Cat Cafés, Adoption and Volunteering in Boston: A Cat Lover's Guide

Some of the places that care for Boston's cats have been at it for well over a century. MSPCA-Angell was founded in 1868, the Ellen M. Gifford Cat Shelter in 1884, and the Animal Rescue League of Boston in 1899, partly in response to the stray and homeless animals on the city's streets. All three still adopt out cats today.

The cat cafés are much newer, and each of the area's three runs on a different model. A Sanctuary Cafe in Beacon Hill keeps resident cats that aren't up for adoption. Kitty Cat Cafe in Peabody is a nonprofit where every cat is adoptable. Lazy Cat Lounge in Lowell has both.

This guide covers the Boston area, which for us means about 40 miles around downtown: the city, Cambridge and Somerville, the North Shore and Merrimack Valley, MetroWest and the towns to the south. 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

Cat cafés

All three cafés set 8 as the minimum age for the cat room. Beyond that, they work very differently, so check which model you're visiting before you go.

A Sanctuary Cafe, Beacon Hill

A Sanctuary Cafe, at 80 Charles St, is a café, a micro-bookstore and a cat lounge in one storefront. Its cats are permanent residents and are not adoptable. That's deliberate: every cat was adopted from a Boston-area shelter or rescue, with a focus on stray, community and colony cats, and the café chose to keep them as residents so they can live stable, lower-stress lives. If you want to adopt from a café, head to Peabody or Lowell instead.

The cat room sits behind a window wall and has its own HVAC system, so you can watch the cats from the café without going in. The café and bookstore, a small, curated selection of new titles, are free to enter; the cat lounge takes a reservation. Children under 8 aren't allowed in the lounge, and ages 8 to 14 need an adult with them. The café and bookstore opened in July 2024 and the cat lounge in November 2024. The Boston Globe reported in 2024 that the owner set it up as a benefit corporation, with plans to put its profits toward books for Boston Public Schools students and grassroots help for the city's cats.

The building is ADA compliant, with a lift between levels. The nearest T stop is Charles/MGH on the Red Line, about two and a half blocks away. See A Sanctuary Cafe on MeowScout.

Kitty Cat Cafe and Adoption Lounge, Peabody

Kitty Cat Cafe, at 108 Newbury St on Route 1 South in Peabody, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit run mostly by volunteers, and every cat in it is adoptable. The cats come from two North Shore rescues, PAWS Wakefield and PALS Animal Life Savers (more on both below). To adopt, you apply through the rescue; once you're approved, you come back for a bonding visit while the café is closed before taking your cat home.

It opened in November 2022. By early 2023, the Boston Globe reported, its founders had visited 22 cat cafés around the world. Children under 8 aren't allowed in the cat area, and ages 8 to 14 need an adult. See Kitty Cat Cafe on MeowScout.

Lazy Cat Lounge, Lowell

Lazy Cat Lounge, at 177 Merrimack St in downtown Lowell, opened in March 2025 as a coffee shop with a separate cat room, which it describes as a "Victorian library setting." It's a hybrid. Four permanent resident cats, adopted from the Lowell Humane Society, live there, alongside adoptable cats it fosters for Happy Tails Pet Rescue, a small, all-volunteer, no-kill cat rescue in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Adoption applications go to Happy Tails.

The cat room is for ages 8 and up. Lazy Cat also hosts events in the cat room, such as D&D, trivia, yoga and paint nights; its site has the calendar.

Closed: PURR Cat Cafe in Brighton opened in 2017 and closed in 2019. Its old space, at 167 Chestnut Hill Ave, has been The Cat Connection's rescue shelter since 2021.

Where to adopt

Boston Animal Care and Control

Boston Animal Care and Control is the city's shelter, at 26 Mahler Rd in Roslindale, between Forest Hills and Roslindale Square. It has set adoption hours and a full-time staff veterinarian. Cambridge doesn't run a shelter of its own; see "Found a cat?" below for where its strays go.

