Visitor and Tour Policy

The Blue Bell house, patio, and gardens belong to the cats. It is our goal to provide every Blue Bell cat with an environment that promotes feelings of safety, comfort, and security, and to that end, we must limit the number of visitors in a group and the number of visitors per day.

Our resident cats are seniors and have lived as treasured companions to senior people, and have thus maintained very quiet and often secluded lives in a single person household. Some cats have experienced recent turmoil, trauma, and chaos due to the loss of their closest human companions.

Some of our cats are frightened in the presence of increased human activity, strangers and children. Health or behavioral concerns can dramatically increase their fearfulness and wariness; many will strike, scratch, or bite if approached by strangers. Age-related health and personality changes can create a hypersensitivity to touch, brushing, petting, and stroking (especially along the back and hindquarters); thus, some are easily overstimulated by touch and will strike, scratch, and bite when touched on sensitive areas of their body.

Because our cats are not caged, our insurance carrier requires all visitors to be adults, children 12 years and older, accompanied by an adult. All visitors must be supervised by staff and are conducted between the hours of 1-4. Our staff is dedicated to providing a clean environment, medications, twice daily feedings as well as transporting cats to the veterinarian and maintaining accurate medical records. We are unable to dilute staff time or hire additional staff to supervise/accommodate multiple visitors/visits throughout the day.

Our volunteer program offers opportunities for adults to form long-term relationships with our cats in an effort to continue and re-establish close bonds with humans. Our volunteer program offers an orientation program, scheduled volunteer hours, and ongoing continuing education in cat care and cat behavior to enhance cat-human relationships.