Our Story

Cat Life Maine was founded and is run by Kate Downey.  She is cat enthusiast who has been caring for Maine strays and feral cats for over 20 years. It all started when Kate found an abandoned litter of kittens in her shed. After consulting with the local Animal Control Officer, she took on the responsibility of these neonatal kittens. This ignited a passion in her that lead to where we are today. Many years of nurturing and raising kittens, she started to foster and help friends rescue and rehome cats from farms and other rural areas. 

 

In 2020 she began a social media journey to share her adventures, as she felt her family and friends may be tired of seeing so many cat pictures and posts. Even though everyone knows there is no such thing as too many cat pictures! After some success on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok she began making a profit to help her rescue efforts. With paid reviews, cat modeling, paid partnerships and an online store she was able help MORE kitties! Instead of the 1-3 cats a year she helped she was able to double it in 2020. She had decided this was the best way to help the kitties and not drain her finances. 

 

In 2021 Kate began to branch out into craft fairs and pop-up shops in Maine, this made her able to help transport for neighbors and community members without cars to have their pet spayed and neutered at an affordable cost, in a clinic that is 1.5 hours from her hometown, still while rescuing cats and feeding community cats, assisting with sterilization of 19 cats. with ALL funding coming from her.

 

Fast forward to 2022. WOW what a year. 57 kitties helped. Kate reached out and asked for help from family and friends to assist with being a vendor at local events and fostering kitties until they were ready to go to homes.

 

The online store Solids & Stripes Cat Life just wasn't able to fund all these kitties in need. She sought out advice from her veterinarian and others in the field. The advice she received was clear, with the work you are doing you need to start a 501c3 and involve more people. So, she did. In 2022 she began the process of becoming a 501c3 nonprofit. 

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In 2023 it became official. Cat Life Maine was incorporated as a Maine nonprofit and our 501c3 was approved on May 17th. This is going to allow us to broaden our reach and help more kitties. As well as establish us as a reputable nonprofit organization. We began collecting donations and will continue to work craft fairs and Comic Cons throughout the year. Currently we have 34 permanent kitties in our care that need all the help we can give, and we know there are more out there waiting for our help. 

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  Our goal is to improve the welfare of stray, feral and community cats of Maine. We believe that educating and assisting the community with spay/neuter as well as vaccinations at an affordable price can accomplish this goal. By helping to cover the costs and transport kitties to have them spayed and neutered at The Community Spay/Neuter Clinic in Topsham, and other clinics in Maine. We think 2023 is going to be our best year yet. It's all because of you. our devoted friends and community members who have supported our efforts. We truly believe that together we can help those in need.