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Spirituality, Health, and Cats

Crossroads at Karma Kat Café in Mt. Pleasant, MI

Jacob D. Fishel

REL 235WI

Dr. Michael Kinsella

May 1, 2019
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Introduction

Over the past several years, two different conversations have been taking place in

medical research that will be brought into conversation with each other here. The first is the

integration of spirituality in healthcare. Since the beginning of modern Western biomedicine,

which has dominated healthcare throughout the world over the last hundred years or so,

spirituality has largely been absent (Brown 2005, 192). This is because Western biomedicine

focuses almost exclusively on the physical being and privileges knowledge gained through the

scientific process over all other forms of knowledge. On one hand, this has resulted in arguably

the most successful form of medicine in human history, with diseases being identified,

addressed, and cured by this process. But on the other hand, has an alienating affect on many

people as they feel that their lived experiences and their needs as individuals are not being met in

physical, mental, and spiritual ways. This disconnect between biomedical science and human

experience has resulted in the current alternative medicine movement.

The second immerging conversation involves the ways in which human interactions with

animals are beneficial to health. Studies have shown that keeping any animal, especially one

which can be interacted with physically, has a reduction in stress and better overall health for

people (Hines 2005, 8). This is likely in part because of the need to care for another living being

and because, for some reason, humans tend to enjoy things that are soft, furry, and cute. The

general consensus of the literature is that animals like fish provide the least health benefits,

reptiles and other exotic pets that can be interacted with are better, with cats and dogs being the

best for improving human physical and mental health. Dogs are generally ranked higher because

they tend to be more sociable than cats and require walks and more engaging play that has

physical benefits for owners (Friedmann and Tsai 2006, 113).

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Even with these two conversations happening in healthcare literature, the integration of

animal interaction, health, and spirituality is a conversation that is currently largely absent. This

is likely in part because both aforementioned conversations are relatively new and in Western

culture animals are seen as pets or chattel and not as autonomous beings. Hence the idea that

animals are spiritual or influence human spirituality is sparse or absent from the Western

mindset. As understanding of animal complexity deepens and definitions of personhood continue

to expand, animals will likely be seen in a more autonomous light in coming years (Vermeylen

2017, 148).

Despite the currently lacking academic literature on the overlap of animal interaction,

spirituality, and health, this project has sought to boldly go into that frontier by examining how

the three domains play into one another at another emerging trend, cat cafés. Cat cafés began

popping up in the current decade and can be found from New York to London to Tokyo and in

many cities in-between. This is a new model for cat adoption in which the cats are kept in an

open environment free to interact with each other and with patrons. The advantages of a cat café

over an animal shelter or pet store are that the cats are given physical freedom, will not be

euthanized, and potential cat parents can interact with the cats to ensure a good bond before

adopting. This project was conducted at Karma Kat Café, which opened in Mt. Pleasant,

Michigan, in the summer of 2018.

Research Setting

Karma Kat Café is located in downtown Mt. Pleasant on Broadway Street, just over a

mile from Central Michigan University’s campus. Owner-operator, Mistie Beckwith, was

interviewed for this project, providing her views on the subjects at hand and a history of the

Karma Kat Café. She said that she opened the cat café because she used to own a pet store in Mt.
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Pleasant and occasionally adopted cats out from there. She said that when cats were adopted, it

was her good karma for the day, inspiring the name. After the closing of that business, she

wanted to continue working with and for the good of the community’s homeless cats and decided

that a cat café would be a good way to do this. In addition to giving homeless cats food, shelter,

veterinary care, and the chance to be adopted, the cat café benefits the human residents of Mt.

Pleasant.

Mistie said that she intended the cat café to be for those looking to adopt, those seeking

play therapy with cats, and for those whose living situation does not allow for them to keep a cat.

She said that most of the patrons fall into the last category and are students of Central Michigan.

When people do come seeking an adoption, Mistie is careful to ensure that the cat is interacting

well with the potential cat parent. Additionally, she has a twenty-four hour wait period before

adoption and reserves the right to call landlords if the cat is going to be living in an apartment.

This works to make sure that the adoption is not made on an impulse and that the cat will be

going to a permanent home that is cat-friendly.

