Paradise Has a Cat Lounge Now, and It Fills a Gap in the Ridge's Rescue Network

"The cat lounge bridges the gap between foster care and adoption." That's how Purradise Ridge Cat Lounge describes itself on its own site, and it explains the shop better than the words "cat café" do. The lounge is at 9205 Skyway, Suite 2. Its Chamber-sponsored ribbon-cutting was scheduled for October 22, with a mini ribbon-cutting for a Little Free Library out front. Tonight, October 29, is the first Purr & Paint on its calendar.

What makes it new for Paradise is where it sits. The Ridge already had a town shelter, a group that funds shelter care, and a trap-neuter-return group. Until this month, it had no storefront where you could walk in and meet the cats rescuers are fostering.

Three Groups Did the Work. None of Them Was a Front Door.

Here's how cat rescue on the Ridge was split up before Purradise opened.

TOPCats on the Ridge works with feral, homeless and abandoned cats in the Paradise area through trap-neuter-return. It says plainly that it is not a shelter and does not take in cats. When its adoptable-cats page was checked this month, it listed zero cats, with an $80 adoption fee posted.

The Town of Paradise Animal Shelter at 925 American Way is the public option. It's open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it posts its animals on 24Petconnect, Adopt-a-Pet and Petfinder.

PASH works alongside that shelter with volunteers, supplies, spay and neuter funding, and help with medical bills, for pets in both Paradise and Magalia. According to PASH, the renovated shelter is open and back to normal operation. The renovation added a cat group room, a meet-and-greet space, intake and exam rooms, and quarantine areas.

All three keep the Ridge's cats fed, fixed and housed. Purradise adds a public room in the middle of Skyway where cats from local rescues and shelters wait for adopters. The lounge says that getting more people in front of adoptable cats frees up its rescue partners for foster and TNR work, so they can help more animals.

How a Visit Actually Works

For now the lounge opens Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday hours, also 11 to 3, were set to begin October 28. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so October 31 is a regular open day. Visitors with reservations go ahead of walk-ins, though walk-ins are welcome.

The routine at the door:

1. Book or walk in. The suggested donation is $10 for ages 16 and up and $5 for ages 15 and under, or pay what you can. Admission covers cat food, litter, rent and utilities. Tea, instant coffee, hot chocolate and water are included.
2. Sign the waiver, online or when you arrive. Visitors 16 and older can come on their own and sign their own waiver. Kids under 16 need an adult who actively supervises them.
3. Socks or booties only. Street shoes and bare feet aren't allowed in the lounge. Free booties are available, and there's a sink and hand sanitizer at the entrance.
4. Leave your own pets and outside food at home.

The sock rule and the sink tell you what kind of place this is. They're there to keep fleas and outside illness away from cats who are waiting for adoption. The cats in the room have already been spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.

The Calendar Through November

Ticketed events bring in people who might never have stopped by just to sit with cats, and every one of those visitors is a possible adopter. The current schedule:

At Purr & Paint, an instructor walks the group through one cat-themed painting, and all supplies are included. The lounge warns that cats may walk across the table to "help," so a volunteer or two will be there to keep things tidy. The featured painting for each date goes up on the lounge's Facebook page. The yoga class is taught by a registered yoga teacher, and the lounge provides the mats. The events page lists it at $10, while the ticketing page says pay what you can. Spots are limited for both.

Once kids have visited, a Kids' Craft Day is worth watching for. The first one was scheduled for October 25 at $12 per child, with a magnet and an animal craft for each child.

Tonight, October 29, also brings a second pet-themed stop on Skyway. Paw Drazzel Boutique at 6333 Skyway is scheduled to hold its own Chamber ribbon-cutting from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The shop sells women's and men's apparel, pet gear and crafts, and it's open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both places are on Skyway, so you can visit the boutique and then the lounge on the same Saturday.

Two Adoption Prices, Two Different Routes

Adopting from the lounge costs $100 for one cat or $175 for two. Once you apply, the lounge handles the adoption, but approval can take a few days, so you may have to come back to bring your cat home.

The pairing rule matters more than the price. The lounge strongly encourages adopting kittens in pairs for socialization and growth, and it requires bonded pairs to go home together. If you don't already have another cat or a cat-friendly dog, it may turn down an application for a single kitten. At the time of writing, adoptable cats were listed with both prices, for example $100 for one or $175 with a companion.

The town shelter's cat adoption fee is $36. Shelter staff evaluate each animal when it arrives. Healthy animals get vaccines, deworming and flea and tick treatment within 48 hours. Adopters get a free health exam with a local vet within seven days. PASH pays the reduced spay and neuter cost for shelter adoptions.

These two routes serve different cats. Lounge cats come out of rescue and foster care and arrive already fixed and microchipped, and you meet them in a lounge during a visit. Shelter cats come in through intake on American Way, and the town and PASH split the follow-up care. Someone looking for a bonded pair of kittens and someone looking for one adult cat could reasonably end up at different places.

Help That Follows the Cat Home

The rest of the network matters most after adoption, and it covers a lot of Ridge cats that will never see the inside of the lounge.

PASH runs the Sarah Fund for adopters 62 and older who take home an animal aged 8 or older. It pays for the first exam, and later vet visits are approved case by case. PASH also offers hardship help with medical costs, one visit at a time, for residents of Paradise and Magalia. Its Prevent-a-Litter program can help with spaying and neutering animals that didn't come from the shelter.

TOPCats offers need-based feline spay and neuter vouchers for residents of Paradise, Magalia and Stirling City. Whether you're approved depends on need and on how much money is available. The application asks about household income and the cats involved. It encourages people who can cover part of the cost to do so, and it notes that vets may require a rabies shot, paid by the applicant. You mail the form to TOPCats in Paradise. If you're approved, a voucher and a list of participating vets come back by mail, and you hand the voucher over at surgery.

Fundraising for this work happens in local businesses. TOPCats scheduled its "Take a Chance for TOPCats" raffle at Nic's Deli, 6256 Skyway, for October 17, with $1 raffle tickets and 10 percent off a lunch entrée for ticket holders. Purradise is raising money for a planned mobile clinic for future microchip and vaccine events. It also takes donations of food, litter and other supplies, and it accepts volunteers 16 and older.

On a Saturday at 9205 Skyway, a $10 visit pays for litter and rent. That keeps a public room open for cats who spent their first months with foster families and rescue volunteers.

At Speicher Real Estate, we love seeing new Skyway businesses take care of the Ridge's animals as well as its people. If you stop by Purradise or Paw Drazzel this week, tell them your neighbors at Speicher said hello. And if a new cat or a pair of kittens makes you start thinking about a home with more room, we'll help you figure out what your current place is worth.