Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: June 26, 2023 by Crystal Uys
Cat cafés have become fairly common around the world, but I still took note when I saw a recent report about one opening in my hometown. Happy Cat’s Café and Trattoria opened in Stuttgart, Germany in February. After reading a report about the café, I just had to find out more about it and got in touch with owner Daniel Di Stefano.
Daniel’s wife Miya is from China, where cat cafés are plentiful. The couple have 13 cats. Daniel was looking for a less stressful job, so he and Miya decided to “make our hobby our job.”
Unlike cat cafés in the US, the two cats currently roaming Happy Cat’s Café and Trattoria are not up for adoption, but are Daniel and Miya’s own cats. Blue, a Persian/MaineCoon/Birman mix and Spooky, an Oriental Shorthair, are, in Daniel’s words, their “most quiet and handsome” cats. “They really enjoy having someone pet them or play with them all day,” he said.
The café menu features an ecletic mix of items influenced by Daniels’s Italian and Miya’s Chinese heritage. Items offered range from tomato and miso soup to piadina (Italian flatbread) sandwiches and Asian dumplings. They also offer a variety of cakes and pastries from an Italian bakery.
The café has strict rules for visitors: while petting and playing is encouraged, guests are not allowed to pick the cats up or feed them human food. Visitors are asked to be quiet, and to not wake the cats if they’re napping. Flash photography is prohibited. Each cat has his own litter box, and they can retreat to a room that’s off limits to guests if they’ve had enough company.
Happy Cat’s Café and Trattoria are hoping to offer a larger menu and include their main dish, Flammkuchen, a type of thin-crust pizza, in 12 different savory and sweet varieties.
I haven’t been back to my hometown in a very long time, but if I ever make it back, I’ll definitely visit Happy Cat’s Café and Trattoria.
For more information about Happy Cat’s Café and Trattoria, visit their website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
