MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – You might call Dawn Bustamante the “cat lady.”
“I really hate that term because it’s always the ‘crazy cat lady.’ And I have my crazy days, but I never thought that I would be the crazy cat lady when I moved here,” Bustamante said.
And that’s not stopping Bustamante from revealing them some much-needed love. Nothing is.
“I’m allergic so I try not to have that many in my house,” said Bustamante. “I’m just a kind person who has a hard time just looking away.”
So she doesn’t. Bustamante signed up with a regional non-profit that spays and neuters cats after she relocated to the Grand Strand and saw lots of them wandering the streets.
“They were trapping cats and when the kitten would get in the trap, they would let it go and I thought it didn’t make sense. So, I started taking kittens in and I said, ‘Well, I’ll just find them homes,’” Bustamante explained.
That just grew out of control into introducing her own rescue called C&D TNR and Kitten Adoptions.
“It wasn’t my goal. It wasn’t my plan when I moved here. It just kind of fell in course. My sister did rescue her whole life and I just feel like I just kind of took over when she passed,” she said.
Bustamante and her volunteers partner with another non-profit to do weekly journeys to North Carolina. They load 100 cat providers on a monthly basis to repair the felines for a reduced rate. They even provide the service to cat owners who can’t manage it. That’s in addition to nursing the others back to health and discovering them permanently houses.
“Once they’re vaccinated and spayed, we’ll do a little photo shoot with them and post them on Facebook,” said Bustamante.
The friendly felines are never ever caged in cages, however rather taking cat naps or having fun with catnip around your house.
She’s even utilized her logo design to make mugs and info cards to raise money for her rescue, so she can continue doing her charity work that she said appears to never ever end.
“People are moving in here and landlords will not allow pets or they charge pet rent which is a ridiculous amount, so people are surrendering their pets like crazy,” Bustamante said.
But, when Bustamante does discover a cat their ideal home, she said it’s all worth it.
“When I get pictures from their new adopter, that’s when it really hits home, that wow, I saved that cat. It does feel good at the end of the day,” she said.
Click here for more information about C&D TNR and Kitten Adoptions. If you have good news to share, email [email protected] or message Loren on Facebook.
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