A cat from The Cat Lounge Rescue and Adoption Center. (Courtesy The Cat Lounge)
The Cat Lounge Rescue and Adoption Center in La Jolla has been quietly doing its job since it first opened in 2019.
One might even say it’s purring right along.
The organization, which is the only nonprofit cat cafe in San Diego, just passed its 6,000th adoption as it rounds out its sixth year in operation.
“It was a huge milestone,” said founder and executive director Renee Shamloo, the Cat Lounge’s founder and executive director. She is also a lawyer who specializes in – among other things – animal welfare cases.
That work, as well as her great love of animals, was what initially led her to open the Cat Lounge, which originally only aimed to reduce the rate of euthanasia of adoptable animals across the region.
“When we first opened we only pulled cats from high kill shelters throughout Southern California,” Shamloo said.”It was our mission to reduce the euthanasia rate.”
Pops the Cat before he was adopted. (Photo courtesy Renee Shamloo)
But the timing of the lounge’s opening – November 2019 – permanently changed their model. Three months in, everything had begun to shut down due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“We still pull from shelters but we shifted our focus more to cats on the street, strays,” Shamloo said, working with smaller established rescues and shelters to do so. That way, they intervene well before the cats are at risk of being put down.
But the nature of the work has changed beyond where their cats are rescued. For example, in 2025, more people are surrendering their pets due to housing issues, financial problems, or both.
Shamloo says that they do everything they can to help.
“We’re a small team, we’re only six people,” she said. “We get inundated with requests and we really do our best, but as others are struggling we’re struggling too.”
But the work is as rewarding as it can be difficult. The cat that had the honor of being the six-thousandth adoptee was a sweet old street cat named Pops, said Shamloo.
Pops was a former street cat with some pre-existing health issues who was ultimately adopted by his foster.
Pops the Cat after he was adopted. (Photo courtesy Renee Shamloo)
“It was a perfect ending,” she said. “I think we had him for six months, so we were really jhonored that he was our 6000th. It kind of showed what we’re all about and what our mission is.
“Hitting this milestone was incredible, but we really need community support,” Shamloo added.
Because they are a nonprofit, all the money they raise goes back to their work. But Shamloo said that community support doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of financial donations.
It could also simply be spreading the world about the Cat Lounge Rescue and Adoption Center and what they do – and, of course, simply dropping by for a visit.
Anyone can visit the Cat Lounge, which is at 1006 Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla.
Admission is $25 per person and offers access to the cats and kitten nursery and goes directly to animal care. For more, visit thecatlounge.org.