Laugh. Learn. Love cats.
Cupcake: I heard you were going to be grinding chicken. I like chicken!
Cupcake: You don’t see a cat here. There is no cat here. Why are you telling the cat to get down from the counter?
Cupcake: Fine. I have important things to do like supervise the lawn guy. You missed a spot, lawn guy, come back!
If you’re visiting St. Louis like I was last week, it’s a great opportunity to visit the Mauhaus cat cafe. Housed in a lovely historic building that dates back to 1900, this friendly cafe is full of light and cats.
The sidewalk sign outside said it all. Hanging out with cats is a great stress reliever, and it’s nice when you’re far from home and your own cats.
When you enter the cat cafe through the cafe, a large painting looks over you and the friendly barista. The two culinary cats in the painting are the Mauhaus permanent residents, Lorelai and Taylor. All of the other cats in the cafe are adoptable through Stray Haven Rescue.
Before going through the glass doors and into the cattery, you can order a drink or a pastry. They had the cutest cat-themed cookies!
The cattery itself is built to delight cats. One wall is made entirely of a shelf unit designed for the cats to traverse from floor to ceiling, or ceiling to floor in Taylor’s case in this photo. He had been sleeping above the front windows and used the shelf system and its cat-sized pass-throughs to work his way down to visit.
The middle of the room has an massive cat tree stretching from the floor to the tin ceiling made of wood matching the wall unit. The cat tree leads to a catwalk that spans the room.
The catwalk stretches from the wall with the wall unit across to the cat tree and then continues to the edge of the big windows. Can you spot the cat snoozing on the catwalk?
Huge windows make this space a bright and sunny one. Cats were happily snoozing on beds placed on the broad windowsills in the early afternoon sunshine during my visit.
This kitty is named Catfish. He is wearing a collar to warn you that his tummy is a trap. I thought that was an interesting way of informing cafe visitors which cats were amenable to tummy rubs.
Taylor, the permanent resident cat, likes tummy rubs. Isn’t that a happy face?
Little Binx was eager to play with a wand toy. You can see in the background that the built-in wall units include hiding spaces for the cats. From what an employee said, they also have a basement space, away from cafe visitors.
Drowsy Turbo looked anything but fast.
Visiting a cat cafe mid-day means you are entering during cat siesta time and will find drowsy kitties. Cats crepuscular animals, meaning they are most active in the twilight morning and evening, and cafe cats can’t resist their genetically programmed urge to sleep during the middle of the day. It doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in your company. Pollo Loco, with typical cat priorities, was very interested in what kind of goodies he could find on the table.
Mauhaus is the most architecturally beautiful cat cafe I’ve visited, and one of the friendliest, too. They are a great stop when you are visiting St. Louis.
Ashton: Our human ate toast at her desk today. I got tired of waving for her to pinch pieces of toast off for me and grabbed a slice. This is mine now.
Ashton: Mine.
Newton: Hi, Ash.
Ashton: What are you looking at? Did you never seen toast in the bedroom before?
Newton: That’s a big piece of toast. Can I have some?
Ashton: Mine.
Cupcake: Is that toast? I thought I heard the toaster.
Ashton: Stop looking at my toast.
Newton: Now you know how Pierre feels when you stand next to him while he is eating and give his bowl the eye.
Cupcake: Make her look at you, Mr. Newton, and I’ll just–
Newton: I’ve got it, kid.
Ashton: My toast!
Newton: *lick lick*
Newton: Ugh, that’s dry. Nothing on it.
Cupcake: I can watch it for you while you go to the water bowl.
Cupcake’s track record with holiday-themed meet-and-greets hasn’t been great. She was afraid of Santa Claus in past years. But when we heard she had the chance to see the Easter Bunny, I thought she would do fine in her stroller after all of the strangers she met from it at Global Pet Expo.
She wasn’t sure what to make of the Easter Bunny’s mittened hands, but she sat in her stroller next to the big rabbit for photos.
Afterward, she stood up, and it seemed like she was ready to have another photo, so Cat Dad helped by picking her up and sitting with the Easter Bunny. Cupcake still didn’t approve of those bunny mittens.
Then there was a question about which direction to look for the camera. Not back there, Cupcake. That’s the adoption center! They aren’t taking photos there.
Cat Dad pointed out where to look for her.
Cupcake looked right at the camera for her big photo.
This modeling thing isn’t so hard!
