SEMINOLE, Fla. — A Pinellas County woman says she has rescued nearly 3,000 kittens and gotten them adopted out over the past decade thanks to her nonprofit, Nine Lives Kitten Rescue.
Kathy Montgomery said she got the idea to start a rescue organization after finding several kittens outside a warehouse.
“This is cat room number one, where we have our bigger kitties,” Montgomery said as she walked into one of the rooms filled with cats in her office-style building.
“Hi kids. Good morning. Good morning kids. Good morning,” she said to the cats, some of which were hanging out high in the air on wall-mounted platforms. “My husband came in and built the wall mounts just because cats like to run. Same with the wheels we have in each room.”
The wheels she mentioned are like extra-large hamster wheels that allow the cats to have a good run.
Montgomery said adult cats at the center were mostly taken in as kittens. She said she bottle-feeds the kittens every two hours, even in the middle of the night.
“They calm you when you are upset. They are very lovable,” Montgomery said of the cats. “They are just sweethearts.”
Nine Lives Kitten Rescue usually has anywhere from 40 to 60 cats at any one time, but Montgomery said she is often asked to take in many more than that. She said she gets many calls each day from people who have kittens they have found or can’t keep.
She said there are many reasons for someone wanting to bring kittens to the rescue.
“There was a lady that was hit by a car and her son called me up and asked me to take the litter of kittens because she had them in her house,” Montgomery said.
Once the cats have been tamed and are healthy, Montgomery takes them to the Seminole Petco so they can find forever homes. She makes sure the cats are adopted in pairs.
“I do it because when kittens are little, they bond, and I keep these bonding pairs together because everyone needs a friend,” she said. “And then they pick that friend and I keep that friend together with them. And they adjust a lot better with each other.”
Montgomery said she operates Nine Lives on donations and also conducts fundraisers like bingo events where players get to hold the cats. Some people even get to bottle-feed the kittens.
Montgomery has a group of dedicated volunteers, including teenager Taka Franklin.
“Kathy is just a great person to be around and spend time with,” he said. “The cats are just some of the most well-behaved and kindest, cutest things I have ever seen.”
Montgomery said operating the rescue can be overwhelming, but the cats keep her going.
“I try to just take one day at a time,” she said. “Whenever I get stressed out, I just come in and snuggle to the kitties and they cheer me up.”
For more information on Nine Lives Kitten Rescue, visit the organization’s website.