Surprise! Cat cafe fails health inspection miserably

People love cats. People love paying too much for coffee and pastries. It seems like a match made in heaven, but health inspectors have their doubts.

That was the verdict of the Washington D.C. Department of Health last month when they temporarily shut down the city’s first-ever cat café for failing an inspection. Crumbs and Whiskers owner Kanchan Singh told the Washington City Paper the shutdown was a “temporary misunderstanding” and that the café is back open for business.

Inspectors found nine “critical” code violations at the café. Not surprisingly, they were pretty concerned about food and beverages being prepared in an establishment that also contains around 20 cats at any point in time.

Some of the complaints on the official inspection include:

• “Food is being dispensed in an area containing cats, creating an area of high potential contamination due to cat fur/dander.”
• “Pastry-serving tongs observed in an area containing cats, creating an area of high potential contamination due to cat fur/dander.”
• “Cat hair observed throughout floors of establishment.”
• “Refuse bag containing cat litter observed on the floor of the basement.”
• “Single-use items observed in an area containing cats, creating an area of high potential contamination due to cat fur/dander.”

Singh told the City Paper that the café quickly addressed the department’s concerns and was open again two hours later. That seems like a pretty quick turn-around. Maybe inspectors just looked at the café’s website and assumed it would be a giant breeding ground for toxoplasmosis.

Either way, the café remains open by reservation only. Better make the meowst of it.