Text and photos by Anne Janine Ibarrola
One of miao's resident cats sleeping on a hanging bridge.
Stepping inside Miao Cat Café, along Congressional Ave., Quezon City is like being transported to a parallel universe where cats rule the world.
“We built the place for the cats,” said Miao Cat Café co-owner Sam Ramos, sister of co-owner Loida Ramos-Benson.
The owners of Miao created a place where the cats’ needs are the main priority as opposed to its capability to cater to customers.
“We built the place for the cats,” said Miao Cat Café co-owner Sam Ramos, sister of co-owner Loida Ramos-Benson.
The owners of Miao created a place where the cats’ needs are the main priority as opposed to its capability to cater to customers.
Scratch post and hanging bridges would welcome you inside the cafe. These serves as the playground for the kitties. The inside of the cafe, designed by Benson, aims to provide an interesting and comfortable environment for the four-legged creatures. It features several scratch posts and high bridges that offer the cats some alone-time if they get stressed from too much human interaction.
The furry felines wander all over the studio-type room: walking on bridges situated high across the walls or sleeping on the floor, blocking any walking space: some cats are sprawling on tables as if saying, “Who cares if you need this table to eat, Human?”
The floor of the café is dotted with comfy cushions since most of the tables require you to sit on the floor. The café’s reading nook, where you can choose from their collection of books and magazines, has electric light bulbs with a real fish swimming inside them.
“That was supposed to be a big aquarium but we knew the cats would get too distracted,” Ramos said.
With its opening held on Valentine’s Day this year, Miao became the first cat café in the Philippines.
Aside from being the original, what sets Miao apart from the other cafés is the fact that the business is more for the cats than anything else.
Snow Gomez, a first-time customer of Miao, said that Miao is her favorite cat café out of all the ones she visited.
“This one is so nice, the place is homey and the cats here are more sociable. They even have scratch posts and bridges for them,” she said.
The only negative thing about the café for Gomez is that the place was hard to spot, not having a clear signage outside that would help customers to spot the place.
“We drove by two times because we couldn’t see where the café was,” Gomez added.
The furry felines wander all over the studio-type room: walking on bridges situated high across the walls or sleeping on the floor, blocking any walking space: some cats are sprawling on tables as if saying, “Who cares if you need this table to eat, Human?”
The floor of the café is dotted with comfy cushions since most of the tables require you to sit on the floor. The café’s reading nook, where you can choose from their collection of books and magazines, has electric light bulbs with a real fish swimming inside them.
“That was supposed to be a big aquarium but we knew the cats would get too distracted,” Ramos said.
With its opening held on Valentine’s Day this year, Miao became the first cat café in the Philippines.
Aside from being the original, what sets Miao apart from the other cafés is the fact that the business is more for the cats than anything else.
Snow Gomez, a first-time customer of Miao, said that Miao is her favorite cat café out of all the ones she visited.
“This one is so nice, the place is homey and the cats here are more sociable. They even have scratch posts and bridges for them,” she said.
The only negative thing about the café for Gomez is that the place was hard to spot, not having a clear signage outside that would help customers to spot the place.
“We drove by two times because we couldn’t see where the café was,” Gomez added.
The reading nook's fishbowl electric lightbulbs with kahel on the middle. It’s a passion!
A month after their opening, several other cat cafés emerged around Manila.
Ramos recalled that the owners of those cafés were customers of Miao who were inspired to open their own cat café.
The idea of starting a cat café came after Ramos visited one in Taiwan, which urged her to message her sister saying, “We should have one here [in the Philippines].”
She explained that even before visiting, she and her sister have already tossed around ideas of starting a cat-related business.
“We’re cat-lovers talaga, we rescue them, mga puspin [pusang pinoy], stray cats,” she said.
A year ago, her sister planned to start a business of breeding and selling cats, but after the first set of kittens were born, she instantly got too attached and ended up adding the tiny creatures to their existing house cats.
They housed over 30 rescued and imported cats at the time and because they wanted to lessen the weight of the responsibility, they went back to the initial plan of opening a cat café.
Ramos narrated how they went to several cat cafes abroad but eventually drew inspiration from the one they visited in Singapore. They decided to follow a similar schedule of having a break in between visitation hours.