The big shelters in Boston

• MSPCA-Angell Boston Adoption Center, Jamaica Plain. MSPCA-Angell was founded in 1868. At its adoption center at 350 South Huntington Ave, as at all its centers, you don't need an appointment or a pre-application to come in and meet the cats. MSPCA-Angell runs three more adoption centers: Nevins Farm in Methuen, the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem (both below) and one on Cape Cod.
• Animal Rescue League of Boston, South End and Dedham. Founded in 1899 by Anna Harris Smith, a Dorchester social worker, partly in response to the stray and homeless animals on Boston's streets and the mistreatment of its working horses. It adopts from 10 Chandler St in the South End and from its Dedham campus, which began in 1907 as Pine Ridge, a rest home for working horses. A third center is in Brewster on Cape Cod. By its own count, it has helped more than 6.2 million animals since 1899 (as of 2024).
• Ellen M. Gifford Cat Shelter, Brighton. A cat-only, cageless, no-kill shelter founded in 1884, where the cats roam free. Its rebuilt shelter, the Campion Center, opened in June 2024 with 13 free-roam cat rooms. Adoption is by appointment only, for approved applicants, so apply before you visit.

North Shore and Merrimack Valley

• Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society (MRFRS), Salisbury. A cat-only, no-kill adoption center with room for up to 60 cats. It was founded in 1992 in response to more than 300 free-roaming cats on the Newburyport waterfront. Adoption is walk-in, and same-day adoption is possible. It adopts out cats with feline leukemia (FeLV) and runs a lifetime Chronic Care program for cats with ongoing conditions.
• MSPCA at Nevins Farm, Methuen. No appointment needed to meet the cats. It also adopts out horses and farm animals, by appointment.
• Northeast Animal Shelter, Salem. Founded in 1976 and managed by MSPCA-Angell since January 2021, though it's still a separate organization. In 1994 it started a relocation program that brings cats and dogs from overpopulated shelters elsewhere in the country to New England for adoption; the MSPCA took that operation over in 2021. As at the other MSPCA centers, no appointment is needed.
• Lowell Humane Society, Lowell. Where Lazy Cat Lounge's resident cats came from. It runs volunteer, foster and pet food pantry programs.
• Cape Ann Animal Aid, Gloucester. A no-kill shelter for dogs and cats.

MetroWest

• MetroWest Humane Society, Ashland. A cat-focused, volunteer-led, no-kill shelter founded in 1976. It also does trapping, trap-neuter-return and spay/neuter assistance.
• Buddy Dog Humane Society, Sudbury. Adopts out cats as well as dogs, despite the name. Every visit is by appointment: you apply online, have a Zoom chat with a counselor, and then meet the cat in person.

South of Boston

• Quincy Animal Shelter, Quincy. A nonprofit shelter housed in the City of Quincy Animal Care Center on Quarry Street. It tries to get kittens out of the shelter and into foster homes.
• Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, Brockton. A nonprofit care and adoption facility for cats, dogs and small animals.

Adopting at pet stores

A few local rescues keep cats at PetSmart stores. PALS Animal Life Savers has its main adoption location inside the PetSmart at 10 Traders Way in Salem. Second Chance Animal Services runs a satellite cat adoption center in the Framingham PetSmart. Carmah Cat Rescue keeps cats at the Hudson PetSmart, and the Billerica Cat Care Coalition holds meet-and-greets at the Chelmsford PetSmart. Other stores' cat rooms may be run by other groups, so check before you go.

Rescues worth knowing

Many of these rescues are foster-based, with no building: their cats live in volunteers' homes until they're adopted. These stand out for what they take on.

Special needs

• Black Cat Rescue, Somerville and Boston. A no-kill, all-volunteer, foster-based rescue founded in 2007 for what it calls "undercats": black cats, seniors, shy cats, hospice cats and cats with special medical or behavioral needs. Some of its listed cats are still in medical care in foster before they're ready to go home.
• The Odd Cat Sanctuary, Salem. A mostly foster-based nonprofit for the cats other shelters struggle to place: feral and semi-feral cats, seniors, sick and injured cats, amputees, blind cats and cats with cerebellar hypoplasia. WBZ reported in 2022 that it had helped about 5,000 cats in its first 10 years.
• MRFRS, above, is the place to look if you're open to adopting a cat with feline leukemia.

