Gao Fengying lives in a rented one-bedroom apartment in the city of Nanjing in eastern China with more than 100 adopted cats.
For 18 years the 56-year-old has dedicated herself to caring for stray cats, spending eight hours a day feeding them and cleaning the makeshift cattery.
She treats them as her children.
"I love them more than my life," she told the ABC.
There are at least 53 million stray cats in China, according to an estimate by the China Pet Industry White Paper released in 2021, and that number continues to grow as owners fail to have their pets desexed and abandon them.
Peter Li, an associate professor of east Asian politics and animal policy at the University of Houston, said stray animals were not just an issue specific to China.
However, he said the country did not have enough formal shelters or rehoming facilities.
"It mostly relies on animal protection organisations, individual animal activists, and animal lovers to care for street animals," he said.
Number of strays increasing
Dr Li said many owners did not have their cats desexed, allowing them to multiply.
He said in the early years of the People's Republic of China, owning pets was not permitted.
But over the past four decades, as the country became more urbanised, pet ownership had become more common, he said.
This has led to an increase in abandoned pets when their owners' circumstances change.
Common reasons cats end up abandoned on the streets include pet owners moving, ending relationships, or simply not understanding the commitment required to care for a pet.
"Every cat has a story," said Ms Gao.
Civilian volunteers the mainstay
Ms Gao said she cared for her cats at great personal cost.
She said that she had spent more than 1 million yuan ($200,000) on them over the past 18 years, and was now more than $60,000 in debt.
"I paid the vet to get every cat neutered and made ear tags," she said.
To save money, she gives the cats their shots herself instead of paying a vet.
Makeshift catteries face hostility
Volunteers not only face financial hardship but also criticism from neighbours concerned about hygiene and potential diseases from the strays.
Xiaohong Yu, a 45-year-old from Shenzhen in southern China, looks after 30 cats in her home and an additional 20 in a rented cattery.
She has been adopting cats since 2019 and often finds herself in disagreements with her husband over bringing more cats into their lives.
"All my pocket money went on the cats, and I haven't bought a single new dress since then," Ms Yu said.
Despite her efforts to limit the number of cats under her care, she said the pressure continued to mount.
"I get complaints from neighbours all the time," Ms Yu said, saying that mostly the complaints were about the smell.
Dr Li said stray cats could spread diseases, but they were not as much of a public health risk as many believed.
"They should be vaccinated against rabies or other diseases so they're safe in the home," he said.
Also, stray cats could help control urban rat populations, providing an ecological benefit in cities where poisons were commonly used to manage rodents, he said.
Calls for animal protection laws
Dr Li said China was the only industrialised country that did not have an animal protection law — leaving stray cats at greater risk of harm.
Pet cats are only protected by China's property protection laws.
Calls for legislation to punish people for being cruel to or mistreating animals are growing, with activists urging the government to adopt stronger measures during the National People's Congress sessions.
"They are real lives, not objects," Ms Yu said.
Hong Kong, which has successfully passed animal welfare laws, serves as a model that many activists hope mainland China will follow.
Ms Gao said the lack of laws to facilitate fostering and adoption also hampered her efforts to care for her cats.
Documentation — like records of vaccination, purchase or microchipping — must be provided to prove ownership of a cat.
In some cases, this made it impossible for volunteers to prove ownership of lost foster cats.
"Our current law is not sound, so I hope society pays more attention to stray cats," Ms Gao said.
Progress being made
Though there is no unified national effort to control the stray cat population, some cities like Beijing have implemented sterilisation programs.
A Chinese mobile phone application Street Cat (Jiemao) has also been developed which enables users to track stray cat locations, coordinate feeding initiatives, and facilitate adoptions.
However, there have been reports of individuals using the app's tracking function to find cats to mistreat.
Dr Li was hopeful that the situation would continue to improve.
"China is approaching high-income status," Dr Li said.
"With this economic progress, I believe we'll soon see better treatment and protection for animals."
He said local governments should be spending more money to vaccinate and desex stray cats and help local shelters and adoption organisations.
And they should also do more to encourage people to be caring and kind to stray animals.
"If you can help these stray animals, do it. If you can not, don't do anything to hurt them," he said.
