Austin has been a no-kill community since 2011, the year the city shelter's live-outcome rate passed 90%. Austin Pets Alive! calls it "the largest and longest-running No Kill city in the nation," and the city's own volunteer page calls Austin "America's largest No Kill city." The city shelter works alongside two private nonprofits: Austin Pets Alive!, which takes animals at risk of euthanasia, and Austin Humane Society, which runs the free community-cat surgery program with the city.
That shapes what happens if you find a cat here. The city runs a free Shelter-Neuter-Return program: healthy stray cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and ear-tipped, and the ones most comfortable outdoors go back to where they were found. The "Found a cat?" section below explains how it works.
This guide covers the Austin area, which for us means about 40 miles around downtown: Travis County, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Georgetown to the north, Kyle, San Marcos and Dripping Springs to the south, and Bastrop and Lockhart to the east. It walks through the cat cafés, the places to adopt, the rescues worth knowing, how to volunteer or foster, and what to do if you find a cat. Opening hours, fees and booking details change, so we leave those to the venues' own sites and our listing pages.
At a glance
| If you want to… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Visit a cat café | Purrfecto Cat Lounge (South Lamar) or Sydney's Cat Lounge (East Austin) |
| Work from a café with cats around | Sydney's Cat Lounge |
| Adopt from the city shelter | Austin Animal Center (East Austin) |
| Adopt a cat with feline leukemia | Austin Pets Alive!'s FeLV program |
| Bottle-feed newborn kittens | Austin Pets Alive!'s Neonatal Kitten Nursery |
| Volunteer as a teenager | Austin Pets Alive! (from 12, with a parent) or Austin Humane Society (from 14, with a guardian) |
| Found a healthy stray in Austin | The city's free Shelter-Neuter-Return program; see "Found a cat?" below |
| Help a feral colony | Austin Humane Society's Community Cat Program |
Cat cafés
Both of the metro's open cat cafés are in central Austin. We didn't find one in Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Kyle, Pflugerville, Bastrop or Lockhart.
Purrfecto Cat Lounge, South Lamar
Purrfecto, at 2300 S Lamar Blvd, opened in July 2022. Austin had gone without a cat café since Blue Cat Café closed in 2019. The lounge cats belong to foster-based partner rescues, currently Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue and Kingdom Rescue, and its adoption links also go to Bear Den Cat Sanctuary.
If you fall for a cat, the partner rescue handles the application and interview, then the lounge schedules the pickup. The cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped before they go home. By its own count, more than 1,900 cats had been adopted through the lounge as of October 2026.
Beyond regular visits, Purrfecto hosts event nights in the lounge, such as painting with the cats, yoga with cats, sound baths and themed celebrations. See Purrfecto Cat Lounge on MeowScout.
Sydney's Cat Lounge, East Austin
Sydney's, at 3407 E 7th St, opened in November 2025. It isn't a café partnering with an outside rescue: it's run by its own nonprofit, Sydney's Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) created in 2024, and it's on the city's list of Austin Animal Services rescue partners. Its FAQ describes adoptable kittens alongside its "resident royals."
Austin Monthly describes a lounge themed on *Alice in Wonderland* and *Bridgerton*, with a backyard catio and a mini topiary hedge maze, and with adoptable cats from Lockhart Animal Shelter and Central Texas Feline Rescue when it visited. Community Impact notes that visitors can co-work there alongside the cats.
Adopting starts with an application. An adoption coordinator follows up, and once the contract is signed the cat goes home for a seven-day "sleepover" to make sure it's a good match. Booking and the adoption application are both on the lounge's own site.
Closed: Blue Cat Café, on Navasota Street in East Austin, opened in 2015 with adoptable cats and closed in 2019.
Where to adopt
Austin Animal Center
Austin Animal Center, at 7201 Levander Loop in East Austin, is the municipal shelter for Austin and unincorporated Travis County. Adoption is walk-in. The city works with more than 180 rescue partners (as of 2026).
The big private shelters
- Austin Pets Alive!, downtown. A private shelter that focuses on animals at risk of euthanasia, with its main location at 1156 W Cesar Chavez. By its own count it has saved more than 140,000 animals since 2008 (as of 2026). Its Neonatal Kitten Nursery started in 2009 in a trailer and now runs from its Tarrytown facility; APA describes it as the first of its kind in the nation. Its Feline Leukemia (FeLV) Adoption program has run since 2011: adoption fees for FeLV-positive cats are waived, and FeLV-related care is free for life. It also runs a ringworm program and a Barn Cat program.
