Cat lounge adoption center and cafe comes to Joplin

JOPLIN, Mo. – Nine Lives Cat Lounge & Adoption Center, located at 2201 E. 7th St., will have its grand opening on Monday, March 1 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Nine Lives combines a few widely favored elements: coffee, baked goods and cats.

The industrial style building has a cafe on one side and a cat lounge on the other. The cafe portion of the building is separate from the cat lounge area, but guests can bring drinks into the cat lounge if desired.

For $5, guests can enter the cat lounge for 30 minutes. The cat lounge is filled with components for cats and humans alike. The room features tables and chairs, comfy seating, scratching posts, bean bags, cat shelves and bridges, and even a board game and book corner.

The home-like environment offers more of a matchmaking process when choosing your cat, compared to traditional adoption centers.

“We believe it’s better because you can see the cats in their natural element. It’s more of a home-like environment to where you can see their personalities, they’re not as stressed,” said owner Tiffany Buck. “Here you can see them play, interact with other cats, interact with kids, how they interact with you. Essentially they can pick you instead of you picking them.”

Cat adoptions will begin in about a month, once more cats are brought to Nine Lives. They plan to have 20 – 25 cats at all times, including a few resident cats.

The cats come from Joplin Humane Society after being vaccinated, spayed/neutered, microchipped and tested.

“We want our cats being 100% healthy as they’re leaving,” said store manager Sierra Roper.

Once a cat is adopted from Nine Lives, a photo of the cat and its new family is framed and added to the Adoption Wall. After the wall fills up, the photo – with the adopter’s address on the back – gets sent back to them to serve as a warm memory.

Like the wall, many aspects of the building have been built by the Nine Lives team or been locally sourced. The cafe tables, the pallet walls and more – all made with care by Nine Lives and other local businesses.

Even down to the drinks and baked good, nearly everything is provided locally.

The cafe serves coffee, espresso, latte, smoothies, tea, granola bars and baked goods. The baked goods come from independent, local suppliers that bake from home.

“We want to help support other local small businesses. We want to keep everything local,” said Buck.

Joplin’s Bearded Lady Roasters is one of Nine Lives’ coffee suppliers. Bearded Lady will soon curate a signature blend just for Nine Lives.

On top of being locally sourced, the cafe also has no processed sugars. The drinks are sweetened naturally, making them a healthier alternative to others.

On the cat side, Nine Lives also sells cat items like food and fun catnip products. They also have a starter park you can purchase when you adopt, which includes a litter box, litter, food, treats, toys and more.

Limited memberships are also available. Memberships start at $10/month and include cat lounge visits, drinks, discounted merchandise and more.

“I just hope everyone here enjoys it as much as we do. I want to see everyone come in and just laugh and smile. I just want to see people in there interacting with the cats… It’s going to be a sad but happy day when a cat gets adopted, ” said Buck.

Buck has big plans for the future of Nine Lives.

“I have a huge vision, huge goal. I want to eventually franchise,” said Buck.

Tiffany comes from a corporate background while husband Jon Buck comes from a small business background. With both areas of expertise, their goals could be closer than they appear.

To stay updated, visit Nine Lives Cat Lounge & Adoption Center’s Facebook page.