HOUSTON – Tucked into the Houston Heights, El Gato Coffeehouse has become a haven for cat lovers — and for nearly 1,000 lucky felines who’ve found furever homes.
MORE: Cat cuddles and coffee: a purr-fect paradise awaits you at El Gato Coffeehouse
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That’s where I found Zelda back in Nov. 2024, when she became the café’s 887th adoption.
Fast forward to Sept. 2025, my colleague, KPRC 2 Investigates’ Bill Spencer, brought home his own furbaby as adoption number 994.
With the 1,000th milestone just around the corner, I caught up with El Gato’s founding “Cat Lady,” Renee Reed, who told me the mission from day one in April 2017 was simple: promote cat adoption.
While it wasn’t the first cat cafe in Texas, it would be the first in Houston, and naturally, there would be some confusion and misunderstanding.
“People didn’t know what cat cafes were," Reed explained. "Back when we opened, we were having to completely explain what we were all the time, like what we are, what we’re doing... you’re having to like sell yourself and what services are."
But Reed wasn’t some crazy cat lady. She had the background to make her vision happen.
“I’m a CPA,” she explained. "So I went from, you know, a corporate job to running a cat cafe."
Still, Reed credits the “colony” of supporters who helped support, especially when El Gato Charities, the nonprofit arm, was founded in 2020.
“Through that journey, cause we went from having rescue partners where like 100% of our cats were from that rescue partner,” she recalled. “So 2020 was a big time then, where we became the legal entity responsible for them and their vetting, and so it became a lot more expensive to do this, but the community just, like, showed up. The Heights in Houston—it’s just a bunch of animal lovers—and so we’re taken care of. I know if I need something, that there are people that I can ask that are gonna come and help, whether they’re fostering or donating."
It’s obvious then that Reed and her staff’s dedication to the cats is clear. Even after they’ve been adopted, she said the staff stays attached to them.
“Honestly, they’re our babies, I mean, we just love them so much," she exclaimed. “I love getting updates and having people stay in touch. And right now we’re actually kind of doing, like, as we’re counting down, we’ve been covering a little bit of our favorite adoption stories.
“I truly feel that a lot of the people who adopt from us really become family. And like our board members, or customers, they started as customers that have adopted, and now they’re on the board, and so many of our volunteers, they first came and adopted, and some of them have even come back and adopted again.”
Now, eight years and nearly 1,000 adoptions later, the community is being asked to come through again and help El Gato Coffeehouse celebrate its incredible milestone. This will be through a party and fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 8, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“We’ve been through so much,” Reed noted. “We’ve been here for eight and a half years and like, been through pandemics, been through hurricanes, been through it all, like lots of hard times and times where I didn’t think that we were going to get through these milestones, and so definitely a lot of joy.”
That resilience is part of why Reed says this milestone feels especially sweet.
Guests will be able to enjoy live music, food from their truck, and cat karaoke, where instead of singing the lyrics, you meow songs. And yes, you can also still play with the cats inside the building.
As for the future of El Gato Coffeehouse? Possibly finding a new headquarters.
"I can’t wait for another thousand adoptions and many more," Reed exclaimed. “I know that the next chapter, we’re going to find another location so this location isn’t exactly working for us anymore and so pretty soon kind of after we get this party, that’s going to be a big thought is, ‘Where is a facility that’s kind of better set for to serve our needs than what this current setup is?'"
Until then, we can follow the cats’ example by staring out the window, watching the birds, and sunbathing while we patiently wait.
To RSVP or learn more about El Gato Coffeehouse’s 1,000th adoption celebration, visit their website.