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

The Seattle area has five cat cafés spread around Puget Sound, in Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Kirkland, Bremerton and Puyallup, and all five have adoptable cats. Seattle Meowtropolitan opened in December 2015 as Seattle's first cat café. Cats were living free in rooms here well before that: PAWS Cat City, a cat-only adoption center with no cages, has been placing cats since 1997.

The region also has several homes for cats that are hard to place. NEKO hosts cats with feline leukemia virus (FeLV), Purrfect Pals runs separate sanctuaries for FeLV-positive and FIV-positive cats, and Seattle Area Feline Rescue often takes FIV-positive cats.

This guide covers the Seattle area, which for us means about 40 miles around downtown: the city, the Eastside, south Snohomish County up to Everett, Tacoma and Puyallup, and Kitsap County and Vashon Island across the Sound. 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

Every café below has cats up for adoption. NEKO and Seattle Meowtropolitan also keep a few resident cats who live there for good.

NEKO, Capitol Hill

NEKO, at 519 E Pine St, keeps a cat room of rescue cats from two sources: Alley Cat Project, a Seattle trap-neuter-return group, and Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC). Some are adoptable, and some are what NEKO calls "purrmanent residents."

NEKO also hosts cats who have FeLV, to help them get adopted faster, and it explains the virus on an FAQ page for anyone weighing a FeLV-positive cat.

The café side is cat-free and open to anyone, with or without a reservation for the cat room, and you can watch the cats through the windows. Seattle is NEKO's flagship; there's a second NEKO in Bellingham, well outside this guide's area. See NEKO on MeowScout.

Seattle Meowtropolitan, Wallingford

Seattle Meowtropolitan, at 1225 N 45th St in Wallingford (west of the University District), opened in December 2015 as Seattle's first cat café. Its nonprofit arm, the Meowtropolitan Foundation, pulls the lounge cats from local shelters. The café opened in partnership with RASKC, which its adoption FAQ still calls its partner shelter, and its nonprofit page says the Foundation began a new rescue program in 2024.

It rarely has kittens. Meowtropolitan focuses on cats who need help getting adopted, usually 6 months or older, and says it's "not a high volume adoption agency." Alongside the adoptable cats are its resident "Knights of Meowtropolitan," who aren't up for adoption.

The lounge typically welcomes visitors 6 and older, and some weekend evening sessions are for adults only. The Foundation also organized the 2025 Sea-Meow Convention (see Annual cat events). See Seattle Meowtropolitan on MeowScout.

The Whole Cat & Kaboodle, Kirkland

Across Lake Washington in downtown Kirkland, at 202 Kirkland Ave, The Whole Cat & Kaboodle is a grooming spa, boarding facility, rescue and cat lounge under one roof. The store opened in 2013, and the café and adoption center came with its 2017 move to the current location.

It's a rescue in its own right, and it focuses on cats that are hard to place: by its own account, more than 80% of its cats need some rehabilitation. By its own count, it handles around 300 adoptions a year (as of 2026). The founder also started a sanctuary for unadoptable cats in 2000.

Ziggy's Cat Lounge, Bremerton

Ziggy's Cat Lounge, at 3627 Wheaton Way in East Bremerton, opened in August 2023 as Kitsap County's first cat café. A Port Orchard couple started it with an inheritance and more than 100 crowdfunding backers, some of whose names hang on a founders' wall. By its own count, it has helped more than 900 cats find homes since opening (as of 2026).

Its cats are currently listed by Oakbrook Cat Rescue, a foster-based rescue in Pierce County. Its rescue partners send kittens under 6 months home in pairs or to a home with a compatible cat. Children under 5 typically aren't allowed in the cat room.

Catffeinated, Puyallup

Catffeinated opened on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma in December 2019, billed by KING 5 as Tacoma's first cat café, and has been in downtown Puyallup, at 212 S Meridian, since July 2024. Its cats come from a local shelter partner, and adoption fees go to the shelter. The café describes itself as women-, LGBTQ-, minority- and veteran-owned.

Closed: Kitty Korner Cat Rescue and Lounge in Edmonds has closed, and so has Auburn Valley Humane Society's cat café at the Outlet Collection in Auburn.

Where to adopt

Strays in this region go to different shelters depending on which city they're found in (see Found a cat?), so the public shelters are spread out. Here they are by area.

