A Queen Street West cat cafe on the verge of closing said it has taken legal action against people spreading “false information” after it faced a wave of complaints that its cats are sick and being mistreated.
The Lazy Cat Cafe, located near the corner of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, announced it will be permanently closing in May 2025, citing financial challenges and online criticism of its animal welfare practices.
The cafe charges between $34 and $42 for customers to play with rescue cats, which are available for adoption, and offers food and beverages in a separate room.
Beginning last weekend, the cafe received an influx of one-star Google reviews after a TikTok review of the business went viral.
In the since-deleted video, a TikToker alleged the cats at the cafe appeared sick and lethargic during their visit, and that one cat was foaming at the mouth. They described the environment as “deeply upsetting.”
The business responded by defending its commitment to animal safety, posting screenshots of vet bills and receipts for cat food and litter. The cafe wrote it has video evidence disproving the TikToker’s allegations, stating the cat that allegedly foamed at the mouth simply vomited.
In an email to the Lazy Cat Cafe, TorontoToday asked the business to provide that evidence.
The cafe stated it will not “respond to further inquiries as the cafe has already received enough attention,” but noted it has “already taken legal action towards the defamatory comments and those who have spread false information.”
The spokesperson did not provide details about what kind of legal action it has taken or against whom.
On Monday, the cafe posted a link to a Google form petition asking patrons if they want the Lazy Cat Cafe to stay open in downtown Toronto, raising questions about the cafe’s plans to close permanently.
The City of Toronto said city staff are “checking in on this particular cafe and will not be commenting on it pending the findings of an investigation."
Allegations of mistreatment began prior to viral TikTok
While the viral TikTok about the Lazy Cat Cafe catapulted the business into the local limelight in recent days, allegations against the cafe are nothing new, according to months-old Google reviews and one former patron who spoke to TorontoToday and asked not to be named.
The patron, a former Toronto resident, visited the cafe in late October 2024. They told TorontoToday they left feeling unsettled after staff allegedly stood by and ignored troubling signs of distress among some of the cats.
Most of the cats were sleeping, which the former patron acknowledged isn’t uncommon for cats, but they were struck by one cat who meowed excessively during the one-hour visit.
“He seemed clearly distressed, and other cats would attack him as they walked by,” the former patron said.
“The employee that was working didn't really do much. He was like, ‘Oh yeah, [the cat’s] new,’ and just kind of sat on his laptop and his phone the whole time,” the former customer added. “I found this really frustrating.”
Later on in the visit, the patron realized one of the cats peed on their jacket and bag, leaving them concerned that the cat was unwell.
Peeing outside the litter box is, indeed, a sign of stress or a medical issue in cats, according to Nalini Ramroop, executive director of the Toronto Cat Rescue.
“It could be stress related. It could be that the cat is overwhelmed. It could be a dominance thing,” Ramroop said. “Whatever it is, it's not good. None of it translates to a happy cat.
A week before the viral TikTok that triggered the wave of hate against the Lazy Cat Cafe, the business posted an update on the health of its cats.
“Due to the recent significant drop in temperature and humidity, many cats have started showing symptoms of the common cold (sneezing and having runny noses),” the Instagram post reads.
To Ramroop, who has worked with the Toronto Cat Rescue for over 15 years, this explanation raises red flags.
“I do not agree that the weather affects indoor cats,” Ramroop said. “We have anywhere from 200 to 400 cats in our program at any given time and they're all indoors. The only thing that causes them to flare up with upper respiratory issues, congestion, eye infections and nasal discharge is stress.”
Ramroop argued that cat cafes are not conducive environments for rescue cats.
“Cats should not be lumped together in a small confined space. Add to that humans coming in and wanting to touch them — it’s overwhelming and just not a good model.”
Ramroop advised that permanent resident cats would thrive better in a cat cafe than rescue cats, which may not react well to temporary homes.
While Ramroop has her doubts about cat cafes, she acknowledged some animal lovers can get “very judgmental and very angry” about issues related to rescue organizations and adoption agencies.
“It's never a good thing to bring your pitchforks out against someone in a situation like that. It's better in [the rescue industry] — and in life — to lead with empathy,” she said.
In 2016, a Toronto cat cafe was embroiled in a similar scandal after a former employee accused the business of not adequately feeding the rescue cats in its care. The Toronto Humane Society, which provided rescue cats to the cafe, ended up taking the felines back due to concerns about the cafe’s for-profit activities, according to a CBC article.
That cafe ended up closing down in 2017.
