De Poezenboot: Amsterdam’s floating cat sanctuary where even the cats live on the canal

Amsterdam has no shortage of unusual sights. There are bicycles everywhere, houses that seem to lean into the canals, flowers floating past on the water and, if you know where to look…even an entire animal shelter sitting quietly on a houseboat.

Welcome to De Poezenboot — “The Cat Boat”, a floating sanctuary for stray and abandoned cats moored on the Singel canal in the heart of Amsterdam.
But It is not a pet café, a tourist attraction or some eccentric modern invention, but a genuine animal shelter, and its story began more than half a century ago with one woman, one mother cat and a litter of kittens.
In 1966, Henriëtte van Weelde found a mother cat and her kittens sheltering beside a tree opposite her home on the Herengracht. She took them in, intending simply to give them a safe place to stay. But then another stray cat appeared. And another.
Soon, people began bringing her animals they could no longer care for, and Henriëtte acquired a nickname that would follow her for years: “the cat lady.”

The problem was that there was only so much room in her home. Even with terraces and a roof terrace adapted for the growing feline population, eventually the cats simply outnumbered the available space.
Then came the idea that sounds almost absurdly logical in Amsterdam: if people could live on boats, why couldn’t cats?
In 1968, Henriëtte bought an old Dutch sailing barge known as a tjalk and transformed it into a shelter.
The interior was divided into separate areas and adapted for its new residents. Foundlings and abandoned cats began arriving, while volunteers came to help feed and care for them. The world’s most unusual cat shelter had quietly been born.
And the cats, apparently, were not particularly concerned about the nautical nature of their new home.
The first boat lasted only a few years before it became too small.
By 1971, a second boat had been added, creating even more space for the animals. Visitors began coming not only to bring cats or adopt them, but simply because the sight of a floating cat shelter was so extraordinary.
In 1979, the original barge was replaced by a purpose-adapted Dutch houseboat known as an ark — the vessel that still forms the basis of the Cat Boat today.

There is something wonderfully Amsterdam about the whole idea: an animal sanctuary that doesn’t stand beside the canal, but actually floats on it.
Over the decades, De Poezenboot evolved from Henriëtte’s personal mission into a professionally organised sanctuary.
The foundation officially became Stichting de Poezenboot on 3 June 1987. A major renovation beginning in 2001 and completed in 2002 brought the boat up to modern legal standards for an animal shelter, while retaining its very unusual identity.
Henriëtte herself remained involved for many years.
She died in 2005, aged 90, but the organisation she created continued in her spirit.

And today, De Poezenboot provides a temporary home for cats that have been abandoned, found as strays or surrendered by owners who can no longer care for them. The boat has been designed around their needs, with separate spaces and quiet areas rather than being treated as a novelty attraction. Its philosophy is remarkably simple: the cats come first.
That distinction is important.
Although the Cat Boat has become internationally famous, it repeatedly reminds visitors that it is an animal sanctuary, not a petting zoo.
The cats are not there to entertain tourists, and visitors are asked to behave calmly and never pick up or disturb the animals.
And there is another delightful irony at the heart of De Poezenboot.
Cats famously have a complicated relationship with water, yet these particular Amsterdam residents have spent generations living above it.
The organisation itself jokes about the contradiction: most cats hate water, but the Cat Boat has been keeping their paws dry since 1968!

The sanctuary has also become a small piece of Amsterdam folklore.
It is tucked into the canal belt at Singel 38, surrounded by the city’s historic architecture and constant movement of bicycles, boats and pedestrians.
From the outside, it can look surprisingly understated.
There is no grand entrance announcing that one of the world’s most unusual animal shelters is inside. You could almost walk past it without realising that cats are quietly watching the city go by from the water.
Those who do step aboard are entering a place whose real purpose is not sightseeing but giving animals a second chance.
The Cat Boat is open to visitors three afternoons a week — Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 1pm to 3pm — although numbers are deliberately limited to just six visitors at a time because space is limited and the welfare of the cats takes priority.
Since the end of 2025, advance online reservations have been discontinued because too many reserved visitors failed to turn up.
And perhaps that is the most charming thing about De Poezenboot.
It never set out to become famous.

It began because Henriëtte van Weelde saw a mother cat and her kittens in need and decided to help. One rescue became several, several became dozens, and eventually a house became a boat. More than sixty years later, that simple act of compassion has become an Amsterdam institution floating quietly on the Singel.
In a city famous for its canals, bicycles and eccentric architecture, perhaps the perfect Amsterdam story was always going to involve a boat.
And, naturally, cats.