Cat Cafes in Chicago: The Catcade vs. Tree House

Chicago has two cat cafés, and they could hardly be more different. The Catcade in Lakeview is a neon-lit, arcade-themed rescue lounge full of kittens, a short walk from the Belmont ‘L’. Tree House Cat Café in West Ridge is a calm coffee bar inside one of the city’s oldest cage-free shelters, where a handful of cats with feline leukemia wait for homes. Both opened in 2017, both are non-profits, and every cat you meet at either one can be adopted.

Which one suits you depends on who you are bringing, how long you want to stay, and how far north you are willing to travel. We checked both in October 2026.

The Catcade vs. Tree House at a Glance

Which One Should You Choose?

• For a lively hour with lots of kittens, go to the Catcade. It is closer to downtown, holds far more cats, and the arcade games keep things moving.
• With children under 12, go to Tree House. The Catcade does not admit them, while Tree House welcomes all ages and lets under-3s in free.
• For a quiet half hour and a good coffee, go to Tree House. The lounge is small and calm, and the drink menu runs well beyond what a typical cat café offers.
• If you are ready to adopt today, go to Tree House, where adoptions can happen the same day. The Catcade asks you to visit first and takes several days to process applications.
• If you need step-free access, go to Tree House, a purpose-built, ADA-compliant shelter with an elevator. The Catcade does not publish accessibility details.

The Catcade

Courtesy of thecatcade.org

The Catcade is a licensed rescue that happens to look like a 1980s arcade. Founders Chris Gutierrez and Shelly Casey opened it in August 2017, and in 2024 the rescue bought and renovated its own building at Belmont and Broadway, adding a bigger lounge plus treatment and isolation rooms out of sight. More than 2,800 cats had been adopted by early 2024. The cats come from overcrowded county shelters across the Midwest and beyond, new arrivals land every Tuesday, and the lounge usually holds 15 to 20 of them, often kittens. Only Leo, the resident cat, is not up for adoption.

A $20 ticket buys 55 minutes in the lounge with a soft drink, free-play arcade cabinets and N64 Mario Kart, and the Catcade does not run a full café. Reviewers rave about how knowledgeable the staff are and how healthy the cats look, and the rules are strict for a reason. Guests must be 12 or older with no exceptions, you cannot pick up the cats, and the lobby only opens at your slot time, so you will wait outside even in bad weather. Book on Bookeo, since sessions often sell out. Tickets are non-refundable and cannot be moved within 24 hours. Groups of seven or more need a private hour ($350 for up to 20 people), and there are cat yoga sessions too.

It opens Monday and Sunday from noon to 6pm and Thursday to Saturday from noon to 8pm, and it is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Twice a year the cats go to foster homes while staff take a break. The fall 2026 break runs until 7 October. Belmont station on the Red, Brown and Purple lines is a nine-minute walk, and the #77 Belmont bus stops nearby. Parking is metered on the street; do not use the lot next door, where you will be towed.

Tree House Cat Café

Courtesy of treehouseanimals.org

Tree House Cat Café sits inside the Tree House Humane Society’s purpose-built shelter on Western Avenue. Tree House was Chicago’s first cage-free cat shelter when it was founded in 1971 and has found homes for more than 28,000 cats since. The café side is a proper coffee bar run with Metropolis Coffee, serving drip coffee, lattes (up to about $6.50 for specialty drinks), Rishi teas, chai, matcha, Italian sodas and snacks, and you can buy a coffee without visiting the cats.

The lounge is deliberately small. Its residents are one to four cats with feline leukemia (FeLV), who live longer and happier lives in a calm space without too many visitors, so expect a quiet half hour rather than a room full of kittens. Several reviewers mention arriving to find just one or two cats, usually asleep in the sun. A $10 slot covers 30 minutes and one drink of your choice, and booking two slots back to back gives you an hour. Book through the Tree House website for up to four people, with one group in the lounge at a time. Arrive on time, because guests more than ten minutes late may be asked to rebook. Children of any age are welcome with an adult, and under-3s are free.

The café is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. If you want to adopt, the shelter takes walk-ins from noon to 6pm on the same days, and adoptions can be completed the same day in about 85 minutes. Fees start at $75 for seniors and $115 for adult cats ($165 for kittens) and include spaying or neutering, vaccines, a microchip and a vet exam. No ‘L’ station is close. The #49B Western bus stops a few steps from the door, or take the Red Line to Loyola and change to a bus. There is a free parking lot and the building is fully step-free with an elevator.

Cat Lounges Near Chicago

If neither café fits your plans, four more places within reach of the city let you spend time with adoptable cats. They are rescue-run lounges rather than full cafés, so expect a self-serve drink at most.

• April’s Kittens, Forest Park. A rescue for medically complex and special-needs cats that opened its lounge in May 2026. An hour costs $15 online or $20 at the door, guests must be 10 or older, and it is open Thursday to Monday from 11am to 7pm. Take the Blue Line to Forest Park and walk from Harlem.
• Paws and Claws Cat Adoption Center, Evanston. Reserve a 45-minute “Cuddle Cats” visit ($15 donation) across four rooms of free-roaming cats. All ages are welcome with an adult, and the Purple Line’s Main stop is across the street.
• The Cat House Lounge & Boutique, Roselle. Ten to 25 adoptable cats, $15 for 45 minutes with self-serve coffee, tea and cocoa, open Tuesday to Sunday. It is a short walk from Roselle station on Metra’s Milwaukee District West line, about an hour from Union Station.
• The Region Cat Cafe, Merrillville, Indiana. A full café with coffee, food, beer and wine alongside a lounge of cats from Second Chance 4 Pets ($13 for 50 minutes, ages 7 and up). It is about 45 minutes from the Loop by car.

Cafe Purrfection in Naperville has announced it will open this fall, while Windy Kitty, an early cat café in Wicker Park, closed in 2020.

Adopting a Cat in Chicago

Both cafés are first and foremost adoption programs, but the processes differ. At the Catcade you visit first and then apply for a named cat. Adopters must be 21 or older with proof of residency and landlord approval, applications take two to seven days, and fees are $150 for kittens under six months and $100 for older cats. Many kittens go home in pairs. Tree House works on a walk-in basis for adopters aged 18 and over and is the faster route if you have already made up your mind.

If you are new to cat cafés, our guide to what a cat café is explains the house rules most places share, and you can find every listing in the state on our Illinois cat café map.