In this episode of His and Tell, host Kristiina Wilson interviews Amelia and Veronica, two of the cattery guides at Koneko Cat Cafe in New York City. They discuss the origins of Koneko, the challenges of being one of the first cat cafes in the city, and the impact they have had through cat adoptions. They also talk about the measures taken to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of diseases, the litter box setup, and the environmental stimulation provided for the cats. The interview covers topics such as integrating new cats, feeding protocols, and handling human visitors to ensure the well-being of the cats. In this part of the conversation, Amelia & Veronica discuss the presence of hand sanitizer stations in the cat cafe and the importance of maintaining a clean environment. They also talks about the behavior modifications and training techniques used with the cats in the cafe. Amelia mentions that the rescue groups they work with do a great job of choosing cats that will get along well with each other and with people. She also shares insights into how the cats communicate with each other and with the people in the cafe. Veronica discusses the guidelines for interacting with cats, especially during kids' hours, and shares some interesting and unusual behavioral patterns observed among the cats in the cafe. In this conversation, Amelia and Veronica from Koneko Cat Cafe discuss various topics related to cat adoption and the role of cat cafes in promoting animal welfare. They emphasize the importance of providing cats with intellectual and environmental stimulation, such as bird watching and cat wheels. They also explain the adoption process and the need for vetting potential adopters. The conversation touches on parasite treatment, leaving cats alone at night, and addresses misconceptions about cat cafes.
Takeaways
In this episode of His and Tell, host Kristiina Wilson interviews Amelia and Veronica, two of the cattery guides at Koneko Cat Cafe in New York City. They discuss the origins of Koneko, the challenges of being one of the first cat cafes in the city, and the impact they have had through cat adoptions. They also talk about the measures taken to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of diseases, the litter box setup, and the environmental stimulation provided for the cats. The interview covers topics such as integrating new cats, feeding protocols, and handling human visitors to ensure the well-being of the cats. In this part of the conversation, Amelia & Veronica discuss the presence of hand sanitizer stations in the cat cafe and the importance of maintaining a clean environment. They also talks about the behavior modifications and training techniques used with the cats in the cafe. Amelia mentions that the rescue groups they work with do a great job of choosing cats that will get along well with each other and with people. She also shares insights into how the cats communicate with each other and with the people in the cafe. Veronica discusses the guidelines for interacting with cats, especially during kids' hours, and shares some interesting and unusual behavioral patterns observed among the cats in the cafe. In this conversation, Amelia and Veronica from Koneko Cat Cafe discuss various topics related to cat adoption and the role of cat cafes in promoting animal welfare. They emphasize the importance of providing cats with intellectual and environmental stimulation, such as bird watching and cat wheels. They also explain the adoption process and the need for vetting potential adopters. The conversation touches on parasite treatment, leaving cats alone at night, and addresses misconceptions about cat cafes.
Takeaways
Kristiina (00:33)
Welcome to today's episode of His and Tell. I'm your host, Kristiina Wilson. And with me today are Amelia and Veronica. They are two of the cattery guides at Koneko cat cafe, which is located in the East Village slash lower East side, In New York City And that's it. Welcome, Amelia and Veronica.
I don't know why am I clapping? I'm clapping. Why? What is wrong with me? So much. So much is wrong with me. Okay. So can you guys tell me a little bit about how Konkeo came about? I know it was one of the first cat cafes to open in New York City and also tell everybody what Konkeo means.
Amelia Mosher (00:53)
Thank you.
Yeah. So Koneko means kitten in Japanese. And we were founded in late 2015, beginning of 2016. And our owner and founder, Ben Kalb, he took a trip to Japan that really inspired him. Specifically, he went to a cat cafe that I think
he knew that's what he wanted to do. So when he came back to the city, he decided to open his own and he wanted to include some more elements of modern design and art in his cat cafe. So yeah, 2016, it's been, I guess, almost 10 years. So yeah, a lot of cats. Yeah.
Kristiina (01:51)
Yeah. Or do you have statistics on it? We'll talk a little bit more about the adoptions as we go on. But do you know roughly how many cats have been adopted out since that time?
Amelia Mosher (02:02)
Well, if it's been nine years and how much per year? So I think we average about 120 adoptions per year. We'll usually do about 10 adoptions per month, sometimes more, sometimes less, just depending on the season. So, yeah, I'd say about 120 per year, give or take. So times nine. Yeah.
Kristiina (02:20)
Okay, hang on. I'm gonna do some math on my phone because I'm bad at math. Okay, so if we have 120 per year times, how many years it's been, eight years? Nine years, nine years. Okay, 120 times, nope, I can't even use the calculator. I think, wow, okay, that gives us 1,080 cats. That's an amazing number of cats.
Amelia Mosher (02:30)
Nine, yeah, eight or nine. Nine.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Kristiina (02:45)
Amazing. how soon did you guys come into working at Konkeo or Konkeo Sorry, how am I meant to pronounce it? I've been saying it wrong this whole time. Kon-eco, okay.
Amelia Mosher (02:53)
You're good. It's Koneko. Yeah. So I started working there in January of 2022. And I started as a volunteer in April 2022. And then I started actually working July of that year.
Kristiina (03:01)
Mm-hmm.
Okay, so do you know what the challenges were at all being one of the first cat cafes in the city and I think in the country really do you have any idea what that was like?
Amelia Mosher (03:18)
I think, I mean, a lot of the idea is still a little bit foreign to some people. So they come in and they're not really sure what to expect. so that's been interesting trying to like, explain to people, like, especially when people ask me like, what do you, what do you do? And I say, work at a cat cafe. They're like, what does that mean? Um, but it's great and people are now they know about this thing that exists. So, yeah.
Kristiina (03:23)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Right? Was there a challenge? One of our listeners submitted questions was, How do you handle stuff with the health department, having cats and food in the same place?
