means that everyone will still go to a lovely forever home for their retirement, after they have helped to raise lots of funds and awareness about Jackson’s Animal Rescue.
The cats at our rescue site in Mold are up for adoption, so if you’re looking for a new friend to join your family, please see the information on the table, on the TV screens, or speak to the staff.
The Cat Cafe helps cats in so many ways!
The Cafe provides a home for up to 15 cats at a time, some of these cats may be cats that would struggle to get adopted due to various medical needs. This means that 15 cats are not stuck in a cattery pen, and instead get to spend some time with constant love, so many toys to play with, and the very best care. This frees up more space at the rescue, so that we can help more cats.
The Cafe has a huge focus on education. Everyone who comes through our doors will hear all about their stories, and how they can help rescue cats. We also hold regular educational talks, and when it includes cats purring away on your knee, who can resist?
The Cafe raises vital funds to allow our work to continue. The funds raised help to cover our vet bills, and help us to continue the redevelopment of our Padeswood site, to improve our facilities and increase our capacity. Our waiting lists to bring animals to us can often be up to two years long, we drastically need to create more space to rescue them.
The Cafe gives us another method of advertising cats that are looking to be adopted. We will always discuss available cats with Cafe visitors, and usually have lots of pictures and videos on hand of our rescue residents.
Thanks to an amazing team of staff and volunteers, the cats have lots of company even when the cafe is closed! Cat naps are important, so during closing hours the cats get a chance to snooze away as much as they please, and company if they would like it. The entire cafe including the “Cat Only” areas are covered by a robust CCTV system, which is closely monitored, and the Cafe is fully alarmed.
Entry into the Cafe is via a three door air lock, that is manually operated by staff. This means that there's three doors inbetween the cats and outside, and two of these doors are managed using a sensor so one will only open when the other one is closed.
The cats that were chosen for the Cafe, are those that displayed to us that they are super friendly, and love the company of people and other cats. Some of the cats have been assessed in Foster Homes prior to coming to the Cafe too. Our staff are qualified and experienced in Cat Behaviour and Welfare, and we know exactly what to look for if a cat isn’t enjoying their time here. We keep a behaviour diary each day, for each cat, so we can soon spot if a cat isn’t coming into the cafe, and would rather be upstairs, and that cat would be removed and a forever home found that is suitable to their needs.
This is for the cat’s welfare only, and this is our highest priority.
Before opening the Cafe, we spent hours and hours reading reviews of other Cat Cafes, to find out what people like, and what they don’t like. The most common complaint was seeing children chasing and tormenting cats, and parents that were unwilling to parent. Sadly we have also experienced this when holding Open Days at our rescue, and for that reason we have to enforce an age limit. While we know that lots of children are responsible and lovely with animals, not all are, and while we keep costs to a minimum to ensure that every possible penny goes back into our rescue work, we cannot consistently provide the staffing levels needed to ensure that the cats are respected at all times with lots of children visiting.
In the future we hope to offer Educational Sessions for young people on specific days, where there will be more staff available to assist. During these sessions they will have the opportunity to meet the cats, and will be taught all about cat welfare, how to handle and respect cats, and how they can help rescue cats. Please follow the Facebook page for updates about these sessions.