CAT TALES Books, Crystals & Cats

Fort Wayne, Indiana · 48 mi / 77 km

Black Forest Cat Café is a family-run coffee shop and cat lounge in the JoAnn Plaza shopping center on Coldwater Road on the north side of Fort Wayne. A mother and daughter opened it in June 2022, and in August 2025 it celebrated its 1,000th adoption. The cafe serves coffee, specialty drinks and house-made pastries, with plant-based milk options, and anyone can use the large cafe area without visiting the cats. The woodland-themed cat lounge is separate, and its adoptable cats all come from Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control. Lounge visits are booked online or taken as walk-ins when there is space. Adoption starts with the shelter's application form, and the cafe handles the meeting and paperwork on site. The lounge can also be booked for events, and the cafe accepts donations of food and litter for the cats.

• Adoptable cats
• Booking recommended

Kokomo, Indiana · 59 mi / 95 km

The Kokomo Humane Society Cat Café is a free-roaming cat colony room at the Kokomo Humane Society on East Hoffer Street in Kokomo. It opened in 2018 to give the shelter's adoptable cats a relaxed, home-like space. Between 10 and 30 cats live in the colony, and up to about 20 guests can visit at once. Admission is free and walk-ins are welcome: visitors check in at the café entrance, read the rules and sign a waiver before going in. Children must be at least 3, and one adult is needed for every two children under 12. The cats are not to be picked up, chased or fed human food. Despite the name there is no coffee bar, only a drinks machine. Every cat in the colony can be adopted through the humane society, and the café also hosts events.

• Adoptable cats
• Walk-ins welcome

Dayton, Ohio · 64 mi / 103 km

Gem City Catfé is a coffee house, wine bar and cat lounge in a green historic house on East 5th Street in Dayton's St. Anne's Hill Historic District, just east of the Oregon District. It opened in 2018 and works with its nonprofit partner Gem City Kitties, which also runs a low-cost vet clinic in Trotwood. Up to 18 adoptable cats live in the cat lounge, which is separated from the cafe by two doors and has a large wooden airplane for the cats, a nod to Dayton's aviation history. The cafe serves fair-trade coffee, tea, wine, cocktails and local baked goods, and an upstairs gallery doubles as co-working space. Lounge visits carry a small fee, discounted for members, and reservations are recommended. Twelve guests are allowed in at a time, children must be at least 5, and everyone signs a waiver.

• Adoptable cats
• Booking recommended

Fishers, Indiana · 65 mi / 104 km

Smitten Kitten Cat Cafe on East 96th Street in Fishers opened in 2023 as Hamilton County's first cat cafe. The coffee shop side is free to enter and sells coffee, tea and prepackaged treats from local businesses, and drinks can be carried into the cat lounge. The lounge is cage-free and fully separate from the cafe, and its cats and kittens come from partners such as the Humane Society for Hamilton County, Paws on My Heart, Hancock County Humane Society, Elwood Animal Shelter, Mango's Miracles and Biscuit Factory. Visits are charged per half hour or per hour, children aged 1 and under enter free, and one adult must accompany every three guests under 12. Booking is strongly recommended because the lounge is capped at 15 people. Guests sign a waiver and may not pick up the cats. Adoption applications go to the cat's rescue partner.

• Adoptable cats
• Booking recommended

Indianapolis · 77 mi / 124 km

Nine Lives Cafe & Cat Lounge on Shelby Street in Fountain Square opened in January 2017 as the first cat cafe in Indianapolis. The coffee shop side is attached to but fully separate from the cat lounges, serves coffee, chai and other drinks with pastries from local bakeries, and has a gift shop with local art; allergic visitors can watch the cats through large windows. The cats are fostered through the owners' nonprofit, IndyAdopts, which works with several local rescues and shelters, and are available for adoption, alongside a few permanent residents. Each person entering the lounge needs a reservation, and walk-ins are taken when there is space. Age rules depend on the time of day: all ages in the morning, 13 and over in the afternoon and adults only after 5 PM. The lounges close from 1 to 2 PM for cleaning, and the cafe is closed on Wednesdays.

• Adoptable cats
• Booking recommended

Mason, Ohio · 83 mi / 134 km

Kitty Brew Cat Café opened in Mason in 2017 as Greater Cincinnati's first cat cafe and moved in June 2025 to a larger space on Reading Road in the Mason Square shopping center, next to Lucky Dog Grille. The cafe and the cat lounge are fully separate. The cafe is free to enter and serves coffee, espresso drinks, tea, smoothies, bagels and baked goods, and drinks can be taken into the lounge. The lounge holds adoptable cats from rescues such as His Hands Extended Sanctuary, HART Animal Rescue and Myles Ahead Animal Sanctuary, and visits are booked as 50-minute sessions, with walk-ins when there is room. Children need a ticket once they can walk, with one adult per three children under 14. Wednesday is Kids Day with a reduced child rate. More than 4,300 cats have been adopted through the cafe, and a kitty cam streams the lounge online.

• Adoptable cats
• Booking recommended