Amelia Mosher (03:53)
So we have two sections of the cafe. So there's the actual cafe area where all the food stuff is handled. And then there's the cat side. And food and cats do not mix at all. Like we don't, no food is allowed in the cattery. Cattery guides don't cross contaminate with the kitchen and everything. Like we keep that very, very separate so that there's no issue with contamination or anything like that. My cat's now yelling at me.
Kristiina (04:21)
Hehehehe
Amelia Mosher (04:22)
But yeah, they're very separate. So it's kind of like they're both in one building, but two separate operations a little bit.
Kristiina (04:27)
Right.
Right. And at least when I have gone in there, you were allowed to bring your drink into the cat area. Is that still allowed? Okay. Yeah, yeah, of course. Then they're going to want back in.
Amelia Mosher (04:38)
Yeah, drinks are fine. Let me just let my cat out real quick. Oh yeah, they definitely will.
Kristiina (04:47)
You can never win. No,
Amelia Mosher (04:48)
Well, never.
Kristiina (04:50)
every time I went to the cafe, I was shocked. And especially after I've been to so many other cat cafes at how clean it is and how smell free it is, it literally does not smell. Like there are cats there. Can you speak a little bit about how you guys keep it so pristine and so
not smelling like cats.
Amelia Mosher (05:13)
Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah, we try. Yeah. Yeah, there's like, we have like a lot of ventilation, a lot of air filters, purifiers. We scoop so many times a day, just to make sure that they drop it, we scoop it. Yep. Pretty much.
Kristiina (05:16)
I'm sure, I'm sure.
Right. Do you have like a monitor on their boxes? Like how do you know? Or you just saying like you smell something funky and you go and scoop it.
Amelia Mosher (05:36)
Yeah, if we feel something funky, we'll immediately go check it out. Um, we have private litter rooms for them also, where we have like our cleaning stuff too, um, and you know, all our, all their private areas. So we'll just occasionally during our shift, go in and check, just give her everything a once over and make sure there's nothing that needs to be scooped. Nothing that needs to be, you know, put back in place. we monitor it pretty, pretty often. Yeah. And then we, we clean three times a day.
Kristiina (05:44)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Amelia Mosher (06:04)
So in the morning before we open, we wipe down everything, we vacuum, we sweep if we need to sweep, if there's cats that are not crazy about the vacuum. We do all the cleaning stuff and then we do it again. Then we do it at lunchtime. Yeah, at lunchtime at three. And then we do it again at about nine when we close. So just a lot of cleaning.
Kristiina (06:19)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (06:24)
And it's good because it gets the cats used to kind of house cleaning too. I know sometimes cats are not the biggest fans of vacuums, but... A lot of our guys are pretty used to it. Yeah, no, we like to say that that's like a perk of adopting from Kroneco, is you're not going to get a cat that's going to be scared of the vacuum. Yeah.
Kristiina (06:28)
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, I get that.
So sort of on that token, since we already talking about litter boxes, what is the litter box setup like? How many do you have? And then also kind of piggybacking off of that, like how many cats do you normally have in the cafe at one time?
Amelia Mosher (06:53)
Mm hmm. We have how many litter boxes? So we have we have 10. Yeah. She knows off the top of her head. My head as you were asking. 10 litter boxes there. there's a smaller litter room in the upper cattery and then the lower cattery is a much larger litter room. And both of those places like cats can go to just like take a little break if they want a little break from the people. And.
Kristiina (06:58)
Yeah.
Yes, how many cats? Thank you. Okay.
Amelia Mosher (07:16)
How many cats? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have 17 cats right now. It can get up to around 20. It's like our kind of maximum. Sometimes a couple more. Sometimes we'll go a little bit over 20. Sometimes we've had a couple more, yeah.
Kristiina (07:25)
Mm-hmm.
I get it.
Oh yes, what kind of litter boxes do you have? Are they just like open pans? Are they really big? do you have litter robots? Like what's going on in there in terms of litter boxes?
Amelia Mosher (07:38)
So yeah, we just have a bunch of those, the big plastic litter pans and those are fine. They're pretty standard, but I think, I do think something that really helps. And this is not me being sponsored personally by anything, but we use world's best cat litter. And I will honestly say, like, I do think it is the world's best cat litter. Yeah, I agree. I use it for my cats too. We both use it at home. Yeah. And they're great. Like they have sponsored us before, but.
Kristiina (07:43)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (08:07)
their litter is, it like doesn't smell for whatever reason. So yeah, we, world's best cat litter. Yeah.
Kristiina (08:12)
That's good. Have you ever had an issue? I don't know why I'm asking all these toilet questions, but that's where my brain's going. I'm sure it is. Is have you ever had issues with like litter box aversion or inappropriate, you know?
Amelia Mosher (08:17)
Oh, that's great. That's a big part of our day.
Kristiina (08:27)
Toileting with the cats like where you have to kind of figure out like oh no this cat actually wants a different substrate or this cat Actually wants a different kind of litter box or have you had those issues or has it been fairly smooth sailing? With the cats and the two litter rooms. It sounds like you have
Amelia Mosher (08:44)
It's been pretty smooth, honestly, while we've been there. Yeah, like the only issues we've ever had is if there were little tiny kittens that are still kind of learning potty training. Or if there's a cat, like maybe that is, you know.
Kristiina (08:47)
Yeah.
Right.
Amelia Mosher (08:58)
a little has a little bit more testosterone. Yeah, asserting dominance. We've had a couple sprayers before, but really not. It's really rare. It's so, so rare. Like I can't even think of a cat off the top of my head who's been a sprayer. I just, you know, it's probably happened. Yeah. Yeah, no, they send us a great group of cats. The rescues are great. Yeah, they're great at picking them.
Kristiina (09:01)
Yes.
Yeah. All right. You got, that's very lucky.