Seattle

• Seattle Animal Shelter, Interbay. The city's shelter, a City of Seattle division since 1972. Adoptions are walk-in, with an online waitlist to hold your place in line, and the shelter can't hold a pet for you. It also runs a low-cost spay/neuter clinic open to any dog or cat in need.
• PAWS Cat City, U District. A cat-only adoption center where cats live in open colonies in rooms rather than in cages. It opened in Greenwood in 1997 and has placed more than 21,000 cats and kittens, by its own count (as of 2026). PAWS says it euthanizes no healthy, adoptable animal and sets no time limits. Cat City can't take in animals; found cats in Seattle go to the Seattle Animal Shelter.

Eastside

• Seattle Humane, Bellevue. Despite the name, it's in Bellevue, on SE Eastgate Way. It has served the area for almost 130 years, and about half its pets arrive through its shelter-transfer program. It's a managed-intake shelter that also runs a pet food bank, reduced-cost spay/neuter for low-income families and veterinary care.
• Homeward Pet Adoption Center, Woodinville. Founded in 1990 as Hooterville Pet Safehaus and renamed in 2003. Adoptions are mostly by appointment.

North: Lynnwood and Everett

• PAWS Companion Animal Shelter, Lynnwood. PAWS dates to 1967 and also runs the PAWS Wildlife Center.
• Everett Animal Shelter, Everett. Walk in to see the animals, no appointment needed, and many pets can go home the same day.

South King County

• Regional Animal Services of King County, Kent. RASKC is the animal-control provider for much of King County. Its Pet Adoption Center in Kent has walk-in hours, and its adoption search also lists offsite locations around the county.
• Burien C.A.R.E.S., Burien. An independent no-kill nonprofit, formed in 2011 and not part of King County's system. It provides animal control and sheltering for Burien and Des Moines, and sheltering for Federal Way.
• Auburn Valley Humane Society, Auburn. A shelter that also runs the Northwest Spay & Neuter Center in Tacoma.

Tacoma, Puyallup and Kitsap

• Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County, Tacoma. Founded in 1888. It shelters animals for Pierce County, Tacoma, Lakewood, Fircrest, DuPont and Steilacoom, but has no animal-control officers of its own.
• Metro Animal Services, Puyallup. Animal care and control for Algona, Bonney Lake, Edgewood, Milton, Pacific, Puyallup and Sumner.
• Kitsap Humane Society, Silverdale. Has cats up for adoption at offsite locations as well as the shelter, and runs a Working Cat Program.

Adopting at pet stores

Purrfect Pals keeps a volunteer-staffed adoption center at the Renton PetSmart, at The Landing. Everett Animal Shelter partners with local Petco stores for cat adoptions, and RASKC and Kitsap Humane also have cats at offsite locations. Check each group's site for current stores.

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: FeLV, FIV, seniors and hard-to-place cats

• Purrfect Pals. Puts senior cats, cats with major medical needs or chronic illness (including FIV and FeLV), and cats with behavior challenges first. At its Arlington sanctuary, just past this guide's 40 miles, it runs Leuki Land for FeLV-positive cats and FIV Land, and some FeLV cats have lived there since 2008. Closer in, its cats are adoptable at the Renton PetSmart center; adopters must be 18 or older and are interviewed. Since 2006 it has run a prison foster program at the Monroe Correctional Complex, where incarcerated people foster shy and semi-feral cats and kittens, and it runs a community pet food bank. One of its fosters, John Bartlett, started fostering for Purrfect Pals in 2008 and in October 2011 launched The Critter Room, a kitten cam.
• Feral Care Sanctuary, Snohomish County. A sanctuary, founded in 2000, for more than 100 feral and otherwise unadoptable cats. It also lists cats for adoption, and its adoption inquiries go to The Whole Cat & Kaboodle's adoptions team in Kirkland.

Kittens and bottle babies

• Seattle Area Feline Rescue (SAFe), Shoreline. A no-kill rescue at 20226 Ballinger Way NE that often takes in FIV-positive cats. Most of its cats come from local municipal shelters. In October 2025 it merged with Hidden Gem Cat Rescue, a foster-only rescue that specialized in bottle babies, to widen its focus on orphaned newborn kittens. It also offers low-cost spay/neuter for cats.
• MEOW Cat Rescue, Kirkland. The name stands for Mercer Island Eastside Orphans and Waifs. It's a limited-admission, no-kill shelter, a registered nonprofit since 1997 and staffed almost entirely by volunteers. It takes cats from newborns to seniors and bottle-feeds orphaned kittens in foster homes. By its own count, it places 800 to 1,000 animals a year (as of 2026), and it also has a canine division.

