HOUMA — Second Chance Cat Café is part coffee shop, part cat lounge and part rescue operation, all under one roof.

The café serves coffees, teas and pastries on one side, while the other side houses fully adoptable cats rescued from local shelters.

"Inside our café, we make coffees, teas, pastries… and then in our cat lounge side, we have fully adoptable cats that we rescue from local shelters," owner Lan Tivet said. "And then if they connect with a cat, they can choose to adopt a cat — and if they don't want to adopt a cat, that's fine too!" Tivet said.

For Tivet, the idea grew out of a personal experience. She said she was never a cat person until her mother-in-law passed away and left behind three cats, one of which needed a home.

"The first night the cat was at my house, I was like, 'Wow, I really love you,'" Tivet said.

Each cat at the café has its own story. One cat named Motor Oil reportedly traveled 10 miles tucked inside a car engine before finding its way there.

The café also offers themed drinks like the Chocolate Tabby Latte, a mocha topped with vanilla cold foam, and hosts cat yoga sessions in the lounge.

"So we offer cat yoga, which is again a fully immersive experience where you're doing low mobility yoga in the lounge with the cats," Tivet said.

The day-to-day costs of housing up to 15 cats at a time, including food and litter, are covered through the café's charity.

"Any food, litter, day-to-day things that it takes to have 15 cats in a room at a time… that all goes through our charity," Tivet said.

People who adopt a cat from the café get to put their picture up on the wall.