Couple Bought Upstate New York Farmhouse That Came With 16 Barn Cats on the Property

When Emily Bott and Dylan Loewke bought their beautiful “Freedom Farmhouse” in Victor, New York, their realtor warned them that the house came with a few barn cats who lived on the property. It turned out to be 16 cats in total.

We were moving into this farmhouse with 16 barrel cats on the property. The realtor said they don’t really think they can catch the cats, is it going to be a deal breaker? And I said no.

Rather than turn them out, Bott and Loewke fully embraced their feline residents by dedicating an entire room with comfortable beds and strutting structures to make them feel at home. At first, the cats were very wary of these new humans, but after a bit of time and some patience, the cats grew to trust them completely.

So from there, our thought process was these cats need better shelter. We have an outdoor storage room. It wasn’t anything that we were really using, so i was like you know what? Maybe we should create a cat room for these cats. it just slowly snowballed from there

Bott, who was a Rescue and Foster Coordinator at the Humane Society‘s Lollypop Farm in Rochester, who knows more than a little about working with feral cats, admits that they were a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of cats who needed their attention. Now, she can’t imagine life without them.

I wanted to just start spending a lot of time with them so I would start just hanging out in my driveway i would sit out there and I would throw treats for them. …it’s just the best feeling and they just seem so happy and that just makes us so happy. When we first moved in we were definitely overwhelmed by them. Now we look at them as part of our family. I can’t even imagine going outside and not seeing all my cats there anymore.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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