Shangqiu man adopted more than 40 stray cats and spent more than 300,000 yuan to build a cat mansion

Chen Xianlei, a young man born in the 1980s in Shangqiu, adopted more than 40 stray cats by himself. He spent more than a year investing more than 300,000 yuan to build a fairy-tale cat castle for stray cats. Different from pure charity adoption, he gradually found a way to adopt stray cats in a self-sufficient and long-term way.

A young man from Shangqiu spent more than 300,000 yuan a year to build a "cat castle" for stray cats.

"Tangyuan, come and eat delicious food." On November 22, in a three-story private house on Yixing West Road, Suiyang District, Shangqiu City, the reporter met Chen When Xianlei was there, he was carefully feeding the cats with a box of cat food. A dozen chubby cats, black, white, and yellow, were lovingly circling around him. Chen Xianlei was stroking the cats while taking out the cat food and feeding them. It was not like an owner feeding a pet, but like a kind old father communicating with his children.

"Now I have adopted about 46 cats one after another, some of which are in the house I rent, and some of which are in my home." Chen Xianlei told reporters that at the beginning, he could not have imagined that so many stray cats would be adopted in three or four years.

According to Chen Xianlei, he used to work in media in Beijing. Starting with the first cat in 2017, he successively adopted 17 stray cats in Beijing. At the end of 2019, he brought these 17 stray cats back to his hometown in Shangqiu. When Chen Xianlei was about to return to Beijing, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out. So with the persuasion of his friends, he planned to build a "Dream Cat Castle" in Shangqiu with the theme of adopting stray cats.

Since June 2020, he has spent more than a year and more than 300,000 yuan on decoration and design at his own expense, and successfully created the "Dream Cat Castle". With pink exterior walls, green lawns, and indoor starry sky ceilings, moon lamps, and rainbow climbing frames, this castle, like a fairy tale princess, is a home specially built by Chen Xianlei for stray cats.

Since then, while adopting stray cats, he also used his self-media account to post about the daily lives of stray cats, which quickly attracted the attention of more than 3 million fans.

Using the "Cat Castle" model to create a base for long-term adoption of stray cats

Unfortunately, due to rising rent prices and other issues, Chen Xianlei had to demolish the "Dream Cat Castle" he had worked so hard to build, and found a three-story private house for transitional use.

"It costs more than 10,000 yuan for cat food and care for a month. I haven't hired anyone yet, so I insist on doing it myself." Chen Xianlei told reporters that Chen Xianlei's mother and brother now help take care of the daily feeding of the cats. They are fed twice a day. The main food is high-end cat food. Every week, they break chicken breasts and mix them with milk powder to give the cats "extra meals."

Adopting stray cats costs so much, how does Chen Xianlei maintain it? Facing reporters' questions, Chen Xianlei said that he is exploring a stray cat adoption base that can operate healthily in the long term. Currently, he is self-sufficient by publishing videos and accepting advertisements on self-media platforms.

Chen Xianlei said that he has a plan to build the largest stray cat adoption base in the Shangqiu area. It will not only adopt stray cats, but also be responsible for the adoption of stray cats. "The procedures will definitely be very complete, including return visits after the stray cats are adopted, etc."