For the past eight years a Lisburn woman has been travelling all over Northern Ireland rescuing sick, injured and abandoned cats in order to give them another chance in life.
When Lynsey Jones decided to foster a family of cats around ten years ago she never imagined that her life would change forever with the space of a few days and she would dedicate most of her free time to the animals and their welfare.
Over the next few years she would continue fostering cats and set up Rescue Cats NI with her friend Laura Orr, and began to expand her work as she took in sick and injured felines in the hopes they could find a new home once they recovered.
Read more: NI cat rescue in need of vet bill support after taking in severely injured felines
Speaking to Belfast Live, Lynsey said: "About ten years ago I rehomed a cat and I was told that I would make a good cat fosterer and decided to give it a go.
"I ended up with a granny, mummy and kitten and quickly found out that the mum was pregnant, with her gaving birth later that night to five kittens and everything has just snowballed since then.
"Around eight years ago my friend Laura and I started Rescue Cats NI and fostered cats from our homes. Laura has since stepped back to start her own family and I kept going and the rescue has just got bigger and bigger and I am now taking in sick, injured and abandoned cats from across Northern Ireland."
Lynsey says that running the rescue can be quite "hectic and chaotic" as she receives a constant stream of messages on social media alerting her to cats that may be in need of help.
Using a carrier, sardines and some tomato sauce, she thens travels the country in order to "trap" vulnerable cats and bring them to the rescue so they can either be reunited with their owners, taken to the vet or found a new home. Any cats that are unable to be rehomed stay at the rescue with Lynsey saying she firmly believes in giving each animal a chance in life.
There are around 50 cats at the rescue at any one time, with it being divided into Eva’s Cabin for mum cats and kittens, Harry’s Haven for elderly cats and those waiting on homes.
Harry's Haven has been set up like a living room in order to help the cats get used to being in a home environment.
She continued: "It can be very hectic from day to day here at the Rescue because we are always getting messages through our Facebook page from people worried about certain cats and I am very grateful to Melissa who runs this for us.
"As we might get messages at anytime about very vulnerable cats, it means my plans can change at any moment because I could all of sudden need to go and rescue one urgently, and they could be anywhere in Northern Ireland.
"I did all of this myself until October of last year when I started to take on some volunteers who have just been wonderful and give me a lot more freedom to focus on rescuing cats because I know that the rest of them are safe and being well looked after here.
"It has taken me a bit of time to get experience trapping cats, but it is not as hard as it sounds. You basically cat sardines and tomato sauce in a trap and the cat goes in and you bring them back.
"Of course with any cat that we bring back we try to find out whether or not there is an owner and I have my own scanners here to see if there is a microchip.
"We then put it on the page and give people a few weeks to come forward and claim their cat and if not we take them to be spayed and rehomed or whatever veterinary treatment they need."
Lysney said that over the past two years she has found the rescue coming under increased pressure due to the numbers of cats that are coming into it. This is for a variety of reasons but she said that the coronavirus pandemic and the Cost of Living Crisis are the main factors, particularly in cats being abandoned or needing rehomed.
She said: "The last two years have been very difficult. The first year of Covid a lot of people were breeding their cats for money, or couldn’t get them spayed at the vet and they became pregnant and realised they could make a lot of money by selling these kittens and some people were getting up to £500.
"Last year this continued but people are not getting the same money as they were before and we are finding a lot of cats that have been abandoned, taped up in boxes and left at the side of the road.
"The Cost of living has affected people too, but if you really cannot afford the cats then you should try and seek a rescue before just abandoning it somewhere. It is cruel to just leave them at the side of the road."
Lynsey said that her running costs for the shelter are around £1,000 a month, which covers heating, food, cat litter, flea and worm treatments and other expenses. However the veterinary bills can be between £20,000 to £30,000 a year.
Fundraising for the rescue was impacted by the pandemic, with some events having to be cancelled, but it remains in a stable position and Lynsey hopes to further develop the rescue by refurbishing an old barn on her property so that she is able to look after even more cats.
She said: "The last few years have been very tough because of Covid and we have not been able to put on fundraising events like we normally would.
"Hopefully this year we will see a turnaround and we will have an open day and other events in order to try and raise funds.
"While people are very generous, it sometimes takes very injured cats for people to take notice. Dogs seem to get a lot more press than cats do.
"At the moment things are looking good and we have built up a strong following with 31,000 followers which has been increasing every year and we are getting stronger and stronger."
If you are able to support Rescue Cats NI, you can do so at: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8R7X1S8Jqc Or on paypal at rescuecatsni@hotmail.com.
Video by Dylan Hegarty
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