- Austin Humane Society, North Austin. At 124 W Anderson Lane, founded in 1952. It calls itself "the longest-standing no-kill, non-profit pet adoption center in Austin." It's also the city's partner on community cats (see "Found a cat?").
- Texas Humane Heroes, Leander. A private no-kill nonprofit established in 1979 that takes no government funding. Its adoption center is at 10930 E Crystal Falls Pkwy, and it also runs a low-cost spay/neuter and vet clinic.
- Central Texas SPCA, Leander. Founded in 1988, it pulls dogs and cats from high-kill shelters and doesn't take strays or owner surrenders. It's building a new facility and plans to become Central Texas Tails of Hope when the new building opens. During construction it has asked visitors to make an appointment, so check its site before you go.
North: Williamson County and Pflugerville
- Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, Georgetown. A joint shelter for Williamson County and the cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Hutto. The Georgetown Animal Shelter merged into it in July 2025.
- Pflugerville Animal Shelter. The city's own shelter, run by Pflugerville Animal Welfare Services, with adoptable cats listed on the city's site.
South: Hays County
- San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter, San Marcos. At 750 River Road, it's the stray-intake shelter for all of Hays County, including Kyle and Buda. It recruits foster homes and runs a Working Cat Program.
- Hays County Pets Alive! and PAWS Shelter of Central Texas. Since September 2026, PAWS has operated in partnership with Hays County Pets Alive!, a new Austin Pets Alive! initiative. PAWS's Kyle campus closed in July 2026; its Dripping Springs campus is open. This is changing quickly, so check the site before visiting.
East: Bastrop and Caldwell counties
- Bastrop County Animal Services, Bastrop. Call ahead or walk in during business hours. Some of its adoptable animals live in foster homes.
- Lockhart Animal Shelter, Lockhart. A small city shelter that lists its adoptable animals on the city's site. Austin Monthly names it as one of the sources of the cats at Sydney's Cat Lounge.
Rescues worth knowing
Some of these rescues have no shelter building: their cats live in volunteers' homes until they're adopted. These stand out for what they take on.
Special needs and FeLV
- Shadow Cats, Round Rock. Founded in 1997, it gives long-term care to special-needs cats in a cage-free sanctuary and runs trap-neuter-return. It takes only unowned stray and feral cats, not owner surrenders.
- Austin Pets Alive!'s FeLV program (see "Where to adopt") is the place to start if you want to give a home to a cat with feline leukemia.
Community cats and colonies
- Central Texas Feline Rescue. An all-volunteer group. Since 2007 its volunteers have fed and managed colonies of feral cats: "over 145 feral cats in dozens of colonies daily," by its own count (as of 2026). Austin Monthly lists it as one of the sources of the cats at Sydney's Cat Lounge.
- Thundering Paws, Dripping Springs. A no-kill cat rescue since 2001. Most of its cats live in foster homes, the neediest live in a small sanctuary, and it runs a trap-neuter-vaccinate-return program.
Austin's campus cats have a history of their own. According to The Alcalde, UT Austin's Campus Cat Coalition formed in 1995, after a 1994 roundup in which 14 campus cats were trapped and euthanized. Using trap-neuter-return, it cut the campus population from more than 100 cats to 15 by 2010.
Breed rescues
- Austin Siamese Rescue. A rescue for Siamese and Siamese-mix cats, and an Austin Animal Services rescue partner. It isn't a central shelter: its cats live with fosters, and you contact a cat's foster directly with questions.
- SOS Cat Rescue (Siamese Oriental and Snowshoe Cat Rescue). A volunteer-run nonprofit founded in 2017, it says it has rescued more than 3,500 cats and kittens (as of 2026).
Volunteering and fostering
The city shelter, Austin Pets Alive! and Austin Humane Society all have cat-specific volunteer roles. Getting started typically means an application and an orientation, and the minimum age varies. Requirements change, so check each group's volunteer page.
- Austin Animal Center has two cat roles: Cat Enrichment & Adoption, and Cat and Kitten Medical Assistant, which helps care for cats with ringworm or upper respiratory illness. Volunteers typically go through an orientation and a background check and commit to at least six hours a month, with supervision rules for ages 13 to 16.
- Austin Pets Alive! takes volunteers from age 12 (ages 12 to 15 with a parent). Cat roles include cat care, ringworm treatment, feeding neonatal kittens, and helping visitors in the cat adoption centers.
