I sat down with Sarah Price, manager and founder of the Cat House Norwich. We met in the Cat House itself, so while Sarah was talking to me, several furry visitors walked across the table and stood on my laptop, typing random strings of letters and numbers in the process. 

As a huge cat fan myself, I had visited the Cat House on several occasions. In fact, I knew all the cats’ names: Dave, Stanley and Lily met me at the door as Sarah let me in to the lounge. 

Already having good knowledge of the cats, I wanted to find out more about the woman behind their care. We started off with the obvious topic: Sarah’s passion for cats. 

“I’ve always loved cats, always had cats. Grew up with cats and wanted more. But my dad was one of those dads that said no. His word was king. Lovely dad, but, you know, only two cats at a time really.” 

Now surrounded by 21 cats, it seems that Sarah’s dream has come true. However, the journey to achieving this dream wasn’t a straightforward one. 

“Back in 2021, my mum had just passed away from cancer, very suddenly, bless her. So, I was very able to submerge myself in the world of cats, and eventually we managed to sell her flat, so I had a little bit of inheritance.  

COVID had stopped my career because I worked in care homes doing musical workshops. So, I travelled around a lot to different care homes as a self-employed practitioner, but they didn’t want to carry on with that sort of thing because of COVID, so I had to think of something else to do. And I love to be self-employed. Didn’t want to go and get a job. So, it all just suddenly clicked.” 

Sarah and staff member Vicki went on a road trip, visiting 10 cat cafes in five days. Yet, Sarah felt something was missing. 

“I didn’t want to do what we had seen in the cat cafés, because they were just cafes with cats. I love cooking at home, but I didn’t want to do it for my day job. 

I run a circus with my husband. I help him. It’s his circus. So, we’re very much used to putting on events and dealing with bookings and people. 

Because I’m an artist, I just suddenly had this vision of an art centre that was cat themed. But then, of course, there’s the doubt going, oh, but is that too specific? But actually, no, it’s been very well received.  

I think the art side of this has given it it’s good reputation. It’s kind of helped to lift it just above a cat café, yeah, it’s given it that grounding.” 

The Cat House certainly offers a unique experience to your typical cat café. Currently, the art centre is hosting a wide range of arts and crafts events and introduces new events frequently. 

“We do events and then we do workshops. We are working on our Christmas cat quiz at the moment. That’s going to be a fab event. And we’ve just started doing cat bingo, which is fun. Obviously, there’s cats climbing on everyone’s laps. And all the prizes are cat gifts. So, it’s really lovely. 

We’ve got so many new workshops coming. We’ve got origami starting up. This chap called Russell Woods got in touch. He’s the chairman of the UK Origami Society, and has written a book, which you can buy on Amazon. So, he’s gonna be running that, starting the 22^nd of November. 

Another new one is macrame, where you’re plaiting and weaving this cord. You have really long cord, and then you do these knots, and it ends up looking really twisted. It’s beautiful. And it’s quite straightforward. We’ve got a new tutor, Jerry, coming to do that, so that’s gonna be interesting. 

Then, we’ve got all our standards. We’ve got clay cats, which is once a month, where you make little cat head shapes, and you get some dry already that you can decorate and paint, and then the fresh ones that you make, you can stamp cats’ names into that, or your friend’s name, or whoever you want to give it to. So that’s great. 

We do cat life drawing once a month and cat painting once a month. That’s fun. We also do cat tarot once a month, and that’s so popular. Everyone gets a personal reading for 10 minutes, and there’s a whole general chat about what tarot is and how to use it. 

And then we have diamond art and various crafts like glass painting decoupage, stone painting and tote bag design. We have lots of UEA societies come down and book the tote bag painting, because they can sit there and draw cats on bags and just have a really chill social time. 

We run cat yoga every Wednesday too, so we’ve got some wellness. Yeah, so lovely, so nice. We’ve got video footage of someone with Khamoon (a sphinx cat living at The Cat House) sat on their belly, trying to rise up and down. So funny. But people come for that.” 

Something else that makes this venue stand out from your typical cat café is the general environment of the Cat House. As soon as you walk in, there is this sense of safety and coziness which makes it such a great place to come and escape from the stress of everyday life. 

“I try to keep the décor really calm, because the cats can run around and be zooming, and they are the stars, but the rest of it is really earthy and cozy. I like people to come and be cozy and warm, and I love to be cozy and warm with a cat on my lap. So I like to offer the same to other people.” 

Sarah’s love of everything cozy is reflected in an exciting upcoming Christmas solstice event at the Cat House, ‘Cats by Candlelight.’ 

“It’s gonna be a nice evening where it’s just fake candles and fairy lights, and we’re gonna have lovely, atmospheric wintry music. We’re gonna have mega hot chocolates with all the toppings, mulled wines, cozy cakes, and it’ll all be darker, but really like a feast for the senses, to celebrate the longest night with our little candles and fairy lights.” 

