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The
Ailuromania Cat Cafe, which was the Middle East's first cat cafe
when it opened in 2015, hopes the relaxing properties of its 25
rescue and shelter cats will help find them their forever homes.
"Anyone who is stressed just has to find a cat. All your stress
will go away," said Omnia Fareed, whose two cat-loving sisters
Allaa and Iman started the cafe after university, taking
inspiration from similar establishments in Korea and London.
The cafe's original residents were strays taken in by the family
over the years. Now Ailuromania hosts cats from a government-run
animal shelter in the neighbouring emirate of Ras al Khaimah,
hoping to increase adoptions.
The cafe's name Ailuromania is a play on the Greek-derived
English word for a lover of cats: ailurophile.
The cafe has regular customers who come seeking relaxation from
the stresses of life, or because they cannot keep a cat at home.
"They are so cute, they love playing," said visitor Shaasthra.
She said she appreciates how the cafe looks after the cats'
welfare by advising people not to hold them or wake them up.
Another regular visitor, a street cat who would stare in through
the window, was also invited and eventually adopted.
Since Dubai began lifting coronavirus lockdown measures last
summer, the cafe re-opened with capacity and sanitisation
restrictions.
Dubai has a large number of stray cats, with many abandoned on
the streets by their owners. In 2018 UAE authorities made it
illegal to abandon animals, but animal welfare activists in
Dubai have for years called for a large-scale
trap-neuter-release scheme and feeding programmes to bring
numbers down humanely.
In August, Dubai municipality issued a circular restating a
policy of fining anyone caught feeding strays, saying it
increases the spread of diseases.
(Reporting by Tarek Fahmy, Abdelhadi Ramahi, Lisa Barrington;
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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