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The cafe will be partnered with Cat Therapy and Rescue Society

A My Neighbor Totoro cat cafe is opening in Canada.

Narcity reports that a cat cafe inspired by Hayao Miyazaki‘s 1988 Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro is opening in Canada.

The Catoro Café will open in Vancouver this summer and will draw inspiration from the hit anime film for its decor.

Partnering with Cat Therapy and Rescue Society, the cafe will house numerous cats for patrons to play with. The concept aims to tackle Vancouver’s problem of having over 600,000 stray cats in the city.

Nathan Chan, one of the cafe’s owners, says the problem has developed into a national crisis. Stray cats, shelter cats, abandoned cats and special needs cats will all be housed at the cafe.

“Our goal with Catoro Cafe is to not only help rescue cats to find homes, but to also connect with our guests on an emotional level by making spending time with animals an easy and accessible thing to do within modern urban living,” the cafe wrote in their Instagram.

My Neighbor Totoro, which has been heralded as one of the best anime films of all times, follows schoolgirl Satsuke and her younger sister as they adjust to their new home where they encounter playful spirits. In a neraby forrest, the sisters encounter Totoro – a rabbit-like spirit.

 

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Our goal with Catoro Cafe is to not only help rescue cats to find homes, but to also connect with our guests on an emotional level by making spending time with animals an easy and accessible thing to do within modern urban living. Companion animals play major roles in the lives of many children. In the 2008 book The Powerful Bond Between People and Pets, psychologist Elizabeth Anderson wrote, “Nothing less than alchemy is involved when animals and children get together, and the resulting magic has healing properties that work well.” It has been shown from 22 studies that there are links between pets and the psychological well-being of children. Many of these studies concluded that growing up around pets is linked to having higher self-esteem, cognitive development and social skills. While we hope Catoro will serve as an neighbourhood institution for children who may not be able to own pets for various reasons, we even more so hope to bring in many adults who may have lost the child-like wonder and amazement for being close to animals. Aside from owning a pet yourself, it is rarely an easy and accessible activity to visit a zoo or a petting farm in our day to day lives. We wish to bring this important, stress-relieving activity closer than ever so that people can incorporate visiting us in their everyday lives. The brand we have created with Catoro tells a story of a forest guardian and its companion that are on a mission to rescue the helpless and homeless cats lost within a mysterious forest. We hope that the story we tell will connect with children and put a more welcoming and approachable narrative around the importance of rescuing animals and adoption. We believe that small businesses like Catoro are an integral part of any community. Innovation, integrity and social responsibility should always be at the forefront of any business rather than profits.

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