Dallas's Very First Cat Cafe Is Now in the Planning Stages

The odd phenomenon that is cat cafes is sweeping the nation, and it was only a matter of time until it landed right here in Dallas. That's right, DFW's first feline-oriented coffee shop could soon be a reality.

According to the Muffinmeow Café and Cat Lounge Facebook page, the project is "still in the very early stages of starting up." The official Muffinmeow website reveals that the concept is "looking to move into one of a few neighborhoods in downtown Dallas."

Muffinmeow explains its concept thusly:

Simply put, a cat café is exactly how it sounds — a space where you can sip a cup of coffee or tea while enjoying the company of several furry felines. You pay a fee for entrance which buys you a beverage of your choice and an hour in kitty heaven. ... The inspiration for our café came from rainy afternoons in late May which we spent huddled up over lattes in a small cat café in Osaka, Japan. The living room atmosphere and the presence of sixteen various cats in varying states of consciousness brings back the sort of calm and sleepy memories that are hard to reproduce here in the United States. We hope to bring a similar experience to our future patrons and are excited to show you the things that inspire us along the way.

The proposed cafe menu would include brewed coffee as well as espresso drinks, and various sweet and savory pastries such as Nutella rolls and pizza muffins. All the cats would also be available for adoption, for patrons who fall in furry love over a latte.

With cat cafes already up and running in cities like New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Montreal, and Denver — not to mention one on the way for Austin — it's a wonder that a cat-obsessed entrepreneur hasn't yet seized the opportunity to open one here. In fact, cat cafes have seemingly become commonplace enough that other animal cafes have begun popping up: Tokyo has an owl cafe and the world's most hideous animal, the blobfish, will soon have its own cafe in London.