Community cats and trap-neuter-return

• Alley Cat Project, Seattle. Its mission is trap-neuter-return for Seattle's feral cats. It's 100% volunteer and foster-based, with no shelter, and its surgeries go through the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project. In 2024 KUOW photographed one of its volunteers feeding feral cat colonies along I-5 in south Seattle.
• Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project, Lynnwood. Free spay/neuter for free-roaming cats and low-cost surgery for tame ones. By its own count, it has altered more than 180,000 cats since 1997 (as of 2026).
• Community Cat Coalition, based in Mukilteo. An all-volunteer group that trains and mentors the people who care for outdoor cats. It has given its members spay/neuter vouchers for community cats since 2013 and has partnered with Everett Animal Shelter since 2021.
• South County Cats, Maple Valley. A volunteer-run south King County nonprofit with no shelter. It helps pay for spay/neuter, runs a low-cost clinic, lends traps, fosters feral kittens and moves displaced feral cats to barns.

Other local rescues

• Pasado's Safe Haven, Sultan. Rescues cats from cruelty and neglect and rehabilitates them at its sanctuary before they're adopted.
• Oakbrook Cat Rescue, Pierce County. A foster-based, no-kill rescue, and the source of the cats at Ziggy's Cat Lounge.
• Vashon Island Pet Protectors, Vashon Island. Runs the island's cat shelter. Adoptions are by appointment, and it places about 100 cats and dogs a year.
• PAWS of Bremerton, East Bremerton. A volunteer-led nonprofit cat shelter "celebrating 50+ years." It isn't connected to PAWS in Lynnwood.

Volunteering and fostering

Many of the shelters and rescues above need help, and several have cat-specific roles: socializing shy cats, cleaning cat rooms, staffing adoption events and fostering. Getting started usually means an application and training, and many set a minimum age, often 18. Requirements change, so check each group's volunteer page.

• Seattle Animal Shelter has a "9-Lives (Cats)" volunteer team. Volunteers are 18 or older and typically commit to a weekly two-hour shift for six months.
• RASKC has a Cat Meet and Greet Team, an Early Morning Cat Crew and a Foster Team. Most roles ask for weekly shifts for at least six months, and ages 9 to 15 can volunteer with a parent.
• The Whole Cat & Kaboodle volunteers clean and socialize cats, and no experience is needed.
• The Meowtropolitan Foundation has lounge volunteers for cleaning and cat care, plus fosters.
• At Homeward Pet, Cat Care volunteers feed and socialize cats and keep the cat rooms clean, and Purrfect Pals volunteers staff its Renton PetSmart adoption center.

Fostering: many of these groups depend on foster homes.

• The Seattle Animal Shelter puts kittens too young for adoption first, and provides supplies and medical care.
• SAFe needs fosters for litters, bottle babies, socialization, sick cats and cats who struggle in the adoption center. Kitten fosters need regular use of a car, and the minimum is typically two weeks for adult cats and two to three months for kittens.
• Seattle Humane fosters must be 18 or older. Its needs include diabetic cats, cats for experienced caregivers, and SPOT, which gives temporary care to the pets of owners in crisis.
• The Whole Cat & Kaboodle covers its fosters' vet costs and needs homes for orphan kittens, moms with litters, and recovering, shy and senior cats.
• Tacoma Humane has a standing need for fosters for kitten litters that need round-the-clock care, and asks fosters to take at least one pet or litter a year.
• PAWS fosters care for cats and kittens in homes in King or Snohomish County, and MEOW Cat Rescue bottle-feeds orphaned kittens in foster homes.

Found a cat?

Which shelter takes a stray depends on the city where you found it, and the contracts change. Several cities appear on more than one agency's list: Kirkland is on both RASKC's and Everett's, for example. Seattle Humane's advice is to take a stray to the municipal shelter that serves the area where it was found, so check with your city first.

In Seattle

Under its "Cats in the Community" pilot, the Seattle Animal Shelter asks you to leave healthy adult outdoor cats where they are. It still takes in kittens, injured or sick cats, cats that have clearly been abandoned, and owner surrenders. PAWS Cat City can't take in found cats.

