Cat cafés are making the headlines for 2014. In Spain, London, California, Oakland and even in Los Angeles, cat cafés are becoming a famous enterprise.

The Gatoreca, Spain's first cat café, celebrated International Cat Day on Feb. 20 calling the festival FESTIMIAU! According to globalpost.com, showing the friendly, loyal and loving side of felines is one of the festival's goals.

On Mar. 1, London's first cat café, "Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium" in Bethnal Green, East London, had its grand opening. Daily Mail reported thousands made an attempt to book a table at the cat café, resulting to Lady Dinah's Web site crashing within hours after the opening date was announced online.

Cat cafes are already popular in Asia. In the past 5 years, vice.com reported about 79 cat cafes opened all over Japan. "Neko no mise," meaning Shop of Cats is Tokyo's first-ever cat café.

Carlos Wong, eonline reported, said he was inspired by the cat cafés in Tokyo and was hoping to open "Catfé" in Los Angeles. Wong has already gotten the permit both from L.A. Department of Public Health and the Department of Animal Services. What Wong needed is to get $350,000 from the online campaign he started for the opening of the cat café.

Catfé, according to the video that Wong posted, will be helping promote cat adoption with local cat shelters. Wong has one month to raise the funds.

"Pet cafes offer a nice alternative. People come in to unwind, get a warm drink and snack, and spend some quality time with their furry friends," Wong explained in the video.

Aside from Catfé, there is also "KitTea," which seeks funds through a crowdfunding campaign. According to San Francisco Business Times, KitTea promised San Franciscans to be the first cat café in the U.S. The café's funding target is $50,000, which is way lesser amount than Catfé's target.

In Oakland, Cat Town announced it is also gathering funds for opening "Cat Town Café." Cat Town is "devoted to helping cats leave the shelter and find safe outdoor homes."

Cats are popular everywhere. In Paris Fashion Week 2014, ABC news reported Louis Vuitton used a soundtrack featuring cat "meows" during the Louis Vuitton fashion show on March 5 in Paris, France.

But why do people love cats? Here is a summarized answer from a cat study posted on news.discovery.com: "cats may not do what they are told, but they usually adore their human caretakers . . . . Cats do actually pay attention to their owners, distinguishing them from all other people."

RELATED STORIES