TikToker Discovers Stray Cats in New Alabama Home, Raises $9,450
When a young woman named Julia Davis moved into a new home in Alabama, she never guessed that she would eventually end up with two additional companions out of the experience. However, that is precisely what happened when she found two cats that had been abandoned in the building. Thankfully, she is adept at using certain social media platforms, so she ultimately decided to use that knowledge to her advantage.
A Life of Cats and TikTok
One of the social media platforms she uses routinely is TikTok. There is no doubt about it, she knew how to manipulate the platform long before she moved to Alabama or found the cats. However, she didn’t start using the platform in earnest until she found them, as she was looking for a way to get the word out about the two cats that had been abandoned. After just a few posts about the two cats, named Cooper and Rufus, she was shocked to learn that she had 626,000 followers. Why were so many people following her account? She routinely posted about her journey, including her move to a new home. She also had a tendency to post about the cats, putting up cute videos of them doing different things. You probably already know how people love cat videos. In fact, you just might be one of those people who simply can’t wait to get to your smartphone, tablet or laptop, all so you can watch as many cat videos as possible. In this particular case, Davis was using the platform to get her followers interested in donating money to help cover the cost of care for the cats. One of the first donations was for $1,000, from someone who said they wanted her to use the money to purchase cat food. Since then, she has used the site to raise almost $10,000. That money is indeed used on cat food, but that’s not all. She has put a good amount of the money in a special savings account that’s earmarked for covering the cat’s care. That includes not only buying nutritious food, but also paying for veterinarian bills (in the event that the cats get sick) as well as routine care.
Are Viral Videos Getting More Common?
You might be wondering if viral videos are getting more and more common. After all. Someone is always talking about how something went viral these days. Take Davis’ first cat video, for example. After posting it, she had an astonishing 16.7 million views. That’s definitely more than most people could ever hope to have, even in the wildest dreams. It’s obvious why it didn’t take Davis very long to figure out that she could get several donations to help care for the cats. That eliminated one very important question that she had when she first discovered the cats. That first day, she had wondered what she should do with them. She had an inclination to keep them. As a matter of fact, she really wanted to do exactly that. However, she was worried about whether or not she would be able to keep up with expenses, especially as the two cats advanced in age. Furthermore, she had just incurred all the costs associated with moving to a different house, and that didn’t exactly leave her with a lot of extra cash lying around. When she started doing the TikTok videos, she was mainly creating an outlet for all the questions she had surrounding her new feline friends. She never expected things to take off in such a dramatic way. After that first donation, she became acutely aware of the fact that she could use her prowess with social media to get the financial help she needed, thereby allowing her to keep the cats. While she is raising money for their care, she is also doing something else. She’s making others aware of the fact that this is not something that only happens on rare occasions. Instead, animals are abandoned far too often. That is a problem that she wants to make others aware of, in hopes that she can make at least a small impact on the numbers of homeless and abandoned pets that find their ways into shelters each and every year.
The Pet Abandonment Problem
Sadly, the issue surrounding abandoned pets is a huge problem. In fact, it’s estimated that there are approximately 70 million cats that are abandoned in the United States each year. That doesn’t even include the number of dogs that end up in shelters. While some of these animals stray away from home and then find themselves in a shelter, others are just like Cooper and Rufus. They are simply abandoned by their owners, left to fend for themselves in a world that can be both frightening and cruel. Thankfully, the two cats who had been abandoned in an Alabama home found someone who was willing to go the extra mile to care for them. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Julia Davis did what she needed to do to make sure they were cared for and now she wants to make as many people aware of the pet abandonment issue as she possibly can. For her, it really is a labor of love. She has a deep love for animals and she simply can’t imagine that someone would just move away and leave their pets behind. She’s quick to point out that the cats are living, breathing creatures who experience love, fear and loneliness just like human beings do. If she can make more people aware of the problem, she might be able to get more abandoned pets adopted out, especially in her local area where she works so tirelessly to do so. She also hopes that others will find just as much joy with their companions as she has with hers.
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