MEET OUR TEAM
Tiffany Buck
I’m Tiffany Buck, and Nine Lives Cat Rescue & Adoption Center exists because I couldn’t stand the way it felt to walk through shelters and see cats sitting in cages, watching life move past them. I know shelters do the best they can, but the kennel environment breaks something in a lot of cats and in the people who care about them. I wanted to create a space where cats could get out of survival mode, where they could stretch, nap in the sun, climb, play, and be themselves. When cats are seen as who they really are, not just another intake number, their chances change. Bringing them into a home-like setting has increased adoption rates by over 60%, but what matters most to me is that they finally get to breathe.
Before Nine Lives, I spent years working corporate jobs. It was stable. It was predictable. And it slowly wore me down. Walking away from that security to start a small business was terrifying. We opened our doors in March of 2021, and just one month later I left my job to run Nine Lives full time. I didn’t have a safety net. I didn’t have extra money. I just knew that if I didn’t show up fully, this place and these cats, wouldn’t survive. It was the scariest leap I’ve ever taken, and also the most honest one.
Nine Lives isn’t just a cat lounge to me. It’s my everyday life. It’s the laundry that never ends, the vet runs, the medical care, the fundraising, the planning, the cleaning, the worrying, and the constant balancing act of trying to keep the doors open while doing right by the cats. It’s celebrating adoptions and grieving losses. It’s carrying the weight of being responsible for lives that can’t speak for themselves. It’s messy, exhausting, emotional work but it’s also the kind of work that changed me.
I hope when you walk into Nine Lives, you feel what this place really is: a second chance, a softer landing, a pause in the noise. None of this exists without the people who walk through our doors, support us, believe in us, and see the cats the way I do. Starting Nine Lives was the best decision I’ve ever made second only to marrying my husband and I’m grateful every day that I get to do this, even when it’s hard
Courtni Ruark
I started at Nine Lives January 2021 knowing that I wanted to be a part of making a difference in cat’s lives. My passion is helping get cat’s and at Nine Lives I get to do just that by helping get cat’s out of the stressful kennel environment and bringing them to a place where they can thrive in the home-like setting of the Lounge, while they wait for their forever families. Prior to Nine Lives I worked as a waitress for the majority of my adulthood. I love building relationships and making a difference in others’ lives, so when I heard of Nine Lives, I knew I needed to be a part of the coolest business in town. Now, I get to build relationships with people with the Cafe and help care for cats but ultimately, connecting families to their new fur baby! My dream and plan would be to help Nine Lives continue to grow, so we can help as many cats as possible. My goal is to make your visit to Nine Lives the best experience. Without the support from our customers, we wouldn’t be able to continue helping all of the kitties!