Austin has two cat cafés, and they feel nothing alike. Purr-fecto Cat Lounge on South Lamar is a bright, pop-art lounge with a “Meow or Never” Texas mural and more than 30 rescue cats and kittens. Sydney’s Cat Lounge in East Austin opened in November 2025 as a non-profit lounge themed somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and Bridgerton, with thrones, teacup chairs and a catio. Every cat at both can be adopted, but how you book, what you pay and what you drink are quite different.
Texas’s first cat café, Blue Cat Cafe, opened in East Austin in 2015 and closed in February 2019, so ignore older guides that still send you there. We checked prices, rules and hours on both cafés’ websites and booking pages in October 2026.
Purr-fecto vs. Sydney’s at a Glance
Purr-fecto Cat Lounge | Sydney’s Cat Lounge | |
|---|---|---|
Neighborhood | South Lamar | East Austin, on East 7th |
Price | $22 for 30 minutes, $37 for 70 minutes | $25 to $28 for 45 minutes, $40 to $45 for 75 minutes |
Ages | 6 and up, all ages on monthly Tiny Tots Day | 6 and up, younger children one Wednesday a month |
Cats | 30 or more, many of them kittens | Around a dozen adoptable cats |
Drinks | Coffee drinks to buy, no food | Canned lattes, mocktails, tea and wine |
Closed | Tuesdays | Mondays |
Adoption fee | $100 to $150, depending on rescue and age | $150, or $75 for cats aged 10 and up |
Which One Should You Choose?
- For lots of kittens, go to Purr-fecto. It holds more than twice as many cats, many of them young, and the lounge is big and bright.
- For a date or a special occasion, go to Sydney’s. The Wonderland decor is the main event, and you can order a glass of wine or a mocktail with your visit.
- For the cheapest visit, go to Purr-fecto, where 30 minutes costs $22. Sydney’s is cheaper from Tuesday to Thursday than at the weekend.
- On a Monday, go to Purr-fecto, since Sydney’s is closed. On a Tuesday, go to Sydney’s, since Purr-fecto is closed.
- With children under 6, plan around the monthly family days: Tiny Tots Day at Purr-fecto (next on Monday, 12 October) or Littler Whiskers Wednesday at Sydney’s (the first Wednesday of the month).
Purr-fecto Cat Lounge
Courtesy of purrfectocatlounge.com
Purr-fecto Cat Lounge opened in July 2022 at 2300 South Lamar Boulevard, and by October 2026 it said nearly 2,000 cats had been adopted from its lounge. The space is all lavender and yellow, with a neon “#WeAdoptPets” sign, cat hammocks, a ball pit and a flower wall. Its cats come from three foster-based rescues, Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue, Kingdom Rescue and Bear Den Cat Sanctuary, and only cats that have tested negative for FIV and FeLV go into the lounge. A second location in downtown San Antonio has been announced but had not opened by October 2026.
A visit costs $22 for 30 minutes or $37 for 70 minutes, every day of the week. Book on the cATXperience page. Everyone needs their own ticket, including children, and groups larger than six must book a private party. Cancellations need 48 hours’ notice by email for a refund, and bookings made less than 48 hours ahead cannot be refunded. The website does not mention walk-ins, but reviewers report being let in when there was space. Regular visits are for ages 6 and up. Once a month, Tiny Tots Day opens the lounge to all ages, and the next one is Monday, 12 October 2026.
Purr-fecto does not serve food, but it does sell coffee and other drinks. Reviewers say it can get crowded and that sessions start and end on time. It is open from 11am to 7pm every day except Tuesday. There is a large parking lot, and CapMetro’s Rapid 803 runs along South Lamar. Regulars can buy a membership of five visits a month ($90 for 30-minute visits, $150 for 70-minute ones). Events include Meowloween movie nights ($43), cat yoga ($49) and clay and painting workshops. A private party for up to 20 people costs $600 for 70 minutes from Monday to Thursday and $800 from Friday to Sunday.
Adopting: tell the staff which cat you like, and they will point you to the right rescue’s application. Adopters must be 21 or older. The rescues interview applicants early in the week, approvals go out on Thursday, and pickup happens the week after, so there are no same-day adoptions. Fees are $100 to $135 through Kingdom Rescue and $130 to $150 through Fuzzy Texan, with kittens costing more than adult cats.
