Volunteer sisters tell what it's like to run a cat shelter in an apartment

"Yoko Adoption, a shelter where cats roam freely in the rooms and the dying and most difficult ones are taken to the parents of the shelter's owners, Oleksandra and Liza Shostak, has existed in Odesa since 2022, and currently has 36 cats.

As the owners of the shelter told Intent's correspondent Nata Chernetska in an interview, they try not to exceed 40 cats, because their shelter is a three-room apartment and it is too much to have more animals in such a space.

The girls started volunteering back in 2014, but only in 2022 did they formalize it into a cat shelter.

"It all started a long time ago, in the summer of 2014, and the shelter itself appeared only four years ago. Lisa and I grew up in a military unit, and there were always animals there. We had dogs: all the girls were named Jessie, and the boys were named Bonya. Since it was the 90s, the issue of regulating the number of animals in the city was dealt with very harshly. These Jesse and Bonnie appeared and then disappeared. Dogs were shot at, taken for soap," says Oleksandra Shostak.

Oleksandra and Liza's family had a good home and took care of animals, and she started volunteering when she was sixteen. Then one of the dogs the girls were taking care of went missing, and the search led them to the Kovcheg shelter.

It's easier with cats

However, the girls' shelter is still a cat shelter. The OleVons explain this by saying that it is easier to find premises for a cat shelter. A dog shelter must be located outside the city, at a certain distance from residential buildings. This is a completely different financial component. In general, Oleksandra Shostak has a dream to build a shelter for horses or cows.

"On my birthday, we went to a shelter in Busha in Vinnytsia Oblast. About ten cows live there. It is very expensive both in terms of resources and finances. That's why they don't accept anyone anymore, and only take care of those they rescued earlier. It's a magical experience. There you can pet a cow, talk to it, and see a completely different life," the volunteer said.

Liza Shostak believes dogs are more empathetic, but they are also more troublesome. " Dogs are loud, they need to be walked, and it requires more people. So it's much more expensive in terms of money and physical labor. And cats are easier: they don't need to be walked, and they are not as loud.

Кирило Бойко