One morning, Cheng Xiao was awakened by frantic knocking on the door of her home. She rushed to answer it, and was greeted by an angry scowl from her mother, who then accused Cheng’s cats of “murdering” a pair of her pet birds the night before.

Now, Cheng often laughs about the event with her friends. Before, her parents, who live in the same neighborhood, never really criticized her much for taking in so many stray cats. But this particular incident was different because the dead birds were her mother’s favorites.

In the garden in front of Cheng’s house, several cats rest lazily under the shade of the dense foliage, near a massive dish of cat food. Cheng doesn’t refer to the adopted felines as “homeless cats,” but rather “free-range cats.” Every day, the cats come to her garden to eat, but they never enter her house.

Inside, cat memorabilia can be found all over Cheng’s home. Her love affair with cats started years ago, on a day she went for a walk with her husband. On a shadowy street corner, the couple happened upon a helpless cat tied up with an iron wire. Cheng rescued the animal, and it became her first charity case.

Cheng imagined the cat might feel lonely to be the only pet at her home, so she decided to find it a companion. She turned to the internet, and found a website dedicated to rescuing homeless cats, Luckycats.net. After browsing the site for a few minutes, Cheng found her cat a suitable partner, but when she attempted to adopt it, the website indicated that the cat already had an intimate friend at the shelter. So Cheng adopted them both.

Once, Cheng rescued an abandoned cat that was suffering from an inflamed spinal cord. Some veterinarians suggested that the animal could be saved by amputating one of its limbs, but Cheng insisted on pharmacological treatment. After trying all the medicine she could find, Cheng was on the verge of conceding to the illness, when the cat miraculously recovered.

Cheng’s love for cats has affected those around her. Along with two partners who live nearby, she has run a design studio for 10 years, and the business is strengthened by the group’s common fondness for felines. Wang Yan, a designer in their studio, enjoys not only raising cats, but drawing them as well.