A 125-year-old house in Melville, Johannesburg, is home to a joyful woman, well over 100 thriving cats and a heaving charity shop filled with unwanted goods from sex toys to kitchen utensils.
“Nobody knows exactly why it all works, but it does,” said Gail Millard, owner of Bounty Hunters Charity Shop for Cats, which has operated from the house for the past four years of its 24-year existence.
“The SPCA has been trying to shut me down. They’ve been threatening to get a court order and take all the cats because it’s obviously against all the bylaws. I’ll kill myself if they do. I can’t live without my cats,” she said.
Millard’s home-cum-shop — which takes in feral cats from all over the city — is a haven for animal lovers, donors, bargain hunters and scores of people looking for feline company.
“Children come here to play with the cats and people who can’t have pets for one reason or another come here to have a cat come and sit on their lap. People feeling down come here for cat therapy,” Millard said.
“Hi Gail, here’s a drop off,” announces Sez Adamson, as he and his wife arrive with bags of donations. The couple regularly collect unwanted clothing and goods from the people in their nearby townhouse complex.
“Sometimes I go out there [to Emmarentia Dam] and trap the unsterilised ones and bring them here to Gail. She gets them sorted and I take them back,” Adamson said.
The Bounty Hunters house is given over almost entirely to its role as a charity shop, but it is also Millard’s home. She occupies only a bedroom, where she sleeps with an average of 30 cats on her bed at night.
“I don’t cook at all, my kitchen doesn’t even have a door,” she said. All the glass-fronted cabinets in the kitchen are filled with pet food and vet supplies.
“The people around here feed me. They drop off food and I live on those meal replacement protein powders,” she said, lifting a bag of apples to illustrate a recent donation.
The rest of the house is filled to bursting with items for sale — stacks of clothing, books, kitchen utensils, pictures, bead necklaces and shoes.
“We take anything. You never know what you will find here. I mean, look at these ... Fighting dicks,” she said, picking up two giant, pale pink blow-up penises. On the wall opposite are three bright artworks by Jannie Viljoen, yours for R7,500.
All over the shop are cats. Curled up on the floor, nestled in baskets, settled in comfortable nooks, roaming quietly. Scattered around are water bowls and litter boxes. The floors are polished and there’s no dust.
“The staff here take good care of the place,” Millard said in response to an observation about the absence of animal and cat pee smells.
Many people come to sit in the garden and just be with the cats — none of which have names.
Millard describes her cat numbers as having reached “critical mass” — there are no fights or disease outbreaks, and all the felines are content.
“The experts were confused as to why there’s so little sickness here. But a psychologist said it’s because of our high dopamine levels. None of our animals are depressed, and people love coming here for cat therapy.”
While looking after so many animals is expensive, the costs are covered.
“The bond is R20,000, our monthly vet bill is about R25,000, we buy about 300kg of food a month and then there’s staff salaries. My own costs come last, but they’re very low,” Millard said.
From Tuesdays to Saturdays her days start at 6am with a cup of coffee. Then she cleans out all 47 litter boxes and gets ready to welcome staff and open the shop by 8.30am.
Sundays serve as her time to catch up on her personal life stuff, and then Mondays involve food deliveries from the Cat Box — where she gets bulk deal savings — and trips to the Richmond Animal Hospital, where her cats are treated at discounted rates.
Millard says some of the goods donated to the cause are in no condition to be offered for sale, and are placed in boxes in front of the shop where those in need can take them for free.
“We have the odd beggar coming in here, but I tell them ‘Sorry, you are not a cat’ and that works well.”
Millard has found her happy place.
“I love all the people. I love the interactions and how therapeutic it is for so many souls. I am so very, very happy.”
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