Kittens and long-term fostering

• Kitty Connection, Medford. An all-volunteer rescue whose animals all live in volunteers' foster homes until they're adopted. It recruits short-term fosters for kittens during kitten season and long-term fosters to re-domesticate cats that have the potential; for those, experience is preferred. It also does trap-neuter-return and runs a Community Cat Fund.
• The Cat Connection, Brighton. An all-volunteer, no-kill rescue that began informally in Waltham and incorporated in 2000. In August 2021 it opened its own shelter on Chestnut Hill Avenue, in PURR Cat Cafe's old space. It rescues bottle babies, socializes feral kittens, feeds colonies and does trap-neuter-return-maintain. By its own count, it made 447 adoptions in 2023.

Community cats

• Charles River Alleycats, Charlestown and Cambridge. A volunteer-powered trap-neuter-return and rescue nonprofit founded in 2002, working across more than 120 Eastern Massachusetts communities. Friendly cats and kittens it pulls are socialized and passed to partner shelters for adoption. Its site says the Animal Control Officers Association of Massachusetts named it Organization of the Year in 2023. Cambridge's city site sends feral-cat callers here.
• Billerica Cat Care Coalition, Billerica. A no-kill rescue that has helped abandoned and homeless cats and kittens in Billerica since 2004.

The North Shore partners

• PAWS Wakefield. An all-volunteer group, founded in 1982, that rescues and fosters cats and arranges their adoptions. It runs a humane response line for lost and found cats, a pet food pantry and low-cost spay/neuter help, and by its own count it helped 222 cats in 2025. It's one of Kitty Cat Cafe's two partners.
• PALS Animal Life Savers, Salem and Peabody. A cat-only, volunteer-driven, no-kill group, about 30 years old by its own count. It's Kitty Cat Cafe's other partner.

Other models

• Off the Rocks Animal Rescue, Wellesley. Brings adoptable cats from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where cat numbers are high, to be adopted in New England.
• Carmah Cat Rescue, Hudson. An all-volunteer cat rescue for central Massachusetts. Its cats live in foster homes and at the Hudson PetSmart, and it does trap-neuter-return.

Volunteering and fostering

Many of the shelters and rescues above need help, and many have cat-specific roles: cat care and cleaning, socializing shy cats, feeding colonies, trapping, driving cats to the vet, and fostering. Many start with an application and some training, and many set a minimum age. Requirements change, so check each group's volunteer page.

• ARL volunteers must be at least 16 and able to give at least six months, and once placed they attend an orientation and training.
• MSPCA-Angell volunteers help with daily care and enrichment at the adoption centers, from age 16.
• Gifford volunteers help care for, clean up after and play with the cats. It has a separate foster program.
• MetroWest Humane Society has roles in feeding feral colonies, caregiving, socializing shy cats, vet transport and trapping. Volunteers are 18 or older (17 with two teacher references) and commit to six months.
• The Cat Connection needs trappers, feeders, cleaners, people to give medications and drivers for vet runs.
• Kitty Cat Cafe runs mostly on volunteers; contact the café to get involved.
• Boston Animal Care and Control takes shelter volunteers through a form on the city's site.

Fostering: many of these groups depend on foster homes. ARL most needs fosters for animals with medical or behavioral concerns; it covers their veterinary care and can provide food and supplies. Quincy Animal Shelter's kitten fosters typically keep a litter for five to eight weeks, with supplies and medical care provided. Kitty Connection takes short-term kitten fosters and long-term fosters for cats being re-domesticated. Black Cat Rescue, PAWS Wakefield, PALS and Carmah all recruit fosters too.

Found a cat?

In Boston

Call 311 to report a stray, injured or sick animal. Boston Animal Care and Control's officers are on call after hours for emergencies.