- Austin Humane Society takes cat volunteers from 14 (ages 14 and 15 with a guardian), for roles such as cat socializing, laundry, pet photography and events. Onboarding is a virtual orientation, online modules and a two-hour training session.
- The smaller rescues run on volunteers too. Central Texas Feline Rescue is entirely volunteer-run, Thundering Paws relies on volunteers and foster homes, and Texas Humane Heroes in Leander takes both volunteers and fosters.
Fostering: Austin Pets Alive! recruits foster homes for bottle babies and other cats. By its own count, its nursery has pulled "100% of the unweaned kitten population" from Austin Animal Center since 2011 and saved more than 20,000 kittens since 2009 (as of 2026). Austin Animal Center, Austin Humane Society, Thundering Paws and the San Marcos shelter also recruit fosters.
Found a cat?
In Austin and unincorporated Travis County
If a found cat has a life-threatening emergency, call 311.
If it's healthy and unowned, the city's route is Shelter-Neuter-Return. You can bring one or two adult cats at a time during drop-off hours, with no appointment, in a hard carrier or humane trap. Each gets a free spay or neuter, a rabies vaccine and an ear tip. The city's guide to the program says stray adult cats are also evaluated for adoption, and the ones most comfortable outdoors go back to where they were found. For a larger colony, volunteer trappers can help for free, though the city warns of a large backlog. A Community Cat Medical Voucher covers some non-urgent care. Details are on the city's community cats page.
If you find kittens, the city's advice is to wait: the mother is usually nearby, and if the kittens are healthy and safe, leave them until they're six to eight weeks old before bringing in the family. Austin Pets Alive!'s nursery takes its kittens from the city shelter, so start with the city.
Austin Humane Society's Community Cat Program has run since 2007 and partners with the city. It spays or neuters unowned cats trapped in Travis County and gives them rabies vaccines. It's by appointment only, the cat must arrive in a covered humane trap, and trap rental is free. By its own count it has served more than 90,000 cats (as of 2026).
Elsewhere in the metro
- Williamson County: contact the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter or your city's animal control. According to Community Impact, the regional shelter runs trap-neuter-vaccinate-return clinics for community cats as well as low-cost spay/neuter clinics.
- Hays County: the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter has community-cat resources and a Working Cat Program. Around Dripping Springs, Thundering Paws runs trap-neuter-vaccinate-return.
- Bastrop County: contact Bastrop County Animal Services.
Low-cost spay and neuter
Emancipet began in 1999 as a small mobile clinic, partnered with the City of Austin in 2001, and merged with Animal Trustees of Austin in 2016. It runs low-cost spay/neuter and basic vet clinics in Austin and Pflugerville. Texas Humane Heroes runs a low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Leander, and the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter holds low-cost spay/neuter clinics.
Annual cat events
- POP Cats Austin, every August at the Palmer Events Center: a cat convention with adoptable cats from local rescues. Guests may bring their own cats.
- Austin Humane Society Kitten Shower, every spring: a free, family-friendly fundraiser for kitten season, with adoptable kittens. The 2026 shower was the 12th.
The Austin Cat Fanciers club holds its cat show in Temple, outside the area this guide covers. For what's happening this month, see cat events on MeowScout.
FAQ
Can you adopt a cat from a cat café in Austin?
Yes. At Purrfecto Cat Lounge the cats belong to partner rescues, which handle the application. At Sydney's Cat Lounge you apply to its own nonprofit, and the cat's first week home is a seven-day "sleepover."
Does Austin Animal Center take stray cats?
Healthy stray cats go through the city's free Shelter-Neuter-Return program: they're spayed or neutered, vaccinated and ear-tipped, and evaluated for adoption, and the ones most comfortable outdoors go back to where they were found. Call 311 if a cat has a life-threatening emergency.
I found kittens outside in Austin. What should I do?
If they're healthy and safe, leave them where they are; the mother is usually nearby. The city asks you to wait until they're six to eight weeks old before bringing in the family.
Is Austin a no-kill city?
Yes. The city shelter's live-outcome rate passed 90% in 2011, and Austin has been a no-kill community since.
Where can I volunteer with cats in Austin?
Austin Animal Center, Austin Pets Alive! and Austin Humane Society all have cat-specific roles, and Austin Pets Alive! takes volunteers from age 12 with a parent. Several of the rescues above also take fosters.
Are there cat cafés in Round Rock or San Marcos?
Not that we found. Both of the area's open cat cafés are in central Austin.