PEABODY — PALS Animal Life Savers and Salem Cat Aid are opening a cat shelter and rehabilitation center on Main Street in late September, creating a space dedicated to caring for North Shore cats that need extra time, medical care, or behavioral rehabilitation before they are ready for adoption. The center will also include a cat lounge and a cat food pantry.

Cass Warren — Salem Cat Aid founder, Co-founder of the new center, and a member of the PALS board of directors — explained that Salem Cat Aid began as an effort to feed stray cats in Salem before growing into a rescue organization that responds to injured, abandoned, and homeless cats. PALS shares that mission through a larger network of volunteers, foster homes, veterinary partnerships, and adoptions. The two organizations frequently work side by side to care for local animals.

The idea for a brick-and-mortar shelter became a necessity this spring.

PALS currently has 48 kittens and 26 adult cats, two of which are pregnant, leaving the organizations without enough foster space to keep pace with the growing need. So, when a suitable building became available in Peabody, Warren said the timing felt impossible to ignore.

Warren said the center is intended to serve cats that are often overlooked by traditional adoption programs.

“There are a lot of local shelters that won’t take cats that are above a certain age or have certain illnesses or especially have any behavioral issues,” Warren said. “A lot of local shelters will only take cats that are sweet, friendly lap cats, and so our rehabilitation is to turn the cats that have a little bit of spice to them into those sweeter, friendly cats.”

Beyond caring for cats awaiting adoption, the new space is intended to become a community gathering place. A large room inside the center will be transformed into a cat lounge where visitors can spend time with adoptable cats. Staff also hope to host kitten yoga, art nights, craft events, and educational programs.

The organizations are continuing renovations ahead of the planned September opening and are accepting donations and supplies through an Amazon wish list to help stock the center. They are also fundraising for monetary donations.

For Warren, whose full-time job is as a tattoo artist, cat rescue provides something entirely different.

“I connect really well with them. I understand their behavior really well, and so rescuing and fostering — it just, I don’t know — it does something for the soul that I can’t quite explain,” she said.