Through community support and a dream to rescue kitties, Ziggy’s Cat Lounge in Bremerton continues to find homes for fosters while creating a space for people to socialize.

Inside of the lounge, people patiently sit at tables, drinking coffee as they wait to take home the newest addition to their family. Behind the door to the cat room, both Shannon and Shane Gabel, owners and founders of Ziggy’s, corral the kitties who’ll be taking the big leap into their forever homes.

Before opening the lounge Aug. 19, 2023, the Gabels spent time turning an idea of running their own business into a reality. Their first obstacle was permitting problems, as property managers were hesitant with their idea of a cat lounge. However, this didn’t stop the Gabels, as when they found property in Bremerton that gave them the go-ahead, they wasted no time transforming the space into the cat lounge of their dreams.

“We had to build this place essentially from the ground up,” Shane said. “We did all the flooring, we built the bar, we didn’t build the wall, but, you know, we painted everything in here. We had some awesome local folks help us with all of our vinyl and stuff out there. It’s just [a] whole lot of help from the community.”

Once their dream became apparent to the public, people started to step in to make sure Ziggy’s Cat Lounge would open. Some helped the Gabels by donating to their kickstarter, others assisted them with the reflooring of their shop, and some even built play structures for the foster cats to interact with.

“I know this is not a small community, but it seemed like everyone was really cheering for us, and that felt really good,” Shannon said. “And even though they didn’t know us, they were cheering us on and rooting for us and making sure that we were able to open, which was incredible.”

With their shop put together, finding a humane society to foster cats from was next on their list. However, after reaching out to multiple shelters, the Gabels continued to find themselves at a dead end till they were redirected to the Humane Society of Mason County.

“So thankfully, like two weeks before we opened, we found someone that would take us seriously and help us with partnering with them, and it’s been great ever since,” Shannon said. “We have constant contact with somebody. If we have any issues or concerns about any of the cats, we can get some help pretty quickly, and we can get it addressed.”

Every Monday, Ziggy’s Cat Lounge fosters anywhere between eight to 20 kitties from the HSMC, which stay in their care until they’re adopted. During the first week, according to Shannon, cats will establish their boundaries by hissing and growling at one another. But by the week’s end, the cats are primarily acclimated to the lounge and its residents.

“[Paul] and Blossom were two of the first four we ever got,” Shane said. “Believe it or not, Paul was the shyest boy in the whole world. We had two recliners in here, and within two minutes of being here, he had stuffed himself so deep into one of them I had to cut the side off just to get him out. It was so sad … but over the course of the next week, when we were getting ready to open, he attached himself to Shannon pretty hard, and we knew within about 10 days that he and Blossom [would] get to stay. They were just perfect, really good resident cats.”

Each cat gets time to socialize at the lounge, which prepares them for life outside of Ziggy’s, where they’ll be introduced to an unfamiliar environment, people, and potentially animals. This connection, as explained by Norah Dani, a foster coordinator at the HSMC, is beneficial for the cats in more ways than one.

“When they go to Ziggy’s, they are as close to a home setting as they could be, other than an actual foster,” Dani said. “The extra positives that they get through Ziggy’s is that they’re seen a lot more so there’s more eyes on them, they’re more likely to go home faster than if they were in a foster home. If it weren’t for these partnerships with Ziggy’s and all of our other partners, a lot of cats would not go home.”

Since the HSMC is relatively small and only a temporary location for cats to stay, they rely heavily on community members to foster kitties from them. Since the opening of Ziggy’s Cat Lounge, the Gabels have been relieving the shelter of their cats, which in turn helps the humane society rescue more kitties in need of a proper home.

“[I] completely over exceeded my expectations of how many that we found homes for within these two years,” Shannon said. “This week, we hit 700 cats adopted, and I had no idea. I thought that was going to take us years and years. I thought it would be like 50 for our first year and then 50 for our next year kind of thing. Never did I dream we would save so many cats.”

The readily supportive community around Ziggy’s has not only helped more cats get adopted but has also supplied the lounge with food, treats, and toys for the fosters in their care.

“We have a community free pet food chest out there for anybody who needs it,” Shane said. “So if we ever get too much food from our Amazon wishlist, we can put it in there for the community forever.”

Even though rescuing cats is their main focus, the Gables also offer their space for small community events to be hosted, like yoga sessions, birthday parties, art classes, and bingo nights. Nikki Dutton, host of the Paint-n-Sip events at Ziggy’s, wanted to teach her classes in a cat lounge, but was struggling to find someone who would be willing to make it happen. This was until she met Shannon, who was more than happy to have her painting sessions in the cat room.

“A lot of times, especially right now, there’s a lot of disconnect between people,” Dutton said. “And so I feel like when I’m doing the art classes, it’s a chance for people to kind of get out of their comfort zone and talk to new people…there’s been a lot of times that people will talk to random strangers at their table, sometimes exchange phone numbers or social media handles and actually become friends after that. And that makes me so happy to see, because I feel like that’s the entire goal is to connect with your community over shared interests.”

Through these events, not only is the community able to connect with each other, but also the foster cats who await their forever homes. In this time spent socializing with the public, the kitties tend to open up, showing their true personalities that’ll help them match with the family that’s right for them.

“The longer they stay here, of course, the more I get attached with them,” Shannon said. “Sometimes it gets hard to say goodbye, but it’s always a great feeling knowing that they’ll be going into a great home.”

Dani Crossen is a student at Central Kitsap High School who reported for Kitsap News Group this summer.