A WOMAN who runs a cat café in Rhyl has said she may have to close after being told she must obtain a licence which she cannot afford and does not believe she needs.
Dyserth resident Nicole Revayova, 45, opened The Little Gatito, on Russell Road, in March, working with North Wales cat charity, Feline Fur Babies.
But Nicole has said Denbighshire County Council has told her she requires a “performing animals licence” at the premises, because she keeps live cats there.
Nicole disputes this, saying her café is for cats which have been rescued and are not performers, and that the ordeal has left her “mentally exhausted”.
She said: “We’re not a circus. The cats don’t do Saltos. They don’t perform. I rescue and rehome them.
“But the council said that doesn’t matter, and that I also need a licence for selling animals. I don’t sell them. The cats belong to Feline Fur Babies.
“At the moment, we have 11 cats, but these are not trained or performing animals. These are rescue animals. Most of them have post-traumatic stress disorder after what they’ve been through.
“I have one cat dropped off at the café who had about 700 cigarette burns on her. It cost me £580 just to make her look like a cat again. I have two kittens who were found on a dual carriageway, so they’re very scared and dirty.
“I’m going to fight it, as I can’t afford the licence anyway. It’s ridiculous.”
Nicole said she also suffered abuse from “keyboard warriors playing with my mental health,” who have told her it is “disgusting” to keep live animals in a café.
She experienced another setback when her café received a one-out-of-five food hygiene rating, albeit based on “nothing hygienic” but on “technicalities” which have since been resolved.
Business has slowed down after a busier period in the summer, meanwhile.
Nicole added: “During the summer, business was good. Holidaymakers enjoyed it, and said they would come back.
“But now, I don’t know if I’m going to close. I’ll see how the last two weeks in September go.
“If I make money to pay rent and business rates, I won’t close. If I don’t, I will have to. At the moment, I’m losing money.
“Many people come here to spend time with cats because their landlords don’t allow them to keep cats.
“I have about four regulars with mental health issues who come once or twice a week; they have a private room where they just sit and spend time with the cats.”
James Smith, homing and intake coordinator at Feline Fur Babies, said the cats at The Little Gatito are there to give them “socialisation opportunities” and to hopefully result in an adoption.
He described the issue as “a massive shame”.
He said: “Many people who want to adopt from us ask to meet our cats beforehand, and The Little Gatito gives a good opportunity for that to happen.
“Without a commercial premises of our own, that would be very difficult. No monetary transactions occur within the café regarding our cats, and the café is not involved in the adoptions, other than hosting the cats to meet.
“All adoption requests are made to us - as they're our cats - and no money from the homing of those cats goes towards The Little Gatito.
“On a personal level, it's obviously a massive shame. A number of our cats have been homed while being available to meet at The Little Gatito, specifically because people have met them there and decided to adopt them.
“We've even had some ‘harder-to-home’ cats that would traditionally be more difficult to home, homed as a result of being met at The Little Gatito.
“It's a great opportunity for our cats, and we hope help raises awareness of the variety of rescue cats needing loving homes, as well as giving an opportunity for people who can't adopt to support and spend time with cats.
“We understand the need for licences to restrict and monitor the unfair and abusive use of animals by some rogue individuals who might exploit those animals unfairly, and we support anything to guard the welfare of animals, especially cats who are very close to our hearts.
“The licences shouldn't come at a detrimental cost of small businesses, though. There also needs to be clearer information available to small business owners in advance of them setting up their business, and throughout.”
A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: “If anyone exhibits, uses or train performing animals there is a need to register with us for the animal’s welfare.
“An Animal Activities Licence is needed for activities that include the import, distribution and sale of animals by a business.
“We would encourage the business owner to contact our officers to help assist with clarification of the regulations they need to follow.”
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