This Will Be Your Dream Job If You Are A Cat Lover

This job opening was posted by God’s Little People Cat Sanctuary on their Facebook page last year. 

According to what was written, you were expected to take care of 55 cats that were rescued by the artist Joan Bowell and her husband over the years while living on the Greek island, Syros.

Since Greece is filled with stray cats, the need for a sanctuary is not surprising at all. The location of the sanctuary and the home that comes with it is breathtaking, to say the least. Every corner of the island allows you to enjoy incredible views.

Since Joan Bowell needed a rest, she shared this job advertisement on Facebook, saying: “This job offer is not a joke- you are welcome to verify!” In the ad, she also stated that she was looking for someone mature and a genuine cat lover who “knows how to handle many cats and enjoys their company”. Preferably someone that is good at calming cats down when they need to. 35,000 people applied for the job, and eventually, Bowell chose Jeffyne Telson to spend the winter with her cats.

Telson lives in California but spends the wintertime in Oregon. She is a true cat lover and she is also very experienced when it comes to taking care of cats since she has been doing that for a very long time at her own domestic rescue organization, RESQCATS. At first, she was hesitant about applying for the job even though she wanted to, but her husband encouraged her to do so.

When she told Bowell about her 21 years of experience with rescue cats, Bowell decided to fly out to Santa Barbara to meet up with her and talk about the job face to face. Telson accepted the job, but she had one condition: She wanted the offered salary to be donated back to the cats.

After that, Telson flew out to the island with a population of merely 22,000 people and 13,000 stray cats. She had to learn how to take care of the outdoor cats since her organization keeps the cats inside. As the sanctuary is located inside of a nature preserve, cats are allowed to enjoy the weather outside while chasing the butterflies or sunbathing.

Bowell and Telson also teamed up for a special project: “Bowell picked a group of cats at a Greek Orthodox Church at the end of a mountain road facing the Aegean Sea. We spent the next four months helping the sick and most vulnerable ones and also spayed and neutered as many cats as possible in the group. We also managed to find forever homes for many of the cats we rescued.” Since they came across very desperate cats, the project was very emotionally challenging for Telson. “I wanted to help all the cats, but they were so many. The issue of who to help and who to leave behind was very hard and confusing. I knew I had to find a way to deal with this much sadness. At times, I felt like I was being tested.”

However, Telson managed to change her perspective and kept on helping as many cats as she could. “I tried and managed to see things in a more uplifting way in order to keep on with my duty. I didn’t let myself feel overwhelmed by sorrow and tried to be in good spirits. All you have to remember is that we all have a chance to make a difference, and everything you are willing to do for a specific cause actually helps a great deal. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.”

It seems like Telson was truly built for this job. She has this to tell when she’s asked about her experience at God’s