Bartonella henselae is common in the blood of otherwise healthy cats, whereas the importance of cats as reservoirs for B. clarridgeiae or B. koehlerae is uncertain because they do not grow well in routinely used medium.  B. henselae is a cause of cat scratch disease, but not all isolates are zoonotic by multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). To determine the prevalence of B. henselae in healthy shelter cats from the SF bay area, and to enhance isolation of other species, we tested blood from three groups of cats: A) 5-7, B) 8-10 and C) 11-12 month-olds. Blood was tested by PCR and cultured on three different media; B. henselae isolates were tested by MLVA. Results to date found 39% (14/36) of cats to be culture and/or PCR positive for Bartonella. Two of these 14 cats were PCR negative and culture positive and one PCR positive and culture negative.  Bacteremia was 50% (10/20) in group A, 33% (3/9) in group B, and 29% (2/7) in group C.  Seroprevalence (titer ≥1:64) for B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae was 36% (44/123) and 43% (53/123), respectively. Alternative culture techniques do not appear helpful in isolation of species other than B. henselae.