Right. Well, so that leads into another question, which is where are these cats coming from? How are you vetting to make sure that number one, actually, to make sure they're not bringing in any diseases, I'm sure that you're making sure they're fully vaccinated. They've been snap tested. You know, they've been held for all to make sure they don't have, you know, paunleukopenia or FIV or FIP or anything like that. And then behaviorally, what are you looking for to make sure they're going to fit in with everybody?
Amelia Mosher (09:43)
Yeah.
So we work with two rescue groups, Angelica Cats Rescue and Rescue NYC. And those are both New York based groups that work with shelters all over the city. Rescue NYC specifically does a lot of TNR work. So a lot of the cats that we get through their rescue are former stray cats who've been vetted and all that. But before the cats come to Koneko they go to private foster homes where the fosters
and the rescue will work together to kind of determine whether or not the cat would be a good fit for the cafe setting. If the cat's really, really scared of people or is aggressive or has a problem with hissing or biting, they might not be such a great fit for the cafe. So we usually try to establish before they come that they're gonna be good for the cafe environment, both for them and for the other cats and for the guests who come in. Yeah.
Kristiina (10:33)
Right.
That's fair. And I will say that every time also I've been in there, it's just a great mix of cats who are very friendly.
Even though I live in my own cat cafe, I'm always like, oh, I miss going to other cat cafes where I can meet new and exciting cats. So you also have that outdoor space for cats that they seem to really enjoy.
Amelia Mosher (10:45)
Yes.
Kristiina (10:55)
But maybe you can talk a little bit about how they use that space about if you know about how the planning that went into that You know and just kind of the general environmental stimulation that you have set up for them
Amelia Mosher (11:05)
Yeah.
They, oh my god, they love the catio. When the catio is open, like the other two catery spaces are kind of empty. Like they all just go out to the catio and they spend all day out there in the sun watching birds. They love bird watching, hunting little bugs. I don't really know much about the planning or how the catio actually came to be. One thing I do know is that when Ben was designing
Kristiina (11:19)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (11:34)
would be higher than the max level that a cat can jump.
Kristiina (11:37)
Right.
Amelia Mosher (11:38)
even if they tried to jump over that wall, I don't think they'd make it. The tops are, there's like a, some metal on top. I think it's like sheet metal or something that kind of keeps them from climbing all the way up. Um, and so we've, we've never had anyone try to climb a wall. We've never had any escapees or anything like that. Knock on wood. But yeah, no, no issues. They, they seem to know that it's kind of like a little enclosed sanctuary that they can hang out in and, and.
Kristiina (11:49)
Yeah.
Hehehe
Right.
Yeah. And the rest of the cafe, if I'm remembering correctly, you have those like raised areas for them to walk around, right? And the like little kind of secret, they're not tunnels, but like behind the stairs, there's the places for them to go. Maybe you can talk a little bit about all of those little hidden spaces and climbing areas and everything that you have for the cats. Cause that's what we would call like environmental enrichment. That's really important for cats to have those spaces that are higher up and, you know, in places they can hide and all of that.
Amelia Mosher (12:35)
Yeah, so I think what you were talking about was our little ramp that the cats go up and down so they can access the upper cattery and the lower cattery just by going up and down this ramp we have. And
Kristiina (12:39)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Amelia Mosher (12:47)
They can also hide out in there if they want. Sometimes they'll take little naps in there and can get like kind of like really warm with the heaters. So they like to hide back there. And they love like having the zoomies up and down that ramp all the time. They love that thing. Yeah.
Kristiina (12:59)
Hehehe
Amelia Mosher (13:05)
And it's nice because it connects the two floors, but we can close it off too. And that's how we kind of- If we have newbies, yeah. If we have newbies, we'll keep the ramp closed so that the new cats can kind of adjust upstairs and we can rotate in the older cats to kind of meet them without it being too stressful for everyone. And then once they're more comfortable in the upstairs space and they've adjusted, then they can start going downstairs. And then once everyone's comfortable in the space, we'll be able to open up the ramp for a little bit.
Kristiina (13:13)
Right.
Amelia Mosher (13:35)
which will be nice because everyone's just running up and down.
Kristiina (13:38)
All right, so that was a question that I had for you is actually how do you integrate, how do you handle when you have new intakes? Do you just take them as a cat by cat basis? Do you have certain times where like, okay, we have these five new cats, so we're gonna close down for a little bit and just have a chill time for these cats to get to know each other and close off certain areas until they're comfortable. Like how does that all work?
Amelia Mosher (14:00)
So a lot of the times when we get new intakes, we'll get them, we close on Mondays, we're always closed Monday. A lot of the times we'll get them kind of during that closing period and we're closed Tuesday too, so a lot of the times the new intakes will have a couple days to kind of get used to the space before people come in. That's not always the case. Sometimes we'll have cats that just come in the middle of the day and when that happens,
Kristiina (14:06)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (14:28)
private rooms. So we'll kind of put them in the litter room in the crate that they came in and open the door and they can kind of venture out as they feel ready and the other newer cats can come in and smell them. If they seem like they're too stressed out then we can just kind of...
put them in that room, let them decompress by themselves so no one else can access them. Usually they don't start kind of coming out and interacting with everyone until a couple days in. So they'll kind of adjust in their private space first and then they come out when they're ready.
Kristiina (14:59)
Right. Okay. How do you handle feeding? I know you mentioned, you know, there's multiple feeding times a day, but how do you handle feeding that amount of cats and making sure that there's no kind of dominance behavior around the eating that, you know, nobody's stealing from each other, like monitoring that everyone's actually getting the right amount of food. How is all of that handled?
Amelia Mosher (15:20)
Um, so half of the cats, um, most of the cats that like hang out downstairs in the lower cattery, we, uh, put them in crates so that we can monitor what they're eating and how much they're eating. Uh, and then the upstairs cattery, um, since we have a lot of new cats, um, we put, we put the food out and we just kind of monitor, monitor them as best we can.
