Cat Cafes in Iraq

Erbil

Furry ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​⁠Cat Cafe is a cat cafe in Erbil, northwest of the citadel. When it opened in 2022 it was the first cat cafe in the city and the Kurdistan Region. Its owner, Aya Abdulnasir, keeps about 20 cats of different breeds. Most were adopted, and all are vaccinated and seen by a vet. A wall at the entrance to the cat area gives each cat's name, birthday and breed. The cats live in a separate room that visitors enter for a fixed fee, about IQD 6,500 per adult in 2024, while companions can wait in the main cafe. Staff explain how to treat the cats, speak Kurdish, Arabic and English, and will take photos of visitors with the cats. Cat food is sold for feeding them. The menu has coffee, hot chocolate, herbal tea, juices, smoothies and snacks. Children are welcome. It is open every day from the afternoon until late evening.

Sulaymaniyah

Catuccino ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌⁠Cat Café is a coffee shop with a separate cat room in the Aqari neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on the side street next to Zara. The cafe itself is small and decorated in a vintage style, with artwork that includes a Van Gogh reproduction overhead, board games and background music. Entry to the cat room, where visitors can sit with and pet the resident cats and kittens, cost IQD 2,000 in July 2026; cat food is sold for feeding them, and lint rollers are provided for removing cat hair afterwards. The menu covers coffee, including Kurdish qazwan coffee, hot chocolate and cold drinks, with a small selection of desserts and savory snacks. Staff speak Kurdish and Arabic, and the cafe sometimes hosts live music.

Baghdad

Catmos ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​⁠Cafe (كاتموس كافيه) is a cat cafe on the seventh floor of the Al-Faqma sweets building in the Zayouna neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, near the Zayouna passport office. Iraqi entrepreneur Mohammed Al Fawah opened it on April 1, 2025, for Eid al-Fitr; it calls itself the largest cat cafe in Iraq and said in 2026 that it had about 90 cats. The cats and kittens live in a separate hall with glass walls, so diners can watch them from the cafe tables, and visitors who pay an entry fee (IQD 5,000 per person at the end of 2025) can go in to play with and feed them. An Instagram highlight presents cats for adoption. Families often bring children. The cafe serves hot and cold drinks, cakes and pastries, has a piano that guests may play and a small shop of cat goods, and holds events in the cat hall, among them film screenings on several evenings a week (IQD 10,000 with popcorn in October 2026) and pottery and pumpkin painting workshops.

• Adoptable cats

Baghdad

Bashouna ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌⁠(بشونة) is a cat cafe on the second floor of Zayouna Mall in eastern Baghdad, the first branch of a small Iraqi chain that also has cafes in Al-Amiriya Mall in western Baghdad and at the Al-Quds intersection in Baqubah. The Zayouna branch was open by February 2025, and its name joins the Arabic words for people and cats. The cats, which the chain says include rare breeds, have their own area separate from the seating, and its posts tag them as available both for adoption and for sale. Entry to the cat area cost IQD 5,000 per person in 2025, and a visitor reported the same price per child in September 2026. The cafe serves hot and cold drinks and snacks. Children are welcome, and kindergarten groups have visited. Its Instagram account links to that of Miu Zone, the Mansour cat cafe that opened in December 2024 and later closed, and the Miu Zone account has since posted for Bashouna.

• Adoptable cats

Baghdad

Bashouna ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​⁠(بشونة) is a cat cafe on the second floor of Al-Amiriya Mall in the Karkh side of western Baghdad. It opened in July 2025 as the second branch of the Bashouna chain, after the original cafe in Zayouna Mall in eastern Baghdad, and a third branch followed in Baqubah. The name joins the Arabic words for people and cats. The cats, which the chain says include rare breeds, have their own area separate from the seating, and some move between the branches; the chain's posts tag them as available both for adoption and for sale. Entry to the cat area cost IQD 5,000 per person in 2025, and a visitor reported the same price per child in September 2026. The cafe serves hot and cold drinks and snacks, and children are welcome. The chain has held events such as a painter who worked at a different branch each day.

• Adoptable cats

Baqubah, Diyala

Bashouna ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​​‌⁠(بشونة) is a cat cafe at the Al-Quds intersection in Baqubah, Diyala Governorate, next to Kudo Kudo, and the third branch of a chain whose other two cafes are in Zayouna Mall and Al-Amiriya Mall in Baghdad. It was open by September 2025, when its owner, Mohammed Omar, told 964 that the cats had been abandoned by their owners and taken in by the staff, who had them vaccinated and sterilized; a cat keeper looks after them every day. The chain's posts also tag cats as available for adoption and for sale. The cat area is closed off from the rest of the cafe, with one section for sitting among the cats and another for watching them, while families have a separate area for drinks and food. Visitors sanitize their hands and put on shoe covers before entering. Entry cost IQD 5,000 per person in 2025, and a visitor reported the same price per child in September 2026.

• Adoptable cats

Hillah, Babylon

Bunni ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌⁠Cafe (بُنّي كافيه) is a specialty coffee shop with a cat room on 40 Street in Hillah, Babylon Governorate, behind the Ibn Sina travel agency, and calls itself the first cat cafe in Babylon. It was open by late January 2026. Eight cats live in the cat room, among them two Scottish Folds, a Himalayan, Persians, a tortoiseshell and a tabby shorthair, and the cafe says some of them can be adopted. In October 2026 entry to the cat room cost IQD 2,000 per person and a portion of cat treats another IQD 2,000; the cats may only be fed the cafe's treats. Visitors sanitize their hands first, let the cats come to them, keep their voices down and leave sleeping cats alone; children must be supervised. The coffee bar serves espresso drinks, filter coffee, matcha, smoothies, milkshakes, pastries and savory pies, with lattes at IQD 4,500. There is also a quiet study room, a seating area away from the cats for people with allergies, and an art gallery whose works are for sale.

• Adoptable cats

Najaf

Fry ⁠‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​⁠Day is a fast food and pastry cafe on Ghadeer Karama Street in the Al-Ghadeer neighborhood of Najaf with a cat zone, which opened in October 2026 and was promoted as the first cat cafe in the city. The cat area is run together with the Al-Durr veterinary clinic in Najaf, which looks after the cats and keeps them on a vaccination schedule; visitors can sit and play with the young cats there. The menu has fries, burgers, tacos, crispy chicken, pizza, pasta, croissants, cakes, coffee and cold drinks, some served in cat-shaped cups. In October 2026 the cat zone was open daily from 4 PM to 11 PM, while the restaurant stayed open until 1 AM. The cat zone closes on the days the cats are vaccinated, which the clinic and the cafe announce on Instagram.