Delyn Kosbab can be a little gruff at first blush. On a recent Saturday, the proprietor of Kitty Harbor wouldn't let a friend and me go into the kittens' playroom just to look; we have to be serious about adopting if we're going to start cuddling them. Kosbab also doesn't like to adopt kittens into homes with small children (though if you've ever spent time with a preschooler, you'll understand—they're psycho). There are a lot of other rules at this cat boutique, opened last year just off the Harbor Island West Seattle Bridge exit, home base for Kosbab's nonprofit rescue operation. As with your favorite prickly grandparent, once you get Kosbab talking about the cats and kittens that arrive at her door, pregnant or abandoned, she becomes a matronly softie, telling stories about each of the cats purring around her feet. Take that scruffy, long-haired cat nearby. When she arrived, she'd recently had kittens, so now she's a surrogate nurse for the orphans. Kosbab's a tough nut to crack, but when you're ready to take home a new feline family member, it's nice to know she's the one who has been caring for it.—Laura Onstot