Sydney’s Cat Lounge
Courtesy of Sydney’s Sanctuary
Sydney’s Cat Lounge opened on 4 November 2025 at 3407 East 7th Street. It is run by Sydney’s Sanctuary, a non-profit that Quin Whiddon, a flight attendant of nearly 30 years, founded in 2024 with her husband Alex. It is named after Sydney, the couple’s Siamese kitten. The lounge is an Alice in Wonderland fantasy with a Bridgerton twist: thrones, teacup chairs, a castle, a clock wall, a little topiary maze and an outdoor catio. Its cats come from shelters and rescues including Lockhart Animal Shelter and Central Texas Feline Rescue, and in October 2026 its adoption listing showed about a dozen cats.
Visits run for 45 or 75 minutes. A 45-minute visit costs $25 from Tuesday to Thursday and $28 from Friday to Sunday, and 75 minutes costs $40 or $45. Several reviewers recommend the longer session. Book on the Book a Visit page, arrive about five minutes early, and sign the waiver at checkout. Walk-ins can join if there is room. If you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, you get no refund, but you can use the booking for another visit within a year. Military, first responders and their families get 25% off weekday visits. Guests must be 6 or older, and under-16s need an adult. Younger children can come on Littler Whiskers Wednesday, the first Wednesday of each month, when an adult and one child pay $35.
The drinks menu is short but grown-up: canned cold-brew lattes, non-alcoholic beer, mocktails and sodas for $5 to $6, flowering teas for $3.50, and canned wines for $11. You can also buy treats to feed the cats. Sydney’s is open from 11am to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday and 11am to 7pm on Sunday, and it is closed on Monday. CapMetro Route 4 runs along East 7th Street. Events lean towards tea parties and themed evenings, such as a tarot night ($65) and succulent-planting workshops ($55). Private events for up to 15 guests start at $800 for 90 minutes.
Adopting: visit the lounge first, then apply there or online, and a coordinator will be in touch within one to three days. Fees are $150 for one cat, $250 for a pair and $75 for cats aged 10 and up, with higher fees for cats rescued from abroad or rare breeds. Adoptions are finalized only on Mondays, when you collect your cat from the lounge, and every adoption starts with a seven-day trial “sleepover”.
Opening Soon
Two more lounges are on the way. The Gilded Whisker, billed as a cat lounge, wine bar and apothecary, has taken a space at 8534 South Congress Avenue in South Austin. Its cats will come from the Hill Country SPCA. It had not announced an opening date by October 2026, so check its website before you go. Purr-fecto’s San Antonio location, on East Cevallos Street, was due to open in late summer 2026 and is running late.
Cats Near Austin
- Frisky Kitty Cat Cafe, Fredericksburg. Billing itself as the Hill Country’s only cat café, it opened on East Main Street in May 2026, about an hour and a half west of Austin on US-290. It has a coffee bar with pastries from local bakeries, a cat gift shop, and a glass-walled lounge of cats from local rescues. Adoptions go through the Hill Country SPCA. It does not have a website, so call or check its Facebook page for prices and hours.
- Kitty Café at Pflugerville Public Library. On the first Tuesday of most months, from 4:30pm to 5:30pm, Pflugerville Animal Welfare Services brings adoptable cats to the library at 1008 West Pfluger Street. Visitors take turns in 10-minute groups, and anyone aged 5 and up can join with an adult. The 3 November 2026 session is cancelled, and the next is 1 December.
The Cattery Lounge & Snackery in San Marcos closed in 2017, a few months after it opened, and no cat café is open yet in San Antonio, Round Rock or Austin’s other suburbs.
Adopting a Cat in Austin
Neither café does same-day adoptions, so if you are ready to take a cat home, Austin’s shelters are quicker. Austin Pets Alive! shows cats at its Tarrytown Cat Center (3106 Windsor Road) and Town Lake Animal Center (1156 West Cesar Chavez Street), both open daily from noon to 6pm. The city’s Austin Animal Center (7201 Levander Loop) takes walk-in adopters daily from 11am, with lines closing at 6pm. The Austin Humane Society (124 West Anderson Lane) is open from noon to 7pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sunday.
If you are new to cat cafés, our guide to what a cat café is explains the house rules most places share, and our Texas cat café map lists every café in the state.
