Catopia A Cat Boarding House Hit By COVID Turns Into Cat Cafe With 22 Kitties
As Covid-19 is still affecting a lot of businesses especially a Joo Chiat car boarding house, Catopia. The cat hotel offers staycation for kitties who are recuperating from surgeries or owner are travelling or renovating their home. But due to more people are working at home now, the feline boarders dropped very badly. 
Kevin Chiak, 54, the founder of Catopia mentioned that previously there are over 500 cats who are boarding with them but as the Covid-19 period, nobody is allowed to travel. They have to turn the whole catopia into a cafe as the main pipeline now. Currently, they also shifted their operation to a two-storey shophouse unit in Little India as a lot of cats are very fast therefore they have 3 doors in between the cats and the streets downstairs.
Kevin who is a personal trainer by profession and started Catopis in 2016 as a passion project as he found that he has a special relationship with cats and there are more men which are draws into cat also nowadays. Currently, an hour at the cafe cost $12 which comes with a complimentary drink (additional time is charged for $6 per hour).
Here you can get a Waffle, $7 (add $2 for a scoop of ice cream), Hot Latte, $5.50. You can also chill with drinks like a Latte ($5.50 hot/ $6 iced), Hojicha ($6.50 hot/ $7 iced) or Chocolate Milkshake ($8.50), and pair it with a slice of Cheesecake ($7). Don’t expect outstanding nosh here; Catopia’s customers are obviously here for the cats.
PHOTOS: AIK CHEN