Kristiina (15:31)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (15:46)
because there are sometimes like we have a couple of cats right now that love to just like once they're done with their food they'll go over or not when they're done with their food yeah they like to shop around yeah they do just like cruise around have a little buffet if there's anyone that's on a medication though well yeah definitely put their food away from everyone else and we as they spend more time with us we try to transition them to crates when we can so usually
Kristiina (15:52)
Oh yeah.
Bullswap. Oh, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (16:13)
The cats will only be eating out of a crate for like their first couple of weeks and then they'll go down to the crate. And that helps also with, you know, they don't feel like they have to wolf it down so fast or not stealing. They don't make as much of a mess, which is great. And they get used to being in a...
Kristiina (16:23)
Right.
in a carrier, yeah.
Amelia Mosher (16:32)
or a crate and that's the only time that they are ever in crates so they have a positive association with that which is also nice when you need to get them to the vet.
Kristiina (16:40)
Absolutely. So that's a big thing I always talk to my clients about is to definitely carrier train and have the carriers out all the time so that it's not this like signal that something bad is about to happen. But how then do you initially carrier or crate train them so that going in for their meals is this, you know, positive experience, especially if they're cats who their only experience has been a negative association with a carrier, like, do you have a protocol for that? Is it just that you're putting food in it? So they're going to go in
Amelia Mosher (16:45)
Good night.
Mm-hmm.
They don't want to go in the crate. We won't force them. And if they're not eating in the crate, we'll also, we will put the food outside so they can eat outside. So it's really, it's like very up to them if they want to eat in the crate, but I think there's a certain point where they see everyone else eating in the crate and they understand that that's like a food location.
Kristiina (17:22)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (17:29)
And if we put their, sometimes we'll have the crate door open and we'll put the food down in the crate and then the cat will go in and eat in there. And then eventually we can close the door. Some cats are just so food motivated and easygoing that we can just pick them up, put them in the crate. They'll immediately start eating. Other ones, it takes them a little bit. It's, you know, it's pretty individual for them.
Kristiina (17:39)
Right.
Yeah. Do you have a recall sound or anything that you're using when it's time for food? Or is it just that they know like, oh, hey, it's 3pm. This is when we eat. We're all gathering around our crates. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. That makes sense. Did they get confused when the time changed?
Amelia Mosher (17:59)
I know what time it is. I know pretty much now.
We were both abroad one the time. But they have, yeah, in the past, I remember they have gotten confused before when they think it's dinner time and there's still one more hour, or they're overjoyed because it's dinner time.
Kristiina (18:08)
Oh, okay.
Mm-hmm.
It's early. Yes. Yeah. I hear that a lot from people that their, their animals are so confused and they're just like, excuse me. Yeah. They're, they're very precise cats, especially their clocks are incredibly precise. So it's interesting. Um, how do you make sure that the cats don't get overwhelmed by having all of these human visitors? I know you, I think you have a limit on how many people can be in there. I, you know, do you have a place that they can go hide? What's, what's the deal with that?
Amelia Mosher (18:25)
Yeah, definitely. They're little clocks. Yeah.
So we have no more than 15 guests at a time can come in per hour. And so that can be a little bit overwhelming, but I think what really helps is us having these three different rooms that the guests can kind of spread out and the cats can spread out as well. So it's not a whole bunch of people all in one space. So it feels, you know, they can breathe a little bit easier. And then like...
Kristiina (18:53)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (19:13)
like I said before, like they have so many hiding spaces that they can go into. They can go into the litter room and hang out in there, or they can go into one of our little, we have these little towers that they can hide inside with their little cozy bed. on the ramp, they can hide there as well. There's just, there's a lot of hiding spaces, which I think is very important to have, uh, with cats cause they like their little enclosures.
Kristiina (19:29)
Mm-hmm.
They do.
Amelia Mosher (19:37)
And they have everything they need in their private rooms too. Like they have their bed, their water, their litter box. So we always say like if a cat wants a day where they just are chilling and they're taking a break from being a cat cafe cat, they can totally have that and they can just stay in that back room for a day and just hang out and take a day off just like people. So, yeah, it's great for them that they have those areas where they can kind of go decompress when they need to and then come back out when they're ready to socialize.
Kristiina (19:56)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah, that's good. I mean, we all need a day off, so I get it. It's good. It's good they can also have a day off from dealing with people. And speaking of people coming in, do you have protocols so that people are not bringing diseases to them? Like, do you require shoes off or shoe covers? Do people have to sanitize their hands? What protocols do you make people go through so they're not bringing anything to the cats?
Amelia Mosher (20:07)
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, we do our best. Shoes off, definitely. And then we make everybody sanitize their hands. Slippers for people to wear. Exactly. We do have slippers if people choose to wear slippers or if they're not wearing socks. Yeah, we do our best to limit like outside germs, because there's so many people coming in and out that...
Kristiina (20:37)
Mm.
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (20:48)
We have hand sanitizer stations in the vestibule going in, and then we have one in the cafe too. So if people need to sanitize for any reason, they can always just go back and do that, protect everybody.
Kristiina (20:58)
Right.
So do you use any kind of behavior modifications to make sure all the cats get along or at least tolerate each other? Like, are you using Feliway plugins? Are you playing cat music? Are you doing any work with them, like clicker training or anything? Or is this just a case of they've been chosen so well from the rescue groups that you work with that you don't really have to do a lot of work with them?
Amelia Mosher (21:24)
I think that's the case, honestly, is they, the rescue does a great job of choosing cats that will mix really well together and mix really well together in a people-heavy environment. So a lot of the cats we get are just, they're beginner cats, I'd say. They're like, they're pretty easygoing. So a lot of training isn't.