In Cambridge and Somerville

• Cambridge has no city shelter. Call Cambridge Animal Control or send it the city's found-cat form with a photo. For feral cats, the city points to Charles River Alleycats.
• Somerville: report it to Somerville Animal Control through 311. The department responds to sick and injured animals and takes them to the MSPCA or a vet as needed.

Elsewhere in the area

Call your town's animal control officer. What they'll do varies from town to town, as Boston, Cambridge and Somerville show. If you find kittens, ask your town's officer, ARL's Community Cat Program or Charles River Alleycats what to do before you move them.

If a cat is badly hurt, Angell Animal Medical Center in Jamaica Plain has a 24/7 emergency and critical care service, and Angell West is in Waltham. Expect to pay for treatment.

Lowell Humane Society has a found-a-pet page, and in the Wakefield area PAWS Wakefield's humane response line handles lost and found cats. If you've lost a cat, file a lost-cat report with the MSPCA and check the strays it lists on its site.

Community cats and trap-neuter-return

ARL estimates there are about 70,000 community cats in Boston and about 700,000 in Massachusetts.

• ARL's Community Cat Program: a rescue agent assesses a colony and makes a trap-neuter-return plan, and friendly cats can be taken in for adoption.
• Charles River Alleycats: request help for an outdoor cat through its site.
• MRFRS holds monthly Sunday trap-neuter-return clinics for feral cats only at Nevins Farm in Methuen, and its Captain Courageous Fund helps injured or sick ferals.
• MetroWest Humane Society does trapping and trap-neuter-return, and Kitty Connection and The Cat Connection work with colonies too.

Low-cost spay and neuter

• MSPCA-Angell's Clinic Boston in Jamaica Plain offers low-cost spay/neuter and vaccines for income-qualified Greater Boston residents, and accepts MAF vouchers.
• ARL's Spay Waggin' is a mobile surgery unit that rotates through towns including Boston and Brockton. It takes feral cats in humane traps; they're ear-tipped and returned.
• MRFRS runs the Catmobile, a mobile spay/neuter service, and its FARS fund helps low-income Massachusetts residents with vet costs.
• The Massachusetts Animal Fund gives free spay/neuter vouchers to low-income residents. You apply through your local animal control officer, and Tufts warns the waitlist can run past 12 months.
• PAWS Wakefield and MetroWest Humane Society offer spay/neuter help, and The Cat Connection keeps a list of low-cost options.

Annual cat events

• Catsachusetts Cat Show, East Boston, every spring, usually in late April. It's a family-friendly TICA show open to visitors, where non-pedigreed household pets, rescue cats among them, compete in their own category alongside the pedigreed breeds.
• CatVideoFest at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, every late summer. Part of the ticket proceeds goes to local cats in need.

For what's happening this month, see cat events on MeowScout.

FAQ

Is there a cat café in Boston?

Yes. A Sanctuary Cafe in Beacon Hill is the cat café inside the city itself. Kitty Cat Cafe in Peabody and Lazy Cat Lounge in Lowell are within the wider Boston area.

Can you adopt a cat from a cat café in Boston?

Not at A Sanctuary Cafe: its cats are permanent residents. You can at Kitty Cat Cafe, by applying through PAWS Wakefield or PALS, and at Lazy Cat Lounge, through Happy Tails Pet Rescue.

How old do you have to be to visit a cat café near Boston?

All three cafés set 8 as the minimum for the cat room. At A Sanctuary Cafe and Kitty Cat Cafe, ages 8 to 14 need an adult with them.

What should I do if I find a stray cat in Boston?

In Boston, call 311. In Cambridge, call Cambridge Animal Control; in Somerville, use 311. For a feral colony, contact ARL's Community Cat Program or Charles River Alleycats.

Where can I volunteer with cats in Boston?

ARL, MSPCA-Angell, Gifford Cat Shelter and Boston Animal Care and Control all take volunteers, as do MetroWest Humane Society and many of the rescues above. Many of them also need fosters.

Is PURR Cat Cafe still open?

No. The Brighton café closed in 2019.

Explore MeowScout

• Everything MeowScout lists in Boston
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