OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – Every weekday at 5:30 p.m., when Amanda Perez clocks out of her day job, she preps for an evening gig: helping rescue cats find their fur-ever home (pun intended). Calling it her passion rather than a job, Perez fits the gig into her life out of a fanatic love for felines that is palpable when she speaks about her organization, “House Meow, Inc.”
“I also work a full-time job, so this is not my job; this is my passion,” Perez said.
After work, Perez often meets approved adopters at Ocala bookstore and adoptable-cat showcase Purrs and Pages to finalize adoptions, reviewing contracts and answering questions. She works around the adopter’s schedule, sometimes arranging meetings after 5:30 p.m. or on weekends to make the process convenient. This flexibility allows new families to welcome their cats as quickly as possible while freeing up space for incoming rescues.
“I really try to work with the adopter. I want them to be able to have their new family member as quickly as possible. Most of the adoptions we’ve had have been in the afternoon, or a Saturday, or a Sunday,” Perez said.
House Meow, Inc. is a local 501(c)(3) rescue organization partnering with Purrs and Pages. The partnership enables a unique adoption model where potential adopters first meet cats in a relaxed bookstore café environment before completing a thorough vetting process.
“We are thrilled to partner with Purrs and Pages Bookstore and Cat Lounge,” Perez said.
Purrs and Pages, which opened in early June 2026 at 1216 E. Silver Springs Blvd., is Ocala’s first cat café and bookstore. Co-owners Matt Gray and Amanda Damron created the space after their children visited similar cafés elsewhere and asked why Ocala didn’t have one. The shop houses 12–16 cats from House Meow in its lounge, where visitors can interact during timed sessions that cost $15.05 for 55 minutes.
Adoptions are managed entirely by House Meow through a comprehensive application process. House Meow Rescue’s adoption application, used for the cats available at Purrs and Pages, is a comprehensive screening tool designed to ensure strong, lifelong matches between cats and their new families. The multi-section form begins with basic personal information, including proof that applicants are at least 21 years old, full contact details, address and state-issued ID. It then delves into lifestyle and home environment questions such as home ownership or rental status with landlord approval, plans to move and daily arrangements for the cat, before asking about interest in a specific cat, desired personality traits and reasons for adopting. Household details cover allergies, declawing policies (which the rescue prohibits), awareness of a cat’s 15–18+ year lifespan and backup care plans. A heavy emphasis is placed on pet history, including past surrenders or rehoming, current pets’ behavior toward cats, veterinarian references, and commitments to vaccinations, spaying/neutering and preventive care. Applicants must also agree to the $125 adoption fee, affirm that they can handle potential behavioral or medical needs and disclose any recent felony convictions.
House Meow conducts background checks and processes applications within about 72 hours before scheduling a final meeting at the lounge. Approved adopters pay the fee for fully vetted cats (spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated, and tested) and receive ongoing support from Perez. The model prioritizes thoughtful placements over speed, with House Meow taking cats back if needed.
“We do have a pretty comprehensive application. I know I get a lot of kind of negative feedback on that, but I feel like as a smaller animal welfare organization, we kind of have the luxury of being a little more specific to where our cats go to, because we don’t need to move on high volumes, so we do ask a lot of questions, and the reason we do that is we just want to make sure that we’re really matching the cat and the personality into the right home. It’s never first-come, first-served,” Perez said.
Perez explained the application’s purpose in detail.
“Making sure that the applicant understands the lifespan of a cat, the medical needs of a cat, the financial responsibility of a cat, that all household members are on board with adopting this cat, that nobody has allergies, just really asking very specific questions to make sure that it really gets somebody thinking about what bringing a cat home entails. We want to know what a backup plan is for the cat because we all know that there are extenuating circumstances,” she said.
Perez said it usually takes her about 72 hours to process an application.
“Once I’ve kind of fully vetted the person, I will contact them, and we’ll schedule a time to meet up at Purrs and Pages, and at that time we’ll go over the adoption contract,” she said.
The $125 adoption fee covers cats that arrive fully prepared for their new homes.
“Honestly, that $125 doesn’t even cover all the medical expenses to do all the medical for the cat. So, for instance, for that $125, that cat is going to come spayed or neutered, they’re going to come microchipped, registered, and then we transfer the microchip to the owner after adoption. They are going to have their rabies vaccine, they’re going to have their feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus test done, which shows negative. They are going to have already been on a monthly preventative, and they’re going to have already been dewormed, and they’re already going to be treated for any sort of parasites, like roundworms or hookworms or tapeworms, or anything that could possibly pop up in an animal, so when they get this cat, they’re getting a fully healthy vetted animal,” Perez said.
“We invest in all of that, and we’re spending around $170 to $200 per cat to get it ready for adoption, and that’s not including feeding the cat, or you know, just daily nutrition that they have. That’s just their medical needs, but it’s really important to us to make sure that when a cat goes to a home, it’s just completely healthy, it’s fully vetted, and these individuals have a year before they’re going to need updated vaccines,” she added.
Post-adoption, support continues through Perez.
“Every new adopter is able to reach out to me on my cell phone. I am 100 percent there every step of the way. I tell them I don’t care day or night, especially if it’s an emergency,” she said.
Matt Gray described the broader role of the Purrs and Pages business.
“We fill a void in both the adopting, but also allowing people to interact who can’t necessarily adopt. We’ve had people come in all the time and say, ‘Hey, you know, we love cats, we’re a cat family, however, we live in an apartment complex or house that doesn’t allow us to have animals at all, so our kids want to have pets, they want to have cats. Unfortunately, we can’t, so this gives them an outlet for them to come and spend time with animals,” Gray said.
“It does help with the shelters to alleviate some of the stress, the overpopulation of the shelters, and also, lots of community engagement, so it allows us to do reading with cats and little kids, and the coloring, the painting, classes and everything else. It really gives people the interaction with the animals, and also educates them, and helps the community out,” he continued.
Perez wishes more people understood two key realities about cat ownership.
First, cats are highly social animals that form strong bonds with their humans and can experience anxiety when left alone for long periods. She often recommends adopting two cats for companionship if owners work long hours or travel frequently, rather than leaving a single cat home by itself. Second, owning a cat involves significant financial responsibility, from routine vet visits and monthly preventatives to potential emergency care and unexpected issues like food allergies requiring prescription diets. She emphasizes that adopters should be prepared for these costs over the cat’s 15–18+ year lifespan, treating the commitment with the same seriousness as caring for a child.
According to Gray, there are plans to partner with Sheltering Hands, another local cat-centric rehoming nonprofit; once the appropriate legal documents are in place, they will announce their partnership.
With six adoptions completed and more scheduled, the partnership between Purrs and Pages and House Meow continues to grow, offering both cats and community members a special place in Ocala.