Around the region

• Much of King County: RASKC is the animal-control provider for much of the county. Check the cat for ID, have it scanned for a microchip and file a found report; RASKC officers pick up animals that are contained.
• Burien and Des Moines: Burien C.A.R.E.S. handles animal control, and it also shelters animals for Federal Way.
• Some cities north of Seattle: SAFe lists PAWS as the agency for Bothell, Brier, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Shoreline and Woodinville.
• Everett and its contract areas, which include much of Snohomish County: Everett Animal Shelter says a healthy-looking stray is usually best left alone. For a sick or hurt cat, file a found report online first to set up a time to bring it in. It usually won't take healthy ear-tipped cats, and it may spay or neuter healthy feral cats and return them to where they were found.
• Pierce County, Tacoma, Lakewood, Fircrest, DuPont and Steilacoom: Tacoma Humane shelters the animals, and animal-control officers belong to local law enforcement.
• Algona, Bonney Lake, Edgewood, Milton, Pacific, Puyallup and Sumner: Metro Animal Services.
• Kitsap County: Kitsap Humane has very limited room for community cats and takes them by appointment only. It publishes guidelines on whether and when to pick up found kittens, and it promotes trap-neuter-return.

Feral colonies and trap-neuter-return

• Alley Cat Project traps, neuters and returns Seattle's feral cats.
• Community Cat Coalition, an all-volunteer group in the Puget Sound region, trains and mentors caretakers and gives its members spay/neuter vouchers.
• South County Cats lends traps in south King County.
• Tacoma Humane's S.P.O.T. mobile vet unit has run targeted trap-neuter-return since September 2025.
• The Northwest Spay & Neuter Center in Tacoma has a community-cat package (surgery, vaccines and a required ear tip); cats have to arrive in humane traps, and it rents traps.

Some outdoor cats that can't go back where they were found get jobs instead. RASKC's volunteer-run Barn Cats R Us places outdoor cats in barns and garages as rodent control, at no charge, and Kitsap Humane runs a Working Cat Program.

Low-cost spay and neuter

The Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project in Lynnwood is free for free-roaming cats and low-cost for tame ones. The Seattle Animal Shelter's clinic is open to any dog or cat in need, Seattle Humane offers reduced-cost surgery to low-income families, and PAWS has a low-income program. SAFe (Shoreline), Homeward Pet (Woodinville, since 2010), South County Cats and the Northwest Spay & Neuter Center (Tacoma) all run low-cost options too, and Pasado's Safe Haven runs mobile spay/neuter clinics for income-qualified households.

Annual cat events

• Sea-Meow Convention, a cat convention at Seattle Center's Exhibition Hall. It debuted in 2019 and, after a break, has run every year since 2023, in the fall in recent years. The Meowtropolitan Foundation organized the 2025 convention, and local rescues bring adoptable cats to its "kitten alley."
• Kitty Hall, once a year at Seattle City Hall. The Seattle Animal Shelter brings adoptable cats, and there's a "Kitty Council Purr-sident" vote among them. The time of year varies.
• SAFe Kitten Shower, a yearly event in Shoreline as kitten season begins, collecting donations for foster kittens and their moms.
• POP Cats Seattle, a touring cat convention that has come to Seattle Center's Exhibition Hall each spring since 2025. Local rescues show adoptable cats in "catios," and guests may bring their own cats.

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

FAQ

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

Yes. All five cafés in the Seattle area have adoptable cats. NEKO and Seattle Meowtropolitan also keep some resident cats who aren't up for adoption.

Are there cat cafés near Seattle that allow kids?

Yes. Seattle Meowtropolitan typically welcomes visitors 6 and older, though some weekend evening sessions are adults-only. Ziggy's Cat Lounge in Bremerton typically doesn't allow children under 5 in the cat room.

Is Seattle Humane in Seattle?

No, it's in Bellevue. Seattle's city shelter is the Seattle Animal Shelter in Interbay.

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

If it's a healthy adult, the Seattle Animal Shelter asks you to leave it where it is. The shelter takes kittens, sick or injured cats and cats that have clearly been abandoned. Outside Seattle, check which agency serves your city.

Where can I adopt an FIV- or FeLV-positive cat near Seattle?

NEKO hosts FeLV-positive cats, SAFe often takes FIV-positive cats, and Purrfect Pals runs dedicated FeLV and FIV sanctuaries in Arlington, with cats adoptable at its Renton PetSmart center.

Is Kitty Korner in Edmonds still open?

No. Kitty Korner Cat Rescue and Lounge has closed.

Explore MeowScout

• Everything MeowScout lists in Seattle
• Cat cafés across the US
• Rescue organizations across the US
• Cat events near you