The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update added a number of new items, most notably the construction of cat cafes, which sparked an incredibly adorable design trend among players. At the center of everything is a stuffed cat, which comes in a variety of color swatches, including an orange tabby and a calico cat, giving players a variety of cats to play with (an anthropomorphic cat may even live in your town).
A stuffed cat is one of the items included in the new dockside hotel. Once you complete the four hotel rooms, the stuffed cat will be available for purchase from Gran’s catalog the next day for 120 hotel tickets. New Horizons previously had some cat-themed items such as litter boxes and cat towers, but until the 3.0 update arrived, there were no actual cats available for player builds. The stuffed puppy was previously introduced in the 1.6 update, but it didn’t come with a cat.
The introduction of a single item gave players the inspiration to design their own version of a cat cafe. Some, like Reddit user ButIDigress79, have chosen to transform a previously built cafe (which acts as a patronage business) in the DLC Happy Home Paradise to a cat theme. Their builds especially feature a lot of creative reuse of objects, such as the mushrooms from the Mario set and the Rabbit Day tree reconfigured as climbable items and activities for the cat.
Some players, like YouTuber zoibean, have turned their entire homes into cat paradises. This method allows you to create areas with different themes. For example, their areas include a main room where they make coffee, a playroom, and what they describe as a “classy cat tea lounge.”
Many of the other new items in the 3.0 update definitely helped with these builds, such as the mug shelf, marble kitchen island, and circle cushions. These additions, combined with old favorites like espresso machines, food added in the 2.0 update, and the aforementioned cat items, create a trend that’s totally meowberous.
