Cat cafe in Vienna

Japanese youths feed cats at a 'cat cafe' in Tokyo on February 23, 2012.
Japanese youths feed cats at a 'cat cafe' in Tokyo on February 23, 2012.

After three years of negotiations with city officials over hygiene issues, Austria opened its first cat cafe last Friday. 'Cafe Neko', "Neko" meaning cat in Japanese, was opened by Vienna resident Takako Ishimitsu, 47, from Japan. Customers can stroke and interact with their five feline hosts, named Sonja, Thomas, Moritz, Luca and Momo, who all came from an animal shelter and now freely roam about the cafe, in between taking naps.