I’m the CEO of Cats – I care for over 175 felines and let them roam free, I was up all night bottle-feeding new kittens
A CAT rescue volunteer has shared she cares for over 175 kittens and strays and it takes up a large portion of her time.
The cat enthusiast says that although the work can be rewarding, rescue burnout is also very real.
Kay Banks (@theceoofcats), the owner of Tabby Tails Cat Rescue and a self-proclaimed CEO of Cats, opened up about her struggle in a video shared with over 1.9 million TikTok followers.
She explained that she was exhausted from taking on 31 new rescues as of late, many of which were starving to death.
“I don’t have spay and neuter slots for these cats and I also don’t have the funds, it’s going to cost $5200 to get the bare minimum for all these cats we have taken in recently,” she said.
On top of the financial burden, Kay explained that taking care of the kittens has taken up most of her time, to the point where it was affecting her sleep schedule.
“I’m bottle feeding right now, which means I have to be up every four hours to feed these kittens and the last couple of days I have not been able to go back to sleep,” she said.
Kay’s experience is not out of the norm for rescue work and she expanded on her time working in the field, detailing her experience with pulling cats off euthanasia lists in high volume.
Often, cat rescue workers find themselves taking matters into their own hands in attempts to save lives.
“I worked with this shelter in Kentucky where the lady volunteering there was smuggling the cats out and hiding them in her shed and trying to get them into rescues before they could be put to sleep,” she recalled.
In one video, Kay showed off the number of kittens currently housed in her shelter, totaling 52 kittens and 120 adult cats.
Her shelter is largely free-roam, allowing the cats “to roam and play as they are meant to,” according to their website.
She explained that shelters like hers were constantly in need of supplies like litter and food, and encouraged viewers to donate funds whenever possible.
People took to the comments to thank her for her selfless work and commitment to her local cats.
“You are amazing. The fact that you keep going after all of this is amazing. God bless you,” said one supporter.
“Boosting! Thank you to all the rescuers!” said another fan.