I don’t deny I have issues.

I have compulsive urge to click [BOOK] on travel websites, the idea of spending any free days at home generates a nervous twitch in the eye.

Then there’s the issue of cats. My own, and other cats. Any cat that comes my way gets a coo’ing and I mean the full on head scratch and belly rub until the cat itself gets annoyed and walks a way that kind of coo’ing.

So combine my two issues you have one crazy cat lady that travels, and continue to be on a quest to find cat cafes wherever I go.

And then there’s the matter of visiting the original, the very first cat cafe in the world, and as it happens, just as I celebrated lunar new year in Taipei earlier this month, I found out that the first cat cafe is in… Taipei!

Of course it’s in Taipei. While the idea of renting animal companionship is fully Japanese, the recognised world’s first cat cafe is in fact, right here: Cafe Dogs & Cats.

As all first things go, they are generally not the best.

There are no fancy lounges or pretty cat trees… I certainly have been to more sophisticated, better furnished and cuter cat cafes in the world (Katzentempel in Munich for example), however it has a really homely, down-to-earth atmosphere to the cafe that I immediately felt like I’ve simply been invited over by a couple of friends for tea.

As soon as I ordered my coffee, I begin my tour of the resident felines.

There is nothing better than forcing your love onto these pompous and nonchalant purr- machines.

As its name suggests, Cafe Cats & Dogs is more than just a cat cafe.

The original idea included dogs too, for the family’s two adopted ex-strays work harder to please the customers than the cats themselves.

After a coffee, a few scratches and with plenty of fur stick to my jumper, I leave the cats be, and off to find another cat cafe to indulge my issues with.

Cafe Dogs & Cats
No. 129, Fuhua Rd., Shilin District,
Taipei
Nearest Metro station: Zhishan