Karma Kat Café is separated into three main rooms. The entrance room has a desk to the

far right as one enters where Mistie greets incoming patrons and collects the ten dollar charge for

entering the cat room. The entrance room is also used for sale of t-shirts, mugs, jewelry, and

other merchandise and for some of the events hosted. The cat room is separated by a door and

wall and generally between ten and fifteen cats can be found inside. Couches, chairs, and tables

are placed along the edges of the cat room for patrons and cats to use along with kitty condos and

other cat perches around the room. Several cat toys are found around the room including teaser

toys, lasers, and small mice that give the cats enrichment and allow patrons to enjoy playtime

with them. The room is decorated with pictures of the cats that have been there, a cat mural,
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Buddhist statues and prints, and other artwork. The incorporation of Buddhist quotes and

iconography is one of the hints to the spiritual nature of the environment, which includes the

repeated phrase “Be in the moment” and the inclusion of the word “Karma” in the very name of

the business, which will be further discussed later.

Observations

Over the course of the project I had three separate observation periods, each lasting about

an hour. As one comes into the cat room, Mistie introduces the cats to the patron by name, often

explaining their history and temperaments. The cats living there range in age from kitten to

seniors that are ten or older. During my observations, most of the people there were firstcomers

and many of them were students at Central Michigan University. It is also interesting to note that

most of the patrons are women. Generally, when men are there they are in a group of mostly

women or are in a family that is looking to adopt.

One of the regular patrons, Alison, was there for two of my observation sessions. Alison

is at Karma Kat Café enough that, like Mistie, she knows all the cats by name and their

temperaments. When she is with the cats, she speaks gently to them and tries to give them all a

chance to play with the teaser toys. She often seeks to keep conflict out of the cat room, which

can arise, as a few of the cats are aggressive with each other. Interestingly, some of the cats that

are aggressive with other animals are accepting and even affectionate to humans. Other patrons,

after becoming comfortable in the environment and with the cats, will also call the cats by name

and try to dispel conflict.

Conflict between cats is the only observable source of tension at Karma Kat, but is

usually temporary as one cat generally backs down to avoid confrontation. In the rare occasion

that two aggressive cats will confront one another, Mistie or a patron will separate them fairly
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quickly as the confrontations are vocal and easily known. This tends to result in one or both of

the cats being taken into the back for something of a time-out until they calm down. However,

play is far more common than conflict. Most patrons will use one of the many teaser toys to

entice the cats to play. The antics of the cats often result in laughter as the cats triumphantly

carry toys away, seeming to think it is an animal they have slaughtered. Laughter itself is argued

to have spiritual and health benefits and is common to be heard in the cat room during playtimes

(Berk 2004).

When groups of new patrons come in, they often stay close to one another before

becoming fully comfortable in the environment. Once they have begun interacting with the cats,

they will often disperse, depending on what cat they are drawn to most. In addition to people

being drawn to particular cats, some cats are drawn to particular people. While I am not qualified

to speak about how or why cats “choose” certain humans for interaction, it is something that

Mistie has noticed particularly in less sociable cats who will occasionally allow certain patrons to

pet or play with them. Interestingly, most people who are at Karma Kat Café will talk with other

people, whether or not they know them. Most of the talking is about the cats that are present or a

cat that lives at home or grew up with the patrons. When I asked Mistie about how patrons

interact with each other, she told me that she was surprised to see how much it happens.

Stereotypically, cat people are considered introverts and prefer cats to humans for interaction,

but being at Karma Kat seems to give people a common bonding topic.

Once they know the name of the cats, most patrons will call them by their names while

interacting with them. There are teaser toys, lasers, and catnip mice that patrons will use to play

with the cats. Teaser toys seem to be the most popular as they get multiple cats to play with them

at once. It is also common for the less sociable cats to play with the teaser toys as there is
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distance between the cat and the human. Often, patrons want to allow all the cats equal play time

and try to gently break up any fights that break out with the cats, which can happen. When

patrons leave, it is also common for them to hug, pet, or kiss the cats while saying goodbye.

They tend to focus these parting affections particularly on the cats they bonded with most.

