The Cat Lady Abroad in Hoi An

In keeping with my missive of incorporating animal rescue into my travels, I was delighted to pay a visit to Jack’s Cat Cafe in Hoi An, Vietnam. The name of this lovely place is a little misleading; it does serve food and drink, true, but more than that, it is an important rescue organization run by an intrepid Brit named Emma. When you visit, you are encouraged to purchase food and drink to support the rescue, and you can spend as much time as you like hanging out with the kitties.

To get to Jack’s, I rented a bike and fired up Google Maps. The entrance to this cat paradise is discreetly marked, and there’s a reason for that: sadly, cat meat is priced quite high in Vietnam, and there is a strong trade for catching and selling cats. But you can find the location on their Facebook page and it just takes a lovely ride through the rice fields to end up in a calming garden filled with rescue kitties who have been given a second chance by Emma.

I sipped on a Vietnamese iced coffee while I learned of Emma’s struggles. There is no veterinarian in Hoi An, so she must often wait for visiting international vets to pass through. When she can find a Vietnamese vet, they are never experienced in small animal care, as it simply isn’t part of Vietnamese culture to have cats as pets. And because of the reigning Buddhist culture, which accepts suffering as part of life, she can almost never find doctors willing to euthanize cats who are in terrible shape and need their suffering to end.

It is so inspiring to meet people like Emma and Elizabeth at Villa Kitty Bali. Dedicating your life to animal rescue is a tough job in any country and even more so in places that do not recognize animals as worthwhile members of our society. I really can’t imagine the strength it takes to put yourself through the heartbreak and stress of saving cats with extraordinarily limited resources.

But for these guys, it is worth it.