Our nonprofit was established almost 5 years ago, in early March 2020. Our mission is to help rescued cats and kittens find safe, loving, permanent homes. Opening the lounge was a vehicle to facilitate adoptions and is the main reason the lounge exists. We appreciate everyone who visits and shops at the lounge, as that income helps fund the costs we incur in keeping the lounge running, such as rent, utilities, wifi, security, insurance, and upkeep. If we were a foster-based organization we would only have costs for food, litter, and medical, which would mean much lower costs. We would not, however, have a public place for people to easily meet the cats in our care. The lounge provides a safe, public opportunity for that. We have never wanted to be a “cat cafe” or a for-profit business, nor have we wanted to hire employees and be open 5-6 days a week for 6-8 hours per day. Our mission drives our decisions and our mission is to help cats find safe homes. A happy medium for many rescues would be foster homes where cats are cared for lovingly and then public spaces where cats could be brought to meet prospective adopters in as calm and stress-free an environment as possible. Of course, most cats don’t want to get into carriers, don’t travel well, and might not show their best or real selves in such an environment. And so we come back to the idea of the lounge, where the cats can live full-time and try to relax as best they can, while the public can meet them on their home territory. An ideal lounge space might be smaller than ours, or larger; that’s hard to say. We wish we had a catio for the cats and a chance for them to have access to fresh air and sunshine. A completely closed-off room (or 2 or 3) for intakes would be helpful. Maybe there’s a property out there that would be better, more ideal? The lounge doesn’t have to continue on forever as is. The location could change. We could close it altogether and open up foster homes as we decide if/where to reopen. Maybe there are more cat lovers out there who want to see something completely different in Ventura and we invite them to jump into the deep end with us! Based on the donations and support we receive it is clear that people in our area appreciate what we are trying to do for the cats in our care. At the end of the day our mission will always drive our decisions: help rescued cats and kittens find safe, loving, permanent homes.

We have put together our annual report for 2024. The nonprofit was established in March of 2020 and the lounge opened in June of 2021. Enjoy these updates.

With the holidays approaching we wanted to share our plans:

*We will be open as usual through Sunday, December 22.
*We will be closed Wednesday, December 25 – Saturday, December 28. Our volunteers will be enjoying some well-deserved downtime as they enjoy the holidays with their families and friends.
*We will be open Sunday, December 29.
*We will be open Wednesday, January 1 – come spend the first day of 2025 with the cats!

Please note that the last day we will send adopted kitties home will be Thursday, December 19, and we will resume placements beginning Thursday, January 2.

A question we occasionally hear: “Why do I have to pay just to see the cats?”

We offer an experience of being among cats. Like going to a zoo, Disneyland, or the movies, guests pay for the experience of being around our group of cats. Unlike city or county shelters, we are not funded through taxes. We are an independent nonprofit organization.

“But I’m interested in adopting.”

People who end up adopting get their visit fees credited toward their adoption fee. But yes, we do ask people who are in the market to adopt to pay the entrance fee.

“You charge per person?”

Yes. We limit how many people can be in the lounge at once to minimize the stress on the cats and keep the experience more enjoyable for visitors.

“Don’t you want to adopt out the cats?”

We do. If our entry fee is a barrier to adoption we kindly point potential adopters to other locations including the county shelter.

Please note the following schedule changes for the week of Thanksgiving:

We will be closed Wednesday – Saturday (November 27-30).
We will be open our usual hours on Sunday, December 1st (12-4pm).

Our volunteers will be caring for the cats and enjoying some time with family and friends!