History

Pooka’s Purrhouse began out of both love and necessity. The rescue was founded after the 2022-23 heartbreaking loss of two of our beloved cats, Pooka and Merlin, to an aggressive form of liver cancer and Kidney disease, respectively. In the wake of that loss, We felt the best way to honor Pooka’s and Merlin's memory was to help other cats in need and give them the safety and love that they brought into our lives.

Today, Pooka’s Purrhouse is a small but deeply committed effort. We don’t go out looking for cats in trouble, but when they find their way to us, we do everything we can to give them a safe place and a new chance at life. We fund this work ourselves, and while it’s a labor of love, we welcome any donations at the link below to help us continue.

Every bit of support goes directly to providing these cats with warm spaces, clean litter, high-quality food, and calming supplements to help them adjust. We maintain their enclosures meticulously to keep them clean, safe, and comfortable—all with the goal of helping them heal, decompress, and eventually flourish.

What makes Pooka’s Purrhouse different (besides focusing on removing cats from perdation) is our deeply personal, hands-on approach. We typically focus on just one cat at a time—though necessity sometimes means we have more—and we treat each one like royalty. That means soft beds, heated pads, soft lighting, gentle handling, and enrichment like calming music, cat-safe toys, or a window seat with “YouTube birds.” Some cats are housed in our catio space, others in a quiet cottage. We allow them to decompress at their own pace, slowly building up trust and confidence before making any decisions about adoption or placement.

But beyond just saving cats, our mission is about changing lives. Anyone who has known the love of a cat understands that these animals are true life-changers. When we rescue a cat and place them with a loving human, we’re not just saving one life—we’re enriching two. The trust and love these cats bring into a human’s life is immeasurable, and it’s our joy to make those connections possible.

If you feel moved to support our mission, we are deeply grateful. You're not just supporting a rescue—you’re helping to create lifelong bonds between cats and the people who will love them.