Tyler auto shop helps stray cats, cat rescues

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) – East Texas animal rescues are filled with cats and not enough people are interested in adopting, some community members have decided to get involved.

“It’s just an epidemic,” Richard Duncan, of the Duncan Home for Wayward Cats , said.

Stewart’s Donnybrook Automotive managing partner Gary Stewart saw the stray problem and decided to do something about it.

“They take care of these animals that nobody else wants to take care of, so I can’t do that, I don’t have the facilities or the time to devote that to those animals, but they do,” Stewart said.

He turned to the community for help and began accepting donations of cat food at his Tyler auto shop. Taking donations to one rescue in Henderson and another in Kilgore.

“It just exploded, you know, and we have people bringing food, amazon shows up with food and people I don’t even know show up with food that just love animals, like we do,” Stewart said.

Most rescues are facing thousand dollar bills every single month so any little bit of food goes a long way.

“It’s really helpful, not just in the supplies, but it helps us be able to put our money towards the vet bills and other needs as well,” Heather Payer-Smith, owner of the Cat’s Meow Rescue , said.

Both rescues are beyond blessed by what Stewart and the community are doing for them, and they hope it will help people see the real problem when it comes to strays.

“Bring visibility to the fact that there are people out there trying to help the animals if you can’t adopt or spay neuter or trap, you can donate, you can help that way and be part of the solution,” Duncan said.

Stewart said that he will take donations for as long as he can and has already delivered his first carload of cat food. He shared that he hopes to eventually be able to receive enough donations to expand the help to other local rescues.

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