The place offered the owners’ pets the space and attention they needed. It also allowed the sisters to acquire even more cats with Ramos saying that they have more than 50 at the moment.
The café also presents a wide selection of cat-themed items, clothes, wallets, tumblers, stationeries, etc., for their cat-lover customers.
A month after their opening, several other cat cafés emerged around Manila.
Ramos recalled that the owners of those cafés were customers of Miao who were inspired to open their own cat café.
The idea of starting a cat café came after Ramos visited one in Taiwan, which urged her to message her sister saying, “We should have one here [in the Philippines].”
She explained that even before visiting, she and her sister have already tossed around ideas of starting a cat-related business.
“We’re cat-lovers talaga, we rescue them, mga puspin [pusang pinoy], stray cats,” she said.
A year ago, her sister planned to start a business of breeding and selling cats, but after the first set of kittens were born, she instantly got too attached and ended up adding the tiny creatures to their existing house cats.
They housed over 30 rescued and imported cats at the time and because they wanted to lessen the weight of the responsibility, they went back to the initial plan of opening a cat café.
Ramos narrated how they went to several cat cafes abroad but eventually drew inspiration from the one they visited in Singapore. They decided to follow a similar schedule of having a break in between visitation hours.
The place offered the owners’ pets the space and attention they needed. It also allowed the sisters to acquire even more cats with Ramos saying that they have more than 50 at the moment.
The café also presents a wide selection of cat-themed items, clothes, wallets, tumblers, stationeries, etc., for their cat-lover customers.
Resident cat lady
If the visitors have any questions while in the cafe, the one to approach is the soft-spoken Miao cat-caregiver known as “Ate Brenda”.
She stays with the cats 24/7 and is responsible for keeping their health in check, even the monitoring of the amount of food and water they take to avoid dehydration. She knows every single cat in the room and occasionally shares funny stories about the naughty ones or points out those who had to undergo surgeries after being rescued.
She also said that she was the one who insisted on staying with the cats to provide them care at all times.
“Kapag mag-iingay sila sa gabi, gusto ko nakikita ko kung bakit, [If they make noises at night, I want to find out what it is about.]”
Ate Brenda shares that the cats are most active around 5pm to 7pm and if you ask her for help in engaging the cats, she’ll whip out toys that will get them to play with you.
If the visitors have any questions while in the cafe, the one to approach is the soft-spoken Miao cat-caregiver known as “Ate Brenda”.
She stays with the cats 24/7 and is responsible for keeping their health in check, even the monitoring of the amount of food and water they take to avoid dehydration. She knows every single cat in the room and occasionally shares funny stories about the naughty ones or points out those who had to undergo surgeries after being rescued.
She also said that she was the one who insisted on staying with the cats to provide them care at all times.
“Kapag mag-iingay sila sa gabi, gusto ko nakikita ko kung bakit, [If they make noises at night, I want to find out what it is about.]”
Ate Brenda shares that the cats are most active around 5pm to 7pm and if you ask her for help in engaging the cats, she’ll whip out toys that will get them to play with you.
What’s in store for Miao?
Months after opening, the café now has their share of loyal customers and newcomers through word of mouth. Ramos admitted that they do not concern themselves with putting out advertisements since they wanted to keep the café low-key and simple.
While having no other self-promotions on social media, the café manages to attract the public’s attention. People wanting to visit Miao on weekends need to make reservations because the place cannot accommodate the amount of customers.
Ramos shared that the café provided detailed directions on how to get to their place through Miao Cat Café’s official Facebook page for first-timers who might encounter trouble in finding the café.
Although in-demand, she asserts that they currently have no plans of expanding or branching out. TS
Months after opening, the café now has their share of loyal customers and newcomers through word of mouth. Ramos admitted that they do not concern themselves with putting out advertisements since they wanted to keep the café low-key and simple.
While having no other self-promotions on social media, the café manages to attract the public’s attention. People wanting to visit Miao on weekends need to make reservations because the place cannot accommodate the amount of customers.
Ramos shared that the café provided detailed directions on how to get to their place through Miao Cat Café’s official Facebook page for first-timers who might encounter trouble in finding the café.
Although in-demand, she asserts that they currently have no plans of expanding or branching out. TS
