Love animals, love cat cafés, but want a little more assurance that animal welfare is also on the menu? Enter Rescue Cat and Dog Café Lua, a cute and small shop in the Naruse area of Machida City, one of the cities in the larger Tokyo Metropolitan area.
The café denizens are comprised of a handful of staff pets and adoptable animals, of both the feline and canine variety. Ankle grazers mingle with sixty-pounders in the main room and terrace area, while in the cat room a half dozen meows laze around and regally accept belly rubs.
You can bring your own pet as well - as long as they can play nice with the others, they can run around the shop as you sip your coffee.
Drinks start at ¥400 for soft drinks and ¥550 for the harder stuff; choices include coffees, sodas, tea, beer, wine, and a couple of cocktails. They have Wilkinson's ginger ale and the chai latte is yummy. For food, choose from pasta, curry, omu-rice, and a selection of sweets made at the bakery next door. There's also a dog menu, with fancier offers than the humans get, like Hokkaido venison and vegetable stew and cheesecake(?!).
Lua also offers grooming service and a pet hotel. Grooming services include shampoo, trimming, clipping nails, ear cleaning, and, ahem, gland expression. Prices start around ¥2700 for a shampoo and all the extras, while adding a haircut starts around ¥4600. Various discounts are available for first time customers, frequent fliers, and rescue organizations. Pet hotel costs start at ¥2700 per night.
The café also has a small selection of items for sale at the front of the store - from handmade and natural treats for dogs and cats, to books and magazines, to puppy pads and special food. Perhaps the most fun items for sale are animal accessories, many of them handmade. They have collars, jaunty neckerchiefs, hair and ear bows, and ID tags in a variety of cute designs.
The shop's nearest station is Naruse on the Yokohama line, and it takes about 15-20 minutes to walk from the station. The shop also holds adoption events, featuring not only their own animals but some from local rescues, on the first Sunday of each month. So if you're looking to adopt, want to take your pet out to an animal-friendly café, or just want to spend some quality fur-baby time, check out Café Lua!