It is clear from talking to Sarah that she cares about the welfare of her customers as much as she cares about the welfare of her cats.  

“I think the Cat House gives people a focus. If they’ve lost a cat, they’ll often come and have a little cry and stroke one of ours for a cuddle. If they’re at uni and they’re away from their family pet, a lot of them will come regularly because they just want some cat cuddles.  Yeah, it’s not like you can walk down the street and pick up a random cat and it will love you back. But these guys, they’re really fab with new people, and they’re not shy at all. Everyone gets a cuddle when they come. 

We have quite a lot of foreign students from America that volunteer, and they come and help out because they really miss their cats. So, for them, it’s a really important place. 

We also have lots of older people who perhaps don’t want to have the hassle of having their own cat anymore, or perhaps can’t bend down because they’re physically unable, or they may be partially blind and can’t see, so they really can’t have a pet. So it’s lovely because family members or carers will bring them to see the cats.  

We have quite a few bookings from care homes and charities bringing people down that are in that situation. We have mental health charities come down, and they have special private bookings, and then all their clients come, and then they’ve got the carers as well, just to keep an eye and make sure they’re okay. But generally, they love it, and they’ll come and interact with the cats and get a lot of joy out of that. 

I love being able to give people those opportunities that they otherwise can’t have.” 

Another way Sarah keeps the Cat House connected to the local community is through collaborations with local artists. 

“We’ve got 30 to 40 local artists now that bring in either artwork to hang on the walls or gifts to sell that they make. We get lots of jewellery as well, and all sorts of really wonderful cat things that people make. Who knew there was so much? But there really is, and it’s so nice to be able to incorporate them and help people to find a place to sell their wares.” 

As much as the people are important to Sarah’s business, so are the cats themselves, which is why Mondays and Tuesdays at the Cat House are closed for cat care. 

“On Mondays, we carry out a full health check on every cat. Each cat has got a folder, so we get everything ticked off – there’s about 25 different points. They all get checked up and get weighed once a month.  

Then on Tuesday, the café gets a deep clean, along with the gift shop and the catio. We do the laundry on a Tuesday and make sure the gift shop is stocked up.” 

At this point in the conversation, we are interrupted by Romeo, a large and extremely stunning European Maine Coon. He hops onto the table and looks at Sarah expectantly, until she picks him up and cuddles him like a baby.  

With Romeo comfortable in Sarah’s arms, we move on to talking about the Cat House’s social media coverage. Their Instagram is already impressive, with daily updates on events and frequent reels showcasing the cats.  

“We’ve got Jam on social media. He comes in for 30 hours a week, and we have a meeting on a Tuesday, and then we work out what’s planned for the week ahead. Yeah, and then he gets on and does it and comes up with funny ideas for reels and things.” 

However, Sarah is hoping to take the coverage even further. 

“In the New Year, we’re going to move on to more educational things as well. Because people say, ‘What do you feed them?’ or ‘What litter do you use?’  

We’ll still keep the silly stuff, because that’s really important. But grooming videos and nail clipping videos, eye wiping videos and how to look after a bald cat videos, that’s all really important, because we see ourselves as very much as educational as well. 

People come to check out the different breeds because they might be wanting a new cat. As much as we’re not promoting breeders, it happens, and people breed. So, it’s nice for people to be able to make an informed decision. Because the problem is, if people get an idea and they think they want, say, a bald cat, and they go to spend £800 on it, and then realise they can’t quite cope with it, where does it go? A shelter. It’s not good. So, our goal in everything is to help people make good decisions, and also to promote shelters that have cats that need homes.” 

Since starting out last year, the Cat House has helped rehome over 30 cats. 

“It’s really nice knowing that they have bypassed the shelters. And it helps the shelters not to be overfull either. I like that we don’t charge for that service. It’s just a nice thing to offer.” 

In terms of future projects at the Cat House, Sarah hopes to start an annual cat symposium. 

“It would be like a cat masked ball in the evening, and then in the daytime, lots of events like book readings from local authors that have written about cats.” 

The event would incorporate other art venues throughout the city, so it would take a while to organise. 

“Maybe next year, hey?” Sarah says. 

Her enthusiasm for her work, alongside her love for art, people and cats makes the Cat House such a special place to visit. Her personality is built into the Cat House, and so is her mother’s. 

“My mum is very much woven into every part of this. While I was building it, and had wobbles, I would her voice in my head going, ‘You’ve got this, dear.’  So yeah, she’s very much here with me, and yeah, here we are.” 

You can find more information about events and workshops at the Cat House by heading over to https://www.cathousenorwich.org/ or following their Instagram @cathousenorwich. 

Featured Image: Lily Taylor