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Cats are everywhere at Cups & Claws Cat Café in Newport News – nestled in nooks, perched in laps, slinking along the floor and walking across tables. One climbed on my shoulder as I spoke with owner Kim C. Zettel (M.L.I.S. ’15), a former teacher and librarian who opened the café in August 2022.

“Our mission, honestly, is two words: community and cats,” Zettel said.

For the felines, who come from local shelters and rescue organizations, the café is “a magical place where they can roam without being in a cage, feel safe again and learn to love.”

The humans, she said, benefit from a “cage-free experience” with the cats, as well as through interactions with other people. Café visits can help fill an emotional gap for students and military personnel missing their pets.

Matchmaking is Zettel’s ultimate goal. In the café’s first year, more than 300 cats were adopted. The day I visited, Rudolph, Clarice and Terry – Zettel is on a first-name basis with all of them – moved to what she calls “fur-ever homes.”

Twenty-six cats remained, wandering through the shop. Noelle – the one who used me as a steppingstone – was found in a hotel room with 16 other cats. “At first, she would jump at every noise she heard,” Zettel said. “But she’s gotten more comfortable being around people.”

The others included Bexley, a recent arrival, and Pumpkin, the youngest, at 10 weeks old. Security cameras monitor them 24 hours a day.

Zettel’s husband, Philip, a retired Navy Seabee, designed many of the cat amenities, including a ladder that stretches horizontally near the ceiling. The café hosts cat yoga, open mic nights and “paws and paint” nights. Individual visits cost $5 to $10. An annual $395 membership offers unlimited visits, as well as discounts on food and drinks.

Lauren Grochmal has an annual membership and visits twice a week. “Sometimes I just go to decompress, lie on the couch, let the kitties run all over me and talk to Kim,” she said. “It’s got a very lounge-y, retro feel, which I like. You can’t be unhappy there.”

To learn more, go to the café’s social media pages.