Kristiina (21:32)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (21:44)
really required. We do like to play them some cat tv sometimes. They love their cat tv.
Kristiina (21:49)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (21:50)
during breaks and stuff, we will play with them also to just kind of get any extra energy they have out. Yeah, I'd say like if there is a cat that comes in that's like a little bit more shy than usual, we have an amazing volunteer who comes in once a week and just like works his magic with these cats. And like the cat whisper, he really is quite a cat whisper. His name is Andy. His name is Andy. We love him. He comes in and he just like spends a little bit of time with the cats.
Kristiina (22:14)
Hehehe
Amelia Mosher (22:19)
in their little private room. And I won't see that cat all day until he comes in, works with them for like, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes, and I'll see that cat like walking around. And it's like, just amazing. I don't know how he does it. Yeah, he's a volunteer with Angelical. Yeah. So we're very lucky to have him. Very lucky.
Kristiina (22:38)
That sounds lovely.
So what are some signs that you guys might pick up on if the cats might be feeling stressed or uncomfortable in the cafe? I know that they are able to just wander off back into their private area, but for people listening who may not be so attuned to stress signs in cats, are there things that you guys are used to picking up on, being like, oh, I think this cat might want some alone time?
Amelia Mosher (22:40)
watching!
Ears back definitely is the main thing I would say. Like if you see the cat with their ears flat. Airplane ears. Yeah, airplane ears. Like that cat does not want to hang out right now. Tail swishing. Yeah. Sometimes also you can just see it in their face. Like especially.
Kristiina (23:10)
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (23:18)
We've spent so much time with these cats that we know them pretty well and we know what they look like when they're a little bit annoyed. So sometimes we can just see that they're in their face, that they're not having it. And so we'll go over, we might take them into the private room. We might just let the person who's interacting with them know that they need a little space. If it's two cats, we might just separate them. But yeah, it's a lot of just kind of case by case basis and body language analysis.
Kristiina (23:22)
Right.
Sure. Absolutely. I mean, cat communication is primarily body language
Do you ever have to like stop a guest who's in the cat cafe who might be like playing too hard? Or do you have to give guidelines to guests about like, Oh, well, you know, if a cat gives you this signal, you might want to back off or this is how you should play with a cat or don't touch a cat here. How do you, yes. If a cat shows you their butthole, they like you, you know, how do you, how do you handle kind of like walking less cat knowledgeable people through interacting with cats in the cat cafe?
Amelia Mosher (24:08)
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, for the most part, people do understand cats are different than dogs, and they have their certain play styles, but there are occasionally times where people don't really know how to play with a cat, so we show them and just kind of teach them the best way that the cat will actually interact with them instead of just totally ignoring their, whatever toy they're playing with.
And yeah, we just try to show them like... We try to tell people not to play with their hands. Their hands, yeah. One of our rules that we go around our initial rules.
Kristiina (24:49)
Yes.
Amelia Mosher (24:51)
And so we will have like, we have a big rotating selection of toys so that it's really important that they rotate also because otherwise they get bored of them really fast. So we have some special toys also that we'll take out when we see everyone might be looking a little bit bored that immediately just gets the energy up because it's like a special occasion toy.
Kristiina (24:55)
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
I love that special occasion toy.
So cute. I don't remember, do you guys let, are kids able to come in?
Amelia Mosher (25:17)
Um, yeah, so we have, uh, kids hours on Thursdays. Um, and during kids hours, kids under eight can come in, um, with a parent, of course. Um, and on times outside of kids hour, which is four to six Thursday, um, there's no kids allowed under eight, so yeah, everyone is, is over eight.
Kristiina (25:20)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Right. And I ask that for the listeners just because a lot of cats don't love kid energy because kids are loud kids move erratically and quickly. They're not predictable in the way that adult behavior is much more predictable. And so my next question was then during these times when children are allowed in who have of all ages, do you notice that you have less cats out interacting? Do you have, do you like, what do you notice about those times? I guess is what I should ask.
Amelia Mosher (26:08)
Um, yeah, the cats do kind of recognize when there is a smaller human around and they can definitely tell like child versus adult. So their energy is a lot bigger. Definitely. Um, so they do some, some of them do tend to hide. Um, but we try, you know, with the cats that do still like hang around with the kids, um, you know, we, we do our best to like.
Kristiina (26:13)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Amelia Mosher (26:34)
have we make sure the interactions we try to make sure we kind of doubly emphasize the rules during kids hour yeah definitely like make sure that they know that these are rescue cats so they can be skittish there's not allowed to pick the cats up whatsoever um we say make sure you don't restrain them or hold them back in any way like try not to you know
Kristiina (26:36)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (26:55)
put your hands on them too much like that. Give them space if they want to have space, basically. And we tell kids to use their indoor voices.
Kristiina (26:58)
Right.
Amelia Mosher (27:01)
We really just try to make sure that during kids hour we have an extra eye on things. Luckily, a lot of the parents that come in are pretty watchful. We always make sure that wherever the kid is in the cattery, the parent is with them. The parent has to stay with the kid at all times. Yeah.
Kristiina (27:05)
sure.
Yeah.
Okay, that's good.
Amelia Mosher (27:19)
It can be good for the cats too, because it gives them a chaperoned opportunity to interact with children. So that if they were adopted into a family that either has kids or is going to have kids at some point in the future, they have experience with that. A lot of our cats are also younger cats. We have a lot of kittens and I've noticed that the kittens actually play really well with the kids. They do. And they love playing together. It's funny. It's like watching just like two kids play, but like both cats.
Kristiina (27:26)
Mm-hmm.
