Kichijōji Petit Mura — Attraction in Tokyo

My initial expectations for animal welfare at Kichijoji Petit Mura were not unreasonable. I expected the cats to be tired as they are interacting with strangers all day. I expected the presence of “designer” cat breeds as this is a common practice in Asia. I expected some degree of inappropriate animal interaction; while the cafe thankfully has some rules in place, it is impossible to account for every situation.

Even with all these allowances, Kichijoji Petit Mura fell unacceptably short. As we entered the cafe to begin our hour long stay, we were immediately greeted by a lack of windows and ventilation. While many of the patrons would disturb the cats while they were sleeping (including grabbing paws, tails, poking to wake them up without worker reprimand), I will focus my review on the cats we did interact with, who were all awake.

As we opened a small container of chicken trips given to visitors at entry, a cat with a bell immediately attacked the chicken, knocking it over and attempting to hoard the food in its attempt to eat. The caretaker grabbed the cat by its collar and scolded us for feeding him, as guests are not allowed to feed the cats with bells (info is not divulged at entry).

This did not immediately raise alarm. Certain cats may have dietary restrictions, but we did notice that the cats were skinny for their breeds (different breeds are healthy at different weights, and the length and type of fur can make cats seem fatter than they are). My mom, who works extensively with stray cats, commented that this cat was hungrier than the strays she meets. And what was even more unusual was the next trait that we noticed- the only time the cats interacted with the patrons, was to beg for food.

Obviously, cats have different personalities. Not every cat loves people, not every cat wants to play all the time. Yet as we observed, the unfriendly behavior from the cats clearly came down to treatment, and not personality. This was evident when it came time for the workers to feed the cats. When the worker stood in the middle of the room with a tactile feeding toy (pets have to solve puzzles to access food, which can provide positive mental stimulation), all the awake cats began to crowd around the workers. It did not seem like any of the cats had attachment to the caretakers; again, while this can boil down to personality, the probability of about eight cats, having no attachment to their caretakers, seemed unusual. The worker would place a single piece of dry food (about a bit bigger than a mint) within the toy, and the cats would have to solve the puzzle to retrieve it.

As the cats competed, we noticed something odd. Almost all of the cats engaged in the performance had bells. Why would an extremely hungry cat with dietary restrictions not be allowed to eat chicken, but be encouraged to compete over a single piece of highly processed food? Throught the performance, a pattern became startlingly clear. The cats with the bells were smart. In contrast to the other cats, the cats with the bells would put on a show as they solved the puzzles far faster than the others. And as we observed other cats flock around the tactile food puzzles, we counted amongst them cat breeds which are known to have significant health issues and extremely short lives due to the characteristics for which they are bred. One of them was a munchkin cat, known for its short legs. It could not take two steps without having to stop walking, yet it persisted in order to try to compete amongst the many others for those single pieces of dry food. Make of this “performance” what you will.

Even despite all these conditions, I do not regret my experience at Kichijoji Petit Mura because I am now able to document in detail for others the status of animal welfare at this cafe. As you plan your visit to Kichijoji, please make an informed decision as to whether or not to visit this...

Very cute looking cafe environment with ghibli-like structures but cats didn’t seem too happy or as well taken cafe of; complete opposite of what the environment entailed.

Staff were initially nonchalant and slightly passive-aggressive in explaining to us the rules with a brochure written in Chinese until we told her “no we want the English one” and suddenly she started acting more friendly and enthusiastically; and made the effort to have the occasional small talk during the visit.

It’s not uncommon to be treated rudely in a really passive manner when you’re assumed to be a mainland Chinese tourist but definitely still disappointing to experience despite the positive change in attitude after telling her we aren’t Chinese. Funny but sad if you think about it cuz we Asians aren’t really that different visually or culturally.

Aside from that, they could definitely improve how the cats are being taken care of as it was quite depressing to see a beautiful place like this be tarnished by the gloomy cats. I’m not saying they have be energetic throughout the day but as a regular fellow cat owner, you can clearly tell the poor management this place has. I’ve seen places 10x worse looking that had the happiest and cutest cats and I would still give that place a great rating...

Love the place! I recommend making a reservation if you want to come here as it can get pretty popular. I came here at the opening time so we got a table without a reservation.

There’s three different areas within this little ‘village’. There’s a restaurant on the left, the cat cafe if you go straight ahead and a shop you can reach on the right by going up the stairs.

I visited the cat cafe. The mochi hotdog was really good along with a caramel drink. You can pay for food to feed the cats. All cats, except one, can be petted. The staff told us what the unapproachable cat is wearing so we can avoid getting scratched. You can stay as long as you want in the cat cafe, but you need to pay extra for any food and drinks.

The shop is fairly small but still has a lot of cute things for sale, like keychains and postcards. No photos are allowed inside.

I don’t know what it’s like inside the restaurant as I didn’t eat there.

Petit mura is a nice place and I highly...