The Kitty Café in Nottingham is every cat lovers dream. Imagine going for a relaxed coffee or a chilled out lunch with friends except when you look up there are cats climbing all over the walls, upholstery and in general everywhere!

The idea of having a café where people can also enjoy the company of cats first stemmed from Japan but is now a unique UK trend. The first cat café to open in the UK was Lady Dinahs Cat Emporium which first opened in London in 2014 and since then cafes have sprung up in Newcastle, Edinburgh and of course Nottingham.

The café was like a luxury hotel for cats with high beam walkways all around the edge of the walls, cat beds and toys scattered around the floor and extravagant cat scratchers to satisfy every claw. Not to mention the cats seemed to love being around the people, it was obvious they all were extremely loved and cared for by everybody.

As I no longer own any pets (Both my cats unfortunately passed away years ago) it was a really lovely experience to be able to interact with the animals and play with them as if they were my own. I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels this way as well. The cafe is perfect if you don't own a pet but still love animals. Additionally, They had  a wide range of food and drink on their menu including vegetarian and vegan options which was an added bonus! The cafe even provided umbrellas to protect your food from the paws of hungry cats! They really have thought of everything.

What makes The Kitty Café different from the rest however is the fact that they also offer a rehoming scheme for all the cats they rescue. All the cats that live at the café have been rescued from abandonment, neglect or are unwanted pets so the thought that they can get a second chance at life in a new home is lovely. In total there were 27 cats living there when we visited but 10 of these were permanent residents so that the cats can keep a group structure and stop any confusion amongst them.

Out of these residents, one cat in particular that caught my eye was toffee, a tabby cat with an adorably squashed face! She was sat peacefully in the corner of the café for most of the visit curled up in one of the many cat bed scattered around.  I just wanted to take her home there and then! Unfortunately for me though Toffee will never be rehomed and remain in the comfort of the café for the rest of her life.

There are however lots of other cats that are in need of homes. Elliott Reed, manager of The Kitty Café explained how you can go about adopting one of the cats.

He said:  “To adopt a cat we like people to come into the café first, we do get a lot of requests via facebook and email but we don’t want people to go purely on the looks of a cat.

 If they meet a particular cat they like and it’s suited to their family environment, we require people to register an interest in the cat by filling a form out. If that’s all successful we then arrange for that person to come back and visit again in two or three weeks’ time just to double check they’re still interested.

Following that we then do a home visit to see what the area is like and if there are any hazards about that could endanger the cat. We then will arrange a meeting with a member of our cat team to go through the individual needs of the cat and then we can organise a date for the adoption. Generally we rehome around ten a month.”

For more information about The Kitty Café, or if you're interested in adopting a cat visit their website.