Oh yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (27:47)
I love watching the kids and the kittens play. I think it's adorable. And it's great for them and it's great for the kid too because they're learning how to interact gently with an animal. But yeah, I think as long as long as it's chaperoned really well and everyone's kind of keeping a close eye on things because you know kids don't have full control over their little bodies yet, it's good to make sure everyone's being watched but I think it can be a great experience for both the kid and the cat.
Kristiina (27:55)
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I agree. And I always say that cats are such amazing teachers of consent that they're really great to have in a family with little kids, because kids learn all about asking for consent for a million different things. Because if you don't, you're sure going to learn with a cat. So.
Amelia Mosher (28:28)
Yeah. And if a cat is like, I don't like kids, no kids whatsoever, like I'm feeling it, they just go into their back room and they, yeah, they just leave and they don't have to hang out with any kids at
Kristiina (28:33)
Yeah. Yeah, they just leave.
So can you share some insights into how the cats communicate with each other and with the people in the cat cafe?
Amelia Mosher (28:46)
So I feel like it's always fun to watch the cats who have been there for a little bit longer interact with the new cats.
Kristiina (28:53)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (28:55)
Thanks for watching!
But that made me think like we have this one cat named Sunny. I was also thinking of Sunny. Yes, Sunny, he is so small. He is probably almost a year, if not just about a year. But he's still like very like kitten size. But whenever he comes up to the upper cattery where we have most of our newer cat cats and kittens, he still acts like, no, I'm the baby. This is this is my home. I'm the baby. And I don't I don't like you because you're now the new baby. And it's just really funny.
Kristiina (29:03)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (29:24)
Then the funny thing about him is that within two weeks he will be like snuggling Oh yeah, he'll like totally be like, oh wait. Right, cuddled up. Like he loves other cats. They each have their own like such individual personalities. It's very different. See how they interact with all the new cats. Eventually everybody does usually end up getting along. But the intros are always funny.
Kristiina (29:36)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
How long does a cat normally stay at the cafe? Do you have a rough estimate of how long?
Amelia Mosher (29:55)
Anywhere from like two weeks to a year. It really just depends on the cat and the situation. I'd say on average probably no more than three months. Yeah, that's the average. It's probably like the rough average, but it really, it totally depends. Yeah.
Kristiina (30:02)
Great.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (30:10)
Sometimes it's we have a lot of bonded pairs and it can be harder to adopt out the bonded pairs than the single and so usually when we have a cat stay for more than Three or so months. It's either because they are in a bonded pair with somebody else or You know just any random the reason that you can think of honestly It's just it's totally or if they're just like not quite a kitten if they're a little yeah like more of an adult cat You know, unfortunately people kittens always go fast
Kristiina (30:15)
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (30:39)
Yeah, the long haired cats always go fast. Yeah. The tabby black and white cats will stay the longest. Yeah.
Kristiina (30:39)
Mm-hmm. Yep. It's so funny. Really? What a shame because black and white cats are the coolest.
Amelia Mosher (30:50)
I know. We have so many of them. I have one of them. Yes.
Kristiina (30:52)
Ugh, that was my like, my soulmate was Steve who just passed like six months ago. He was the one who loved toddlers and like he used speech buttons and he was like really famous online. Um, but he, yes, Steve, um, he is a tuxedo and he was just the coolest, coolest dude. Um,
Amelia Mosher (31:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kristiina (31:11)
So dumb. People are so dumb. But yeah, I have also noticed in my rescue work that yeah, kittens, people want kittens right away. They want like fancy looking cats. And I find the kittens and fancy looking cats tend to be. I don't want to say the most annoying cats have a definitely kittens will put you through it. And they're cute because they have to be cute. Otherwise you would like, yeah, they're so obnoxious.
Amelia Mosher (31:30)
Oh yeah. Yeah, teenagers. It is totally a little sad. It is having a little two-year-old running around your house. Yeah.
Kristiina (31:37)
Yeah, it's just they have to be cute because they're like wrecking everything in your house. You have to train them everything, you know, like it's such a lot of work. And then the long haired cats I love and we just adopted one who just showed up again in our yard and he was like our fourth TNR of this year already, which is crazy. And he just got along really well with our all our guys who were in like real grief over Steve. So we were like, all right, I guess you're saying, but he's a long haired guy and the sanitary shaves and the constant brushing and
Amelia Mosher (32:04)
She's got a long hair. I have a long hair cat, so I understand. Yeah, I have to use like, yeah, I have to use like wipes on him sometimes. Brushing. Love him so much. Yeah. Love you guys.
Kristiina (32:07)
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a lot of work. Whereas, of course, and I love Butters. He's like my dude, but it's just, yeah, it's funny. I thought Butters was a unique name, and then I went to go make him an Instagram, and boy did I learn everyone names their butter-colored cat Butters. And I was like, oh, there's like 500 Butters already. Oh, well, this is not a unique name at all, but.
Amelia Mosher (32:26)
Love you, butters. Bye.
Yeah.
It's still super cute. I love any cat that's named after food.
Kristiina (32:41)
Yeah, he's actually, he's actually, he's named after food, but he's also named after butters from South Park.
Amelia Mosher (32:46)
Oh, yeah, that's good.
Kristiina (32:47)
is have you observed any interesting or unusual behavioral patterns or quirks among the cats that you would like to share with listeners? Like do they do anything funny because they're in the cafe? does their particular cat have a funny behavior?
Amelia Mosher (33:01)
Panini and Martini come to mind. Yes, they're a special bunch. So they are, yeah, seeing them, right? I did, yes, with some help from one of our other coworkers. But Martini and Panini have been with us for about a year now, since they were little kittens. And these two are.
Kristiina (33:04)
Great names, by the way.
Amelia Mosher (33:22)
hilarious. Like we love them so much. They were actually on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and they were, they had, they're such teenage boys. They have a lot of energy.
Kristiina (33:28)
Oh.
Mmm.
