Keremeos' favourite cat lady gets a helping hand from community

Betty Hansen is a familiar name in Keremeos, a village in B.C.'s southern Interior, where she is affectionately referred to as "the cat lady."

Hansen not only takes cats into her home to care for them⁠, she feeds strays and helps get them spayed or neutered. She even helps find some cats new homes. 

"[Betty's place] is sort of like an unofficial foster home," Keremeos resident Rona Clancy-Brewin told Chris Walker, host of Daybreak South. She and Hansen have been friends for four years. 

Now it's Keremeos' favourite cat lady who needs help. 

'Everything happened at once'

Hansen's husband has suffered from cellulitis in his leg — a potentially serious bacterial skin infection — for 20 years. But in the past month his chronic condition has worsened. He has trouble walking and has been to the hospital several times.

As well, Hansen's van has broken down. She uses to drive her and her husband to a house-cleaning job and to transport cats. 

"Everything just came to a crunch. Everything happened at once ... It was just too much," said Hansen.

That's when the community joined together to raise money for Hansen. So far they have donated $2,000 toward her van repairs and day-to-day costs. 

"I am so grateful," she said. 

It's all Betty

Hansen is semi-retired and cares for the cats on a limited income. Without her, there would be no one in Keremeos to look after the strays, said Clancy-Brewin. The village has no local program or facilities to address the growing stray cat population. 

Hansen has paid for cat food and other supplies by collecting bottles to return for their deposits and selling her homemade slippers.

"It's who I am. I can't see cats suffer," said Hansen.

"They come here and they might have a year, might have six months, might have two years. But at least they die the way they're supposed to die, not out in the cold."

Hansen currently cares for 20 cats, but has cared for as many as 40 at a time ⁠— whether they're kittens, feral or old. She says it's not an act of charity. She loves what she does.

"I'm not a hero. The cats are saving me," said Hansen. 

"Unless I'm in a coma or in jail I'm going to keep doing it."

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