Stand on Elain Harvey's doorstep and a friendly tabby is apt to greet you, purring and smiling and arching its back.  Step inside her Germantown home and more cats emerge to show their good manners, perching beside you with amiable aplomb.

   Clearly Elain Harvey loves cats.  She currently owns eight of the critters - along with a dachshund who "thinks he's a cat."  Besides caring for her own animals, Harvey is the founder of Puddy Tat Protectors, a group of volunteers who tend the felines at Goodwin's Greenhouses in Germantown, which for years has been a haven for many homeless animals.  Since 1994, Harvey and her crew have spent countless hours cleaning cages, providing food and medical care, and bestowing lots of love and attention on the legion of cats who have called Goodwin's home.

   Now Harvey takes that love one step further by opening House of Mews, a cat adoption agency in the Cooper-Young area of Midtown.  But the agency will do more than place cats in good homes. It will sell on consignment the works of local craftspeople and give them a place to display their goods. "It's a great opportunity for both the cats and crafters," says Harvey, a wife, mother, and Michigan native.   "People will come in curious about the cats and hopefully wind up buying a work of art."  The same logic has worked at Goodwin's Greenhouse, she adds.   "People go there to buy plants and many go back to adopt a pet."

   The new cat placement agency/consignment shop has taken in many of the cats that previously lived at Goodwin's, and Harvey believes the new location will be more comfortable for both people and animals. Located at 944 S. Cooper, the shop operates on donations and is staffed by volunteers.  "We're raising money through donations for our first year of business," says Harvey.  "And all the money we make from the sales of crafts and pet supplies will be put back into the shop."

   When someone brings a homeless cat to House of Mews, Harvey says, they'll be required to have a certificate from a vet showing that the animal has received its shots a fecal exam, and a test for feline leukemia.  "Or we can arrange to have this done for them at a very low cost," she adds.  Asked if this might discourage some people from bringing strays to her facility, she says, "That's a possibility.  They could just drop the animal off at the pound.  But we're hoping if people care enough to pick up a stray, they'll care enough to pay for its   shots."  Before the animal is adopted, House of Mews will have it spayed or neutered for a $30 fee and the new owner can pick it up at the vet's office.  The only other fee is $10 for an I.D. tag, which will help trace the cat if it's lost or stolen.

   Regarding the crafts-on-consignment service, Harvey and other volunteers are spreading the word through the arts community.  "Our service is rent-free," she says "and we charge a percentage fee only if the craft is sold.   By December we hope to have some high-quality pieces on display and then we'll hold a formal grand opening."

   Harvey, who moved to Memphis in 1980 became committed to caring for the cats at Goodwin's, thanks to a program called Life Design Seminars.  "I had put so much of myself into helping my husband start a trucking business that I had nothing left for me," says Harvey, who says she's "50 and climbing" and who has done everything from selling houses to transcribing medical tapes. After attending the intensive seminar - which she credits with saving her family and her marriage - she realized that "to have some effect in this world I needed to get off my butt and give back to the community."  A few months later, Putty Tat Protectors was launched and since February, 1994, the group has placed more than 900 cats. Earlier this year, when Goodwin's former owner was threatened with closure by the State of Tennessee because of tax problems, Harvey's group took the state to court to get a restraining order. "We lost the battle but we won the war," she says.  "People flooded the place, giving donations and adopting animals.  And about that time new investors came along, which really turned things around financially."

   As for her latest project, Harvey says, "It's our way of helping control the overburgeoning cat population and provide a unique local attraction as well."