Interviews

For this study, I performed three interviews. Two of my interviewees were students of

Central Michigan University who have visited the Karma Kat Café and I interviewed owner-

operator, Mistie Beckwith. In the interviews, I asked about why they decided to go to Karma Kat

Café and what their past experiences have been with cats and other animals. I also asked about

how they conceptualize health and wellness, religion and spirituality, and interaction with non-

human animals. Overall, I found that Anna and Alison, my two patron interviewees, saw the

domains of religion and spirituality, health and wellness, and animal interaction as being distinct

domains that can influence one another; whereas Mistie saw all three domains as heavily linked

to each other.

The first interview I conducted was with Anna, a sophomore communication sciences

and disorders major. When asked about her previous experience with cats and other animals,

Anna said that she has always had a cat at home, had a dog in high school, and has kept fish and

hermit crabs. She said that she prefers cats to the other animals as they can be interacted with and

are less upkeep than dogs. She said that one of the main reasons for her visiting Karma Kat Café

was because she is unable to keep a cat in her dorm on campus, which expectedly is one of the

most common reasons for students to visit. Anna’s religious background is Catholicism, which

she said influences her view on cats insofar as she believes that God created cats with certain

characteristics that can be appreciated by humans.

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She described her doctor as a functional, integrated doctor with a Catholic worldview, but

that Catholicism is not a large influence over her healthcare. She said that her doctor works to

pinpoint issues before prescribing anything and works with herbal medicines, dietary

supplements, and lifestyle change in addition to offering a more traditional Western biomedical

model. She said that there is holy water offered in the office for the sick and that she will

sometimes pray for herself or others who are sick, but that overall in her life the spheres of

medicine and religion are separate. She said that she feels cats have a positive influence over her

mental wellbeing, but that in physical and spiritual aspects, she does not see cats fitting in to a

great degree in terms of health and wellness.

My second interview was with Alison, who is a junior environmental science major at

Central Michigan University. Like Anna, she is also a Catholic. In Alison’s life, she has mainly

kept cats as companion animals, but has previously kept snails, slugs, fish, and she once had a

dog. She said that she prefers cats to the other animals as she finds them more affectionate. She

said that she enjoys both cats and dogs, but she chooses to focus primarily on cats in part because

she feels that society as a whole has embraced dogs more readily and she feels this is unfair. As

far as cats impact her health and wellbeing, she said that she feels cats help to calm her when she

is upset and that they have a positive impact on her mental health. However, she does not see a

huge benefit in terms of physical health from cats, which is consistent with previous research.

Alison was my only interviewee to distinctly define the terms “health” and “wellness” as

being different, conceptualizing “health” with the physical domain and “wellness” with the

mental domain. She defined “religion” and “spirituality” similarly, viewing “religion” as an

organized belief system and spirituality as being a personal relationship with God. She said that

her religion does not play much of a role in her interaction with the cats. She is however
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influenced slightly in her health by her Catholicism, in terms of what medications she will take

due to the affect they have over the natural state of her body.

My interview with Mistie was the last that I conducted for this project. Like my two

previous interviews, Mistie grew up Catholic, but eventually left that faith behind. Her

sympathies for Buddhist philosophy are very apparent in the name and décor of Karma Kat Café,

but also in her approach to life. In addition to Buddhist philosophy, she cited Native American

belief, Paganism, and the inevitable holdouts from her Catholic upbringing as being part of what

shapes her worldview. She said that these new worldviews were introduced to her in the religion

classes she took at Central years before.

As far as animal interaction, she said that she grew up around farm animals, has always

had cats and dogs, and has kept birds, reptiles, and other exotic pets in her lifetime. She said that

the struggle in keeping so many animals is that some of them do not like one another, so much of

her life involves shifting animals around to minimize conflict. She said that part of her

appreciation for cats comes from her love of wild animals, as domestic cats are essentially the

same as tigers only smaller. Like Alison, she also expressed concern for how cats are regarded in

society today. For example, she said that people in general have no issue with keeping cats

outside or keeping tens of cats on a single property, whereas both are considered neglectful,

abusive, and even illegal concerning dogs. She feels it is very important to remedy the way

society views cats at present and wants to use Karma Kat Café as a tool in that movement.

