This right here is next level cat rescuing. Gayleen VanderRee and Danielle Gumbley of Victoria, British Columbia found two kittens roaming around trash cans in their town. Then they remembered that foxes, mountain lions, and other predators like to roam the area at night, too.
“They were clearly abandoned,” VanderRee said. “There’s lot of cougars and bears and eagles in the area, so we decided to take them with us because we didn’t want them to get eaten.”
Since the local SPCA shelter was closed, the women decided to take them along on their weekend trip.
“I just gave puppy eyes to Danielle and said, ‘You have to keep them, as I can’t keep them, but you have to,'” VanderRee said. She was unable to keep them because she was in college at the time. Gumbley hesitated and said, “We’ll see how they’ll do over the weekend.”
After the weekend, they couldn’t help but adopt the two kitties, VanderRee’s cat is now named “Keel”, and Gumbley took in “Bolt”. The cats lucked out big time because both VanderRee and Gumbley are outdoor fanatics, and take the cats on all their adventures. From kayaking, snowshoeing, to camping, and backpacking.
“Danielle and I go out adventuring pretty much every weekend or every other, so it was important to us that the cats could fit in with our lifestyle,” VanderRee said.
The cats have their own sleeping bags but prefer to sleep with VanderRee and Gumbley or on top of them. They each have their own leash, harness and life jacket for those trips on the water.
Keel is more kind and loves attention. “He likes to bite your toes if you don’t scratch him,” VanderRee said. “Bolt is super relaxed. You can carry him anywhere.”
“It’s really obvious to us when they do or don’t like something, so we make sure we are doing it for the cats and not just forcing them along,” VanderRee said.
Gambley unfortunately ended up tearing some ligaments in her ankle last summer but the cats hung out with her, helping with her attitude while she recovered. “They’ve helped us as much as we’ve helped them,” VanderRee said.
Watch these kitties in action on their adventures:
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Abandoned Cats Hit Rescue Jackpot, By Two Camping/Adventure Fanatics
