‘I started with one cat, now I have 413’: Meet Rachel Kibue, Kenya’s ‘cat woman’

They say that cats choose their owners and not the other way around.

Meet Rachel Kibue, a mother of five, who hosts over 400 cats in her residence in Mihango, Nairobi County.

Kibue's four-bedroom abode has been a sanctuary for various cat species since 2013 when she started rescuing the animals.

She explained her compassion toward the cats in 2010 when she flew off to India and enrolled in yoga classes where she learnt how to show compassion to animals.

"In 2010 I travelled to India after hearing a lot about yoga classes and that is when I decided I go learn about it from the source. So we were taught on how to be compassionate to animals and I started looking at animals differently, they feel everything human beings feel, they feel affection, loneliness," she said during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday.

"I could have rescued any other animal but I only had enough space for cats. I started with one cat now I have 413 because in December many people travel and abandon the cats."

She added: "People started realizing that I like cats so they would call me for cats. Maybe one was hit by a matatu I would rescue, treat, and stay with it."

In 2020, Kibue founded Nairobi Feline Sanctuary which allowed her to dedicate her time in the cat rescuing mission with the help of her assistant Wiliam Macharia who became in charge of bringing the cats to the rescue centre.

"My work here is to capture the cats and bring them to the sanctuary. Some are easy to catch, you just need to give them food and they comply while others get a bit furious, you can see the scratch marks on my hands. For those ones I am forced to use a trap," said Macharia.

"For the trap you put some food inside it and when they get inside I bring them here."

The sanctuary has a maternity wing for pregnant felines that come in expectant, a baby nursery for rescued kittens and a sick bay too for sick cats.

Kibue adds that they feed the cats twice a day with minced meat mixed with chicken and rice.

"Mostly I sustain them with my own income. Sometimes I get donations from people like pet store, they give us a lot of dry foods, how I benefit is just that I am happy to be around cats," she says.

She gives them up for adoptions but under strict conditions and one cat or kitten goes for Ksh.3,000. She also offers cat boarding services for people who travel and cannot leave their cats at home. Kibue charges the service at a fee of Ksh.500.

"If you adopt a cat or kitten we have to come to your house for 3 constructive months to ensure that you are able to take good care of the animal, you have to sign an agreement with us that if we find the cat in a deplorable state we take it with us but no refund whatsoever," Kibue gives media personality Alex Mwakideu the instructions, who was adopting a kitten.

"Hii paka inaenda kula soft life kwanzia leo," said Mwakideu.

Kibue also noted that she has faced her fair share of criticism for the unique work that she does, however affirming that nothing will deter her from her mission.

She says that she targets to expand her space and take in more vulnerable felines.

"We have been told point blank that we are raring ogres and we are using the cats to get money but there is no such money. My target is to get a bigger place so that we can get more," she says.

Kibue’s business may be unique but it isn’t the only one in Kenya as pet care centres and boarding facilities are slowly but surely popping up especially in urban areas such as Nairobi.