Catopia — Local services in Richmond

I'm giving this place a 2 star only cause i feel like it can improve on a lot of things to make it better. Maybe cause there's really no other places like it so it doesn't really bother to improve. I went on one of their "dog cafe" days where it's only dogs. Right away when we entered, we have no idea what was going on cause the owner/manager didn't greet us so we just stood before the door waiting to see what's supposed to happen. The place also smelled of very strong cat litter, so some air freshener would have been beneficial. We kind of just sat around and start playing with some dogs. It would be great if they did some beginning orientation to introduce the dog's names or what we should or shouldn't do. They have snacks for the dogs but you need to pay $25 for a jar of snacks. They should instead just give each patron some snacks to give and can purchase more if they wanted. Because as soon as one person bought it, the dogs only care about that one person/pair and the other 5 pairs are just standing around watching. I can only imagine how much snacks the dogs eat this way which just doesn't seem that healthy, especially when one or two of the dogs are just snatching up all the snacks. So for majority of the time, if you didn't buy the snacks, you basically wouldn't get to play with the dogs. The owner/manager just said some of the dogs did tricks and said there's food and drinks if you wanted to purchase, then just went back to slouch behind her chair where you can't really see her or vice versa. I find it strange they serve food when they don't offer you a working restroom which i didn't think was allowed for vendors. Even when one of the dogs was just constantly trying to hump this little girl, the owner didn't do anything. Overall it's an interesting experience, but I wouldn't go again or really recommend...

Highly recommend visiting

Things to mention about our experience .

1. Fantastic customer service. I had been looking for a location to bring my son as he loves cats and ours passed away, but everywhere seems to be 5yrs+. This locations website didnt say so I reached out asking about my 2yrs old and got an immediate reply even though it was late at night. They said his age wasnt a problem long as he was monitored by an adult and he would still be full price. They also said that while walk ins are welcome, they do encourage prebooking your visit as the location is fairly small. Additionally while physically at the location today the female working was very sweet, and welcoming to my son. She even helped introduce him to a more shy cat.
2. Treats available for purchase range from $1-16, pending the size/amount of treats and what they are made from. You can also bring the rest home.
3. Cat toys and personal slippers are provided and there is also lysol, lint rollers, and handsanitizer all available for personal use at no charge.
4. Cats were very even tempered and food motivated.
5. We were lucky and had the location mostly to ourselves (except for a few minutes at the beginning and end of our visit). It was lovely to have the space to sit on the floor with the cats and teach my son about them.

Things to note: it is a smaller location and they do have a limit of patrons so I would recommend prebooking, but walk-ins are welcome...also they prefer cards (debit/credit) to cash. All the best to you and your family...

Very disappointing experience. I am a licensed vet tech with several years of vetmed experience and I have many concerns for this place. I came with my family and first thing we noticed walking in was the smell. The place was not sanitary or clean, although the litter boxes were kept in the back the smell came from the cats themselves. The cats were matted, emancipated, and very poorly kept. There are several cats with poop matted into their fur and you can see their ribs on most cats. Another concerning issue, there was one girl that is HEAVILY pregnant who should NOT be out in the area where people can socialize with her. She looked like she was ready to pop out babies anyday now and she should be kept in a comfortable location that does not have a lot of foot traffic. In addition, we were not introduced to any of the cats and was simply told to read the instructions on the sheet and walk in ourselves after changing into used slippers that are not cleaned between persons. And during our time there, one of the cat was howling with distress noises trying to get out of the socialization room into the back, but the worker simply moved the cat back to where everyone was. The entire experience was very disappointing, we did not order any food or drink because we did not feel the place was sanitary at all. We only stayed for 20 mins of the hour reservation we had. I wish we had a better experience as an animal lover but I am truly concerned for the cats within the cafe for...