Stories — The Neighbor's Cat

The Cat Cafes of Eastern Europe & the Baltics: Part I

As a traveler, I have found Europe to be amongst the best places in the world to visit. All the things we travel for: history, culture and food abound and simply wandering its streets makes one feel so enlightened and positively civilized.

As a budget traveler, however, Europe presents a challenge. Such refinement comes at a cost and makes Europe, especially Western Europe an expensive destination. Eastern Europe and the Baltics offer all of the charm, plus better affordability.

This includes the cat cafes.

Paula LaBineJanuary 6, 2019

The Five Best Cat Cafes of Taipei

Taiwan has long been a destination for cat lovers, ever since the first cat café, Cat Flower Garden (now called Café Dogs & Cats), opened its doors in Taipei in 1998. Since then, the trend has swept across Japan with the rest of the world recently catching on.

The country has remained a steady presence on the cat café scene with plenty of options to get your kitty fix, from traditional cat cafes to regular cafes with a shop cat, and even cafes that feature adoptable felines.

Paula LaBineDecember 4, 2018

The Cat Cafes of California: Part II

Southern California is famous for many things- the sunny weather, the ocean, Disneyland, Hollywood to name a few. There are drawbacks as well- earthquakes, traffic and high cost of living among them, but seemingly not enough to reduce the appeal.

So Cal is also home to several well-known cat cafes, and since they feature rescue cats available for adoption, it’s all attraction and zero drawback.

Paula LaBineNovember 15, 2018

The Cat Cafes of California: Part I

California often sets the trends in the US and so it’s not surprising that the first cat cafe started here. California also leads the way when it comes to animal welfare, but I was surprised to learn that the first cat cafe to open in the US also pioneered the socialization technique used in most rescue and adoption focused cat cafes around the world.

The Neighbor’s Cat visited seven cat cafes in May, 2018. Today, we feature four outstanding locations in and near the Bay area- Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco and Napa.

Paula LaBineOctober 28, 2018

The Cat Cafes of Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia occupies a long peninsula just south of Thailand with its capital city Kuala Lumpur somewhere in the middle. KL, as its commonly referred to, is a city filled with skyscrapers and mosques, offering up a memorable combination of history and the future.

But there was one aspect of KL that was especially unforgettable- its amazing cat cafes.

Paula LaBineOctober 16, 2018

The Coolest Cat Cafe Names

Cat cafe names are known for being cute, but with nearly 700 of them globally, it’s inevitable that a few will stand out as exceptionally clever.

Dare I say, they might even be considered cool?

Paula LaBineOctober 13, 2018

Special Guest Post: This is Cat Country

I’m pleased to announce a new series of guest posts here at The Neighbor’s Cat, and the first up is a story featuring cats from the recently released book Formosa Moon.

One part memoir, one part travel guide, and completely entertaining, Formosa Moon features the cultural journey of an American expat couple living in Taiwan.

Paula LaBineSeptember 30, 2018

The Cat Cafes of Singapore

In the lead up to our Six-Asian-Cities-In-Six-Weeks whirlwind cat cafe tour, I was especially looking forward to Singapore.

Known for its glittering skyline, steamy climate and melting pot of citizenry, this wealthy city/country offers so much to see and do that I was worried that Singapore’s cat cafes would have difficulty measuring up.

Paula LaBineSeptember 29, 2018