Amelia Mosher (33:35)
These two are like, they're amazing. They're so funny. And they just have so much teen boy energy and they're looking for a home where they can just kind of have fun and like, you know, someone who's looking to have fun with these guys. That can keep up with your energy. Yeah, with their energy.
Kristiina (33:50)
Right.
So it sounds like they need probably a lot of intellectual and environmental stimulation too. So maybe if somebody has like a bird feeder or a great place where they can like watch birds, that would be great. Somebody who's home a lot, maybe. Have you guys ever used one of those cat wheels that cats can run on? I don't know if someone wants... Well, maybe someone can sponsor you guys to get one. If...
Amelia Mosher (33:56)
Yeah, definitely.
I really wish we had one. We should get one. That was fun! I want to get Martini and Panini a cat wheel. Yeah.
Kristiina (34:18)
Yeah, exactly. You know, anything to get them like running around a lot like good environmental modification in their home like.
I think all cats deserve a lot of environmental and intellectual stimulation. It's really good for them just because they're all kind of OCD, you know, and they're meant to be outside hunting for like 10 hours a day. But since they're not, And so it really is helpful if we can get their energy out so they don't destroy things or inappropriately toilet or any of the other
Amelia Mosher (34:30)
Yeah.
Kristiina (34:45)
that they do that people find annoying. I can't talk. Anyway, can you tell me a little bit about the adoption process? Like if people come in and they're like, I wanna adopt Panini and Martini, what would they do?
Amelia Mosher (34:58)
Yeah, so we work with two rescue groups, so the process is a little bit different depending on which cat you would be interested in adopting. Martini and Panini are with Rescue NYC, so for Rescue NYC, you would send an email in to info at rescuenyc.org, and then you just say that you're interested in adopting Martini and Panini or whichever cat.
And then the rescue will get back in contact with you. For both rescues, they are volunteer only, so the response times can vary just depending on how busy people are, what people are swamped with at the moment. But usually in about a week, they'll probably get back to you and start talking to you about the adoption application.
For rescue NYC you inquire about the application and then they send it to you With angelical the application is on their website. So you could just submit the application right through there And I think that's just angelicalcats.com
Kristiina (35:54)
And so then if they approve you, they come to you guys, to Koneko and you hang out with the cats some more, you get to know them more, you just come and pick them up. Like how does that work? Right.
Amelia Mosher (36:06)
So we do meet and greets. So if people are approved to adopt, then they'll come and do a meet and greet and just kind of sit with the cat and make sure everyone gets along well and everything's good. And then if everything is all set, then we'll actually bring the cat to the adopters. So we'll yeah we'll support them there.
Kristiina (36:11)
Mm-hmm.
Great. OK. All right, lovely. Oh, these are some listener questions. How do you manage parasites? Do you treat all the cats monthly, or is that something that you just have the rescue organizations handle along with the vaccinations? And.
Amelia Mosher (36:40)
So they all get...
flea and tick medicine once a month, just preventatively. We don't really have any issues with fleas or anything like that, just because the rescues do such a good job vetting the cats before they bring them to us. And a lot of the time, most of the times they've, they're coming from foster homes where it's a flea-free situation already. So yeah, it's not really an issue. We also do dewormers routinely also, especially if we're noticing anyone's having
Kristiina (36:50)
Sure.
Right.
Amelia Mosher (37:09)
crazy feeding frenzy habits or weight loss or anything like that will just do like a routine dewormer. But parasites aren't a huge issue with us just because everyone has kind of been through the vet a bunch of times before it happened to us.
Kristiina (37:12)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Yeah. And I mean, the flea and tick medications, depending on which one you're using, a lot of those are also dewormers at the same time, or at least have some deworming
Amelia Mosher (37:28)
Yeah.
Kristiina (37:33)
then do you leave the cats alone at night is another listener question.
Amelia Mosher (37:37)
Yeah, some of the cats, they are left alone at night. Some of them are in the upstairs cattery and then the rest of them are in the downstairs cattery, you know, kind of just like locked in there, but free roaming. And cameras on them all night. Yeah, we have cameras as well. And I'm sure that's probably when they are the most active.
Kristiina (37:50)
Yeah.
Right.
Amelia Mosher (37:59)
And yeah, then somebody comes in the morning and feeds them and yeah, they're left to party all night long. I really should. We really should. There was an article, I think it was some...
Kristiina (38:06)
Yeah, you guys should stream that footage. Could charge a subscription to that.
Amelia Mosher (38:16)
camera like an overnight, I don't know if it was like some type of nest camera or something like that. Some type of they set a camera up overnight and they filmed all the cats running around. So that's out there somewhere if you look up like Koneko cat overnight camera. Something like that. I'm not sure. That's out there. Yeah. You can see them running around.
Kristiina (38:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mm. Mm-hmm.
So cute. I'm just thinking of like additional income streams. I don't know why I'm just like, you could set that up and charge people.
Amelia Mosher (38:41)
Yeah, I mean, we could totally. We should. Yeah. I would love to see it too. Yeah.
Kristiina (38:45)
Yeah, I mean, I feel like I would definitely, because I never go to sleep till like four in the morning. So I feel like I would be like, Oh, let's watch some cat. Not that I don't have my own cats to just get up and watch, but like, I'd like to watch some strange cats run around. Okay. And so lastly, um, well, actually there's two more, I guess. What role do you think cat cafes play in promoting animal welfare and adoption?
Amelia Mosher (38:49)
Yes.
Yeah. Really? Yeah.
Yeah, so I mean, I think it's just a good experience for people to have just like hanging around cats and I think cats can teach us a lot of things, especially about consent. But and just just, it's just interesting to see how they like live life. And I think when people are exposed to
cats just going about their day. I think it's, I don't know, I, to me, like it's, it's very, it's very interesting just to see like how cats live and stuff. But yeah, it's also of course, like we are there to make you fall in love with the cats. So you want to bring them home because all of these cats are so deserving of a nice little home.
