When the French brought cof­fee to Viet­nam in the 1800s I won­der if they ever thought a  “Drink­ing cof­fee with pets” sub-cul­ture.” would evolve. It’s a fas­ci­nat­ing side to Saigon that I quick­ly fell in love with. Here is an overview of the Cat Cafes, Dog Cafes, and oth­er Pet Cafes in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Please note that some of these cafes can close down and new ones open. Please write in the com­ments if you come across any changes or have per­son­al rec­om­men­da­tions to add to the list.

Tips:

Food: If you have food you’re pop­u­lar. Some of the cat & dog cafes will sell you food for a few dol­lars. It’s worth it! The cats will crawl all over you and the dogs will be your new best friends. (Some of the cafes may not allow feed­ing, ask the staff beforehand)

Hours: Call ahead or check on their Face­book page to ensure the pet cafe you are try­ing to vis­it is open. Their hours vary and some days they might be closed. It seems their respec­tive Face­book pages are up to date.

When to go: Dur­ing the week in the day­time is prob­a­bly the best time to vis­it if you’re hop­ing for few­er peo­ple. On the week­end and dur­ing pub­lic hol­i­days the cafes are busier but still fun to visit.

Hygiene: Every cafe will require you to ster­il­ize your hands with an alco­hol spray when you first arrive. You’ll also need to remove your shoes and use the slip­pers pro­vid­ed. Some­times the cats or dogs like to pee to mark their new ter­ri­to­ry (your stuff!) so be care­ful where you put your things. I had a cat pee on my motor­cy­cle jack­et (do you know how pun­gent cat urine is?!) and a dog tried to pee on my backpack.

Drinks: All of the cafes will require you to buy drinks. The prices are about aver­age for cof­fee and oth­er drinks (by Saigon stan­dards). 30k — 60k ($1.50 — $3).

 

TOKYO PET Coffee: (Cat Cafe)

(For­mer­ly Ailu Cat House Cafe)

The first Cat Cafe I vis­it­ed. The one that start­ed my quest to vis­it the oth­er pet cafes. A very car­ing staff and they had hedge­hogs when I went! They let me hold a hedge­hog (I def­i­nite­ly rec­om­mend gloves) and let them roam around while the cats sniffed after them curi­ous­ly, quite enter­tain­ing to watch.

Address: 284C Nguyễn Trọng Tuyển, P.10, Q.Phú Nhuận, TP.HCM, Việt Nam
Hours:  10:00 AM — 9:00 PM (Closed Mondays)
Phone:  +84 8 3997 0299
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/TokyoPetCoffee/

 

Yuna Alaska Coffee: (Dog and Cat Cafe)

A bunch of fluffy & friend­ly dogs on the first floor with a pug that will be in your lap with­in 30 sec­onds if he sees you sit­ting on the floor. Cats on the sec­ond-floor loft includ­ing a Sph­ynx cat that was quite friend­ly and want­ed to sit in my lap, maybe because we both have no hair we instant­ly bond­ed. There were also two kit­tens that looked to me like lit­tle Ewoks.

Address: 58 đường D2, Phường 25, Q. Bình Thạnh, Phường 25, TP. Hồ Chí Minh (Address is a bit odd on google maps. Search for Yuna Alas­ka Coffee)
Hours: 8:00 AM — 10:00 PM
Phone: 090 863 62 89
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/YunaAlaskaCoffee/

 

Ken’s House Coffee: (Dog Cafe)

Kens’ House Cof­fee has about 12 sled dogs of var­i­ous breeds: Husky’s, Mala­mutes etc. on the sec­ond floor. There was a small very friend­ly toy dog on the first floor that greet­ed me when I walked in though I’m not sure if he’s always there. They also sell dogs on the first floor. I asked to play with one of these dogs as they prob­a­bly don’t get much atten­tion. He was so hap­py to be out of his cage for a while.

One of the guys gave me food to feed the dogs. This made me a lit­tle more pop­u­lar but not quite as much as I was at the cat cafes with food where they climb all over you. They were blast­ing loud music which made it hard to talk. I’m not sure if this is a com­mon thing but you can prob­a­bly ask them to turn it down. Or maybe it’s just me get­ting old and not want­i­ng to feel like I’m inside a club with 12 dogs (That’s an idea. “Dog Club” spin­ning the lat­est EDM with roam­ing Huskies). I guess if they were blast­ing “Who let the dogs out” it might be more fun.

