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.

ֱ sits in chair holding cat
Photos by Chuck Thomas '90

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.