Catopia Cat Cafe — Restaurant in Albuquerque

You pays your money, you pets some cats, what's not to like? I think they had 19 there last time I went so you are bound to find a few that want to be your friend. The cats are all adoptable if you are looking for that it is a good way to spend some time interacting -- but it is also definitely a wonderful place to go if you want to just spend some time with cats without having one as a pet, and your fee goes to a good cause, for the kitties. The cats are selected to be ones that will do well in the Cat Cafe environment, pretty friendly and mellow.

Recommended making a reservation online, they are limited in capacity and there were just a few other customers. (They only allow human customers, DON'T bring your own cat.) The reservations are for 50 minutes, which feels like the right amount of time to spend hanging out with cats. It is all one room but feels very spacious, there are plenty of tucked away a little corners where you can hang out with a cat by yourself. Also lots of seating options for humans, two sofas, tables with chairs, and an area with low furniture and a nice carpet. There are also lots of options for the cats on site to lounge and explore, so all that is very cute.

Masks required, and they also require you wash your hands when you arrive. Lint rollers are provided for you to tidy up your clothing before leaving if you wish. The humans on staff keep everything very clean, really it is amazingly clean!! The level of cleanliness is basically like a model home, if not for the cats themselves and the cat toys you wouldn't even realize there were cats around.

There is kind of a double door entry to the business which might be a little awkward if you haven't seen that sort of thing before... How it works is you step into the entryway and the exterior door must close before the interior door is able to be opened, to keep the cats from escaping. When you leave it is the reverse process. It takes only a few seconds longer than it otherwise would to go through the entryway. The entryway is roomy, if you have multiple people attending you can easily all step into it at once. It is all glass from floor to ceiling, so it does not feel cramped at all.

There are some cat themed items for sale, little gift items and some cat toys to take home. Pre-pandemic, they used to sell some packaged snack items, I'm not sure if they have any food items available now perhaps just some bottled drinks -- but you certainly aren't required to purchase any food or drinks, I don't think I've ever seen anyone consuming any here. So despite the word cafe in the name, there's no need to worry that you'll feel you have to buy...

This was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in my adult life. After losing our family cat two years ago, we decided to go to catopia to revel in the feline energy. Finally excited to add a new member to our family. My son is Medically Fragile and took the loss of our cat very hard.

We do have additional members in our family such as our dogs, but nothing can truly ever take the place of a loving family cat. The woman who initially greeted us was warm and friendly, and even gave us a discount on one member of the family entrance fee. What an amazing and happy, so I thought experience this was going to be.

I sat at one of the tables as the children pondered over three potential candidates. How exciting to see them smile and laugh. I filled out the application, and after many discussions, the children had finally decided on the cat that was going to be a member of our family.

After I truthfully, answered the application and turned it into the lady who had initially helped us. Things went South!

I only want an indoor cat, but was truthful about having a sunroom dog door that entered into the outdoor garden. According to her, this was a dealbreaker, and I was going to have to let the kids down, knowing that we weren’t going to take the cat home that they had decided on. The woman continue to argue with me, belittling me, and making me feel as though I was not a loving home for a furry pet. I ended up, driving home with two crying children and a heart racing with sadness.

This was an act of discrimination. Not only to a dog owner, but to a child with autism. The emotional effects that had on my son were very difficult to work through that evening. I had expressed to the lady that the cat would be an indoor cat only! The cat would not be outside, and if we were to attend the backyard with the family, the cat would be supervised.

The lack of consideration, an approval for adoption for an elderly woman who was there at the same time I attended catopia, in a wheelchair, and the potential risks there were baffling! This is what fueled my fire to be upset. The potential for an elderly woman in a wheelchair who is not ambulatory to properly care for a cat seem to be much less than a family who has had cats previously and knows how to care for...

I am very Disappointed on when you get there you are greater by very friendly staff but they will discriminate and misspeak about you. This place is very uniformed about breeds of their cats they foster as I was in there last week looking at a Balinese Female Kitten that I’ve been looking for over 10 years as I do not shop I adopt and it’s very rare to find that animal in a shelter. I finally had my chance but unfortunately there was a “misunderstanding” “misheard” “misunderstood” “didn’t know the full story” as I was speaking to Stacy about the business I had when I was 13 where we breed and sold rats to a lot of shops when I lived in AZ. I had over 700 rats and when an unfortunate event happen where my mom was beaten by her husband and forced us to move from Surprise Az to Peoria AZ to where I needed to get rid of the rats. I told her I trade all my rats for a beautiful and loving Sphinx that I have today still. As well as she got so upset as I said a $200 adoption fee is too much as that’s where they just want to make money and she is the only one I met who’s disagreed with me on that. So now she told the adoption center that I was only looking at the Balinese because she’s a high ticket animal with no adoption fee as well as she couldn’t see how I would ever manage to have 700 rats and that I just “decided to not do it anymore” when I was forced to stop as my mother was in a very nasty divorce so that just hurt to know they don’t care about the full story. And for those who don’t know what a Balinese is as the people who work and own Catopia don’t know it’s a Domestic Cat mix with Siamese in a Grey/white long hair color with blue eyes. As I know she’ll put her argument down below just know I have all messages and proof of this “misunderstanding” it’s very sad to see a business like this not care about people’s true history and will only discriminate and judge you even though I am a 23 year old male who only adopts and has their own home which is owned not rented and unfortunately has been proven knows more about these animals than them. Very sad to see this happen and unfortunately I love the concept of their business but I will not be going again as now I know who...