Kristiina (39:44)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (39:50)
that they can be there forever and be happy. Yeah. Yeah, I think. Um.
Kristiina (39:54)
Your cat agreed. Meow.
Amelia Mosher (39:58)
I definitely agree with everything you said. And it's also, I think it's great for them to have an environment while they're waiting for adoption that's not a shelter environment and an environment that is specifically curated for them. Like it's not a cat living in a person's house, even if it's a foster house, it's a cat living in a house made for a cat. And it's a whole space designed just for them. They can hang out and you can kind of, you know, as you're looking at cats, looking for cats to adopt, you can see how the cat.
Kristiina (40:05)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (40:26)
interacts with its own environment and is kind of in its most comfortable place already. Yeah, it's great socialization as well. Way better than a shelter. Exactly. Shelters are great, but way better than sitting in a cage all day.
Kristiina (40:34)
Absolutely.
No, it's true.
I don't think I could ever work in a cat cafe because...
Amelia Mosher (40:41)
You know, it's hard. Yeah. It's hard to not like fall in love with them and want to take them home. There's been cats that have been through that's like, I want to, I want to take this one home. Yeah, it's hard, but it's, it's worth it. You know, it's, it's sad when they go to their new homes for us, because we've gotten to know them so well and we love them. And I think it, to some degree, at least for me, I don't want to speak for you, but I think of all of them as my cats. Oh, absolutely. Um, and it's hard to, you know, be like, well, I'm, I have this strong bond with you and I'm probably
Kristiina (40:46)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Amelia Mosher (41:11)
gonna see you again, but there's something so beautiful about being like and now you're gonna have the best life ever. Exactly. And like I'm so glad that I got to know you because it's like it's like being a teacher and having like your favorite students graduating and it's like well I'm not gonna see you again but I'm so proud of you.
Kristiina (41:22)
Mm-hmm.
That's true. That's a good way to look at it. Although I will say when we do rescue work, I do always try to keep in touch with the people who have adopted so that at least like once a year we can get an update as to how the cat is doing. And with some of them, the people will text me every few days with like, here's a new picture or whatever, you know, or they'll start a social media for the cat, which I love, because then I can stalk them, you know, and follow along.
Amelia Mosher (41:39)
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Kristiina (41:52)
So the last question I have is, are there any misconceptions about cat cafes that you would like to address or clarify?
Amelia Mosher (41:59)
Hmm. That's a really good question. That is a good question,
A lot of people think that we do same day adoptions. And we do not do same day adoptions for a very important reason. It's because vetting before you adopt is really important because there are some people out there that don't have good intentions when they're adopting cats. So we know people want to take home their best friend as soon as possible right away. But, you know, it's for the best for the cat and for the person, you know, we have to make sure
Kristiina (42:09)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Mosher (42:30)
it's a good match. Your potential 20 years of living with another living being in your own home, like it can't be a same day thing all the time. That's more of an adoption, I think, misconception than a cat cafe misconception specifically. But I think since we have all the cats right there, people often think that they'll be able to take them home same day. And that would be great, but it happens like that for a reason.
Kristiina (42:30)
Right.
Right.
Yeah. And also I think to that point, like people need to have their homes prepared. They have to kind of cat proof their home. They need to, I would recommend they get some type of pheromone going to get the cat like relax. You know, they just need to, they need to be prepped. I don't think it's a choice you can just make on the spur of the moment. So I, I get it.
Amelia Mosher (43:15)
Absolutely.
Like we have had people before think that this is like a little playdate center for their cat as well. So they have brought in their cat. We have had people bring in their cats. Think that it's like a little daycare for their cats and bring in their cat and they can have a fun little time. Um, and that is absolutely not the case.
Kristiina (43:28)
Oh!
Oh no!
Amelia Mosher (43:39)
Yeah, you can't just throw it. Even we don't just throw them in. Yeah, yeah. It's a process. Like, we don't know, like, I'm sure your cat is lovely, but we don't know where you have been, where your cat has been. Like, we don't know if they're going to get along. Like, there's so many things that it's like, no way. But yeah, it has happened more than you would think. Someone has, someone dropped their cat off with us once.
for us to, I don't know if they thought we were cat babysitters, but they opened the door, tossed a cat in and went around the corner to park their scooter. They did come back. They did come back. But they thought it was, they were like, I'm just gonna like think that, you know, drop my cat at the cat cafe while I go around the corner. Yeah. So yeah, that's a misconception is we have the cats. You leave your cat at home. Yeah. That's, I think, the craziest thing.
Kristiina (44:23)
Like, don't these people who I would be like if these people met a cat, but they have a cat so like what just good luck to everybody in their endeavors. I just that is wild behavior.
Amelia Mosher (44:39)
tough out there sometimes.
Kristiina (44:38)
Okay.
Yeah, people are crazy. Okay, so I think that's all the questions, unless you guys have anything you would like to add.
Amelia Mosher (44:48)
I think so. I think we've, you know, cat-ed it up. I think we've covered it.
Kristiina (44:52)
Okay, well I want to say a big thank you to Amelia and Veronica from Koneko and thank you for correcting me for mispronouncing This lovely cat cafe's name for the past nine years like a total moron
Amelia Mosher (45:00)
your queries.
Okay, Andy Cohen said it the same way. Yeah, Andy Cohen and you were...
Kristiina (45:11)
All right, well, thank you guys so much again. And
Amelia Mosher (45:13)
Thank you.
Kristiina (45:14)
thank you so much for making time on your Sunday I really appreciate it. Yay! Alright, thank you guys and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Okay, alright, bye!
Amelia Mosher (45:17)
Thank you! You're amazing! Yeah, this was so fun! Thanks so much for having us! Yeah! Thanks you too! Great to have you back! Bye!