In terms of her views on health and wellness, Mistie is largely involved with alternative

and natural medicines. She feels partially that the current model in Western biomedicine is to

focus on symptoms rather than causes and that this is something that has caused people to take

potentially addictive and otherwise harmful medications that do not cure the problem. When
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asked how the domains of spirituality, health and wellness, and human/animal interaction are

connected, she said that they simply are. This was an answer that came very organically for her

and reflected her embracement of non-Western views on all three domains.

Each interview conducted gives a separate but overlapping perspective on the domains

that my research deals with. The first being religion and spirituality, all three interviewees are or

have been Catholics at one point in their lifetimes. Anna described how her doctor’s office has a

Catholic worldview and incorporates Catholicism to a degree but is still mostly a Western

biomedical practice. Further, Anna said that her belief that God created cats for the good that

they bring into our lives gives her further appreciation for them, though this is not something in

the forefront of her thinking while interacting with cats. Alison said that her faith informs her on

what medicines and practices to engage in, but that she mostly views health and wellness,

religion and spirituality, and animal interaction as being separate domains. Mistie views the three

domains as naturally integrated and a part of her daily life. Overall, I do not think that most

patrons of the Karma Kat Café see interacting with the cats as a large part of their spiritual or

wellness routines, which is likely because Western culture does not integrate those domains.

Recommendations for Further Research

This project has opened many doors for the possibility of future research. The first

recommendation I have is to have longer and more frequent observation periods. This allows the

ethnographer to build a rapport with the patrons and identify what patrons frequent Karma Kat

Café. By identifying regulars, the ethnographer can both observe them multiple times and

interview them and understand what the consensus is within the community that has built up

there. In addition to building rapport with patrons, it allows the ethnographer to bond with the

cats, learning them by name and temperament, knowing in an intimate way how the cats behave
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and how their behavior influences the mood of the room for the patrons. It would also be

beneficial to utilize animal behavioral study techniques to understand the cats in both an

objective and a subjective way. Through this research model, more definitive and insightful

conclusions may be drawn.

Conclusion

In general, the patrons of Karma Kat Café are mostly college-age women enrolled at

Central Michigan University. Because dorms restrict pets to non-predatory fish and apartments

vary on what pet fees and regulations are in place, many students are not able to keep a cat in

their living situations, motivating them to visit Karma Kat Café. From performing my interviews

and observations, patrons view cats as having a positive impact on their mental wellbeing, but do

not tend to see a major influence that cats have over their physical or spiritual health. This may

be in part because Western culture defines spiritual, mental, and physical health as very different

domains and spiritual being is not completely afforded to non-human animals in a Western

worldview. However, Mistie very much sees spirituality, health, and cats as being three fields

with significant overlap that is apparent in her work at Karma Kat and in her approach to life. I

feel that over time as a community grows around Karma Kat Café, these overlaps will become

more apparent in the patrons who frequent there.

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Works Cited

Beckwith, Mistie. Interviewed by Jacob D. Fishel. April 4, 2019. Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Berk, Lee S. 2004. “Mind, Body, Spirit: Exploring the Mind, Body, and Spirit Connection

Through Research on Mirthful Laughter.” In Spirituality, Health, and Wholeness: An

Introductory Guide for Health Care Professionals edited by Henry Lamberton and Siroj

Sorajjakool. Abingdon-upon-Thames: Routledge.

Brown, Carlton F. “Old Religion, New Spirituality, and Health Care.” In Spirituality and Health:

Multidisciplinary Explorations edited by Augustine Meier et al. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid

Laurier University Press.

Friedmann, Erika and Chia-Chun Tsai. 2006. “The Animal-Human Bond: Health and Wellness.”

In Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy: Theoretical Foundations and Guidelines for

Practice edited by Aubrey H. Fine. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science & Technology.

Hines, Linda M. 2003. “Historical Perspectives on the Human-Animal Bond.” American

Behavioral Scientist 47(1): 7-15.

McLean, Anna. Interviewed by Jacob D. Fishel. March 29, 2019. Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Veresh, Alison. Interviewed by Jacob D. Fishel. March 30, 2019. Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Vermeylen, Saskia. 2017. “Materiality and the Ontological Turn in the Anthropocene:

Establishing a Dialogue between Law, Anthropology and Eco-Philosophy.” In

Environmental Law and Governance for the Anthropocene edited by Louis Kotzé. New

York: Bloomsbury PLC