A group of 20 students is actively working to establish a new University-affiliated organization to care for stray cats in West Campus, with plans to support a pre-existing staff-run organization and other animal welfare groups across the city.

Abi Kemokai, a microbiology and psychology sophomore, said she was scrolling on Reddit on Sept. 4 when she saw a post from the faculty-run Cats of West Campus looking for students to volunteer to support their feeding and care routines throughout the campus neighborhood. 

“It really inspired me to get involved and get other students involved,” Kemokai said. “(The Cats of West Campus) responded in a comment and said they’ve been trying to get a student (organization) started for a while, but it’s never gone through. I figured with the amount of interest that I saw on Reddit, there could be enough people to get something started and continue it.” 

Kemokai made a Reddit post that same day to gauge interest in starting a student-led organization caring for stray cats. She made a GroupMe for the organization the next day, and the group chat currently has 86 prospective members. 

Kemokai said the group chat voted to call the organization Meow Mates. She added that around 20 of the 86 prospective members have taken the lead in getting Meow Mates affiliated with the University, and the organization is filing paperwork with the Office of the Dean of Students. 

“Right now, we’re focused on becoming an official UT club,” Kemokai said. “The overarching goal is to make an impact on the Austin area as well. We are looking into working with different foundations that help promote stray cat welfare and how to properly care for stray cats.”

Approximately 135,000 feral cats live in Austin, according to reporting from The Austin Chronicle. 

The University prohibits feeding animals on campus to promote public health and safety. Kemokai said Meow Mates, like the staff-run Cats of West Campus, will focus its efforts on cats that live off campus. 

Kemokai said she wants Meow Mates to have a strong relationship with the staff-run Cats of West Campus because “they are the ones who have been doing this for years.” She said the Cats of West Campus want to eventually teach the students of Meow Mates the proper techniques of caring for stray cats. 

“We appreciate that (the students are) so passionate about cat welfare,” a spokesperson for the Cats of West Campus said in a statement. “They’re really leading this charge on this on their own. … We welcome everyone who wants to help the cats of Austin.” 

Kemokai said Meow Mates seeks open-minded volunteers to support their future efforts, supporting the staff-run organization’s care for cats across West Campus. 

“We’re willing to work with any schedule (so) the employees (who volunteer for Cats of West Campus) who are doing it right now — it’s only two of them — have a constant rotation of students who are willing to come in and volunteer at any time and give them a helping hand,” Kemokai said.