What if you fell in love with a farmhouse? You want to buy it but there are a lot of conditions. 16, to be exact.
Would you still buy it?
Emily and Dylan bought a farmhouse with a rich history. But there was a catch.
It came with 16 feral cats.
“The realtor said they don’t think they can really catch the cats,” Dylan told The Dodo. “Is it going to be a deal breaker? And I said, ‘No.’”
They first saw the farmhouse in the summer of 2018 and fell in love with it.
“It was everything we had dreamt of and more. Fast forward a few months and the house is officially ours now. We moved in a few weeks back, but are looking forward to spending forever here,” Emily wrote on their Instagram post. “The plan is for this home to become a sanctuary as well – a safe haven for many animals in the future. And so Freedom Farmhouse was born! We are so excited to share everything that is to come with this truly special property.”
And so, a few months later, Emily and Dylan moved in with their three dogs. And, in the process, they lived with 16 cats.
The cats all lived outside in a shed on the property.
And when Emily and Dylan wanted to hang out with them, they’d go out to the driveway and play with the cats.
“I remember when I would go out there to feed them, they would scatter and they would run. They were so skittish,” Dylan shared. “And now when I come home, they’ll come up to me and they’ll want some sort of attention.”
Emily did admit she had mixed feelings about the cats at the start.
“When we first moved in I was not happy about all the barn cats that were left behind. I have never even owned a cat before, let alone [16],” Emily admitted. “Fast forward 7 months later and I love my kitties.”
But the previous owners of the farmhouse had only provided an old shed where the cats eat and sleep.
There are no windows and doors so there’s no protection from other elements.
“From there, our thought process was, ‘these cats need better shelter,’” Emily said.
They had an outdoor storage room and since they weren’t using it, they decided to turn it into the cats’ room.
They bought a couple of cat beds, lots of food bowls, even more toys, and a heater. They even added cat towers and installed a catwalk on the walls.
“They absolutely love the cat room!” Dylan reported.
From being overwhelmed with all 16 cats when they moved in, now, Emily and Dylan can’t imagine a life without the cats.
“I think the best part is just having that unconditional love that the cats have given us. It taught me a lot about just loving animals in the way that they deserve and they want to be loved,” Emily shared.
What started as a safe haven for slaves in historic times has now become a safe haven for animals.