My daughter is obsessed with cats. She loves them. I, unfortunately, do not. I have never really liked them. My mom has always been very allergic and that set me off as a kid. I did not like them because of what they did to my mom. I also do not like their attitude. My sister in law stated it perfectly, "dogs are roommates, cats are landlords". Truer words have never been spoken.

Cats do things on their terms. They will let you pet them when they want to be pet. They go to the bathroom indoors. The owner has to clean it up when it hardens. They play when they want. They climb wherever they damn well please. Cats do what they want when they want and no one will tell them to stop. Or if they do, cats look at them like they are the dumbest people in the world.

Yet, my daughter loves them. And since she loves them so much I have done research. My dad has done research too. I'm still not a cat person, but I am more willing to talk about them and pet them. I will never own one, but I am more willing to be around them in small doses. My dad found a spot here in Saint Louis that is perfect for a small dose meeting. We go out for coffee twice a week. This is our thing. We have hit up almost every hot spot in my hometown. But we had never been to this place called the Mauhaus Cat Cafe. We looked past it because of the CAT on the signage. But my kids are off this week for winter break. We are looking for things to do. My daughter hasn't had a day that has been specific for her. She has been along for the ride all week.

We broke down and took her and my son to the Mauhaus Cat Cafe this morning. My mom could not go so it was me, my kids and my dad. Luckily, Mauhaus still has a rule in place that you have to be masked. This eased my willingness to take my daughter. Any allergy I may have was negated by my N95. And they are strict about it, which I very much like. So we made our reservation. We had an hour to sit and play with cats. They have very strict, but very smart rules. You cannot pick up the cats. You cannot force the cats to come to you. You are the tenant in this scenario, and that is the way it should be. You can pet the cats and play with them if they choose to play with you. Right after we ordered our drinks we found a table and sat down. There was a cat already chilling right there. This hooked my daughter more than she already was. My son lit up immediately when the cat approached and nuzzled him. The cat did the same to me for a minute but quickly returned to my son. My dad was standoffish so this made the cats stay away, which is exactly what he wanted. We took my kids there for them, mainly for my daughter. And she loved every single second we were there. She was walking around to all the cats and playing with them. When one would sit down by her she would pet it. She kept telling me to take her picture. This is her utopia. I could see her face smiling behind her mask. It never left her face the entire hour we were there. She is still telling me about the cats we saw today. My son was a little nervous, but after that cat nuzzled him he was hooked. That cat was his buddy. It stuck around him for almost the full hour. And when that cat moved on another would come right to him. He might not want to admit it, but he had just as good a time as his sister. I was good with the few cats that made an appearance towards me. I did have to move my lanyard from my pocket because cats kept pawing at it. But otherwise it was fine. If a cat approached me I pet it and we both moved on quickly.

This was a perfect place to give my daughter her cat fix. She got a full hour to play with so many different cats. And as I said, she was smiling and happy the whole time. If you or your kids like cats and coffee, I recommend the Mauhaus Cat Cafe. The staff was great, the coffee was solid and my kids were thrilled. We had a very good time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.