MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Michael Woods said he never set out to have so many cats. He said his now ex-wife got the first ones in about 2018. And then they took some more into their home near Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Woods added that his wife took in even more strays during a period when he was away from home caring for his ill mother.
When he returned home, he said, he discovered many of the cats were pregnant.
“It’s a combination of many things that has got us where we’re at now,” he told FOX10 News.
But now, those cats must go. Woods said he got an ultimatum this week that he would be evicted unless he got rid of them in 48 hours. He said he was able to negotiate an extension until Monday.
Still, finding homes for roughly 115 cats – Woods says he hasn’t actually counted them – was a daunting prospect. That’s when Allyson Clements came to the rescue. She said she has been involved in cat rescue efforts in Mobile for about 14 years and founded the Mobile Cat Society in 2020. She said she has seen the cats, which appear healthy and well-fed.
“He’s taking good care of them, and he has them all separated into separate rooms, so that they’re not breeding and overpopulating, which is incredibly smart,” she said.
Clements said she is taking some volunteers and a big van on Saturday to get the cats, a process she estimates could take up to four hours.
Woods said he is grateful to Clements and other animal rescue groups that are working to find homes for the cats.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I don’t even know how to put in words, ‘cause I didn’t even know anything like this would be possible. You know, they all truly made it happen – every one of them.”
Woods said that since his ordeal hit social media, he has been accused of trying to pull some sort of scam – a ridiculous accusation, he said, since he never has asked for anything other than good homes for his pets.
Clements said as soon as she picks up the cats, volunteers will make sure they are vaccinated, dewormed and treated for fleas.
After that, she said, she plans to drop off 30 of the cats at a rescue organization in Montgomery. Other groups in Mobile and Foley have committed to taking about 20 others. That leaves 65 cats that will be in foster homes until Clements can find permanent homes.
She said she has taken in large groups of cats before – but never this many.
“We’re gonna tackle as many as we can, but we definitely need help,” she said. “We’re a very small organization, so 115 cats is a hit.”
Soon, Woods’ cats will be gone – most of them, anyway. He said he plans to at least keep a gold-and-black feline he named Miracle. He said he initially thought the cat was dead and then painstakingly bottle-fed it back to health.
“There is one or two that I couldn’t let go,” he said. “I probably have to move them, move them over to my father’s house, the two, basically. But they are, for lack of better words, the ones that were mine, I guess you would say.”
Copyright 2024 WALA. All rights reserved.