Address: 231 Phạm Văn Hai, Phường 5, Tân Bình, Hồ Chí Minh
Hours: 9:00 AM — 10:00 PM
Phone: 093 208 01 84
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/worldofalaskamalamute/

 

Hachiko: (Dog Cafe)

There are 2 Hachiko cafes. I went to the one at 1531A Đường 3/2. Out of all the dog cafes I vis­it­ed they def­i­nite­ly have the most vari­ety of dogs, big and small. The cafe was full of peo­ple when I went. Dogs are very friend­ly. Though they did seem thirsty, lick­ing the con­den­sa­tion on the cups.

Named after the famous Japan­ese Aki­ta dog “Hachiko”, known for wait­ing for his mas­ter at the train sta­tion every day for over nine years after he passed away. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

 

 

Address: 1531A Đường 3/2, phường 16, Quận 11, Hồ Chí Minh
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hachiko-Coffee/158249691397870

Oth­er Hachiko Dog Coffee:

Address: 14 Hoa Sữa, Phường 7, Q.Phú Nhuận (Khu Phan Xích Long) Ho Chi Minh City
Hours: 7:00 AM — 10:30 PM
Phone: 090 647 83 89
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/HachikoCoffee.Dog/

PNE Pets Shop (PNE Coffee): (Dog Cafe)

A dog cafe I did­n’t get a chance to visit.

Address: 106A Nơ Trang Long, Phường 14, Bình Thạnh, Hồ Chí Minh
Hours: 8:30 AM — 10:30 PM
Phone: 097 329 23 18
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/PNEPetsShop/

 

Little Angels Coffee: (Dog Cafe)

The oth­er dog cafe I did­n’t get a chance to visit.

Address: Chu Văn An, phường 26, Bình Thạnh, Ho Chi Minh City
Hours: 6:30 AM — 10:00 PM
Phone: 094 442 04 04
Face­book: facebook.com/Little-Angels-Coffee-279194415937850/

 

Ba Bo Coffee: (Reptiles and Amphibians)

A cafe focus­ing on rep­tiles with a giant igua­na as the star attrac­tion. You can also see water drag­ons beard­ed drag­ons, geck­os, snakes, frogs, tur­tles, and spi­ders. They even have a few cats and dogs. It’s fam­i­ly-friend­ly and most of the lizards can be picked up. I even saw kids maybe 3–5 years old pet­ting the big igua­na that prob­a­bly weighed more than them. The cafe itself is a lit­tle run down and not super clean but if you’re look­ing to inter­act with rep­tiles it’s a good place.

Address:  93/18 Phạm Văn Hai, Phường 3, Tân Bình, Hồ Chí Minh
Hours: 9:00 AM — 10:00 PM
Phone: 093 306 93 99
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/ReptileCoffee/

Pet Me: (Birds, Reptiles, Rabbits etc.)

An excel­lent, fam­i­ly/kid-friend­ly ani­mal cafe focus­ing on birds. There is also a squir­rel, some rab­bits, a large tor­toise, and some snakes and lizards. It’s very well main­tained and very clean, with a small play­ground for the kids. The staff is very atten­tive and can help you hold the par­rots. Just watch out for your but­tons and shiny jew­el­ry, they will grab them and won’t want to let go!

They call it a mini zoo at the heart of Saigon and it feels exact­ly like that. A zoo where you can inter­act with a lot of animals.

Address:198 Nguyễn Văn Hưởng, Thảo Điền, Quận 2, Hồ Chí Minh
Hours: 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Phone: 091 707 66 77
Face­book: facebook.com/PetMeVN/
Web­site: petmeshop.com

 

ICHI Cat Cafe: (Cat Cafe) CLOSED

Vis­it­ed this cat cafe in Feb 2018 but as of April 1st, 2018 it is per­ma­nent­ly closed

Address:  221/2 Trần Quang Khải, Tân Định, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh
Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/ichicatcafe/

Other Person Cafe: (Cat Cafe) CLOSED

This Alice in Won­der­land themed cat cafe is no longer open. I read about it in a list of cafes and searched the entire build­ing where it used to be, only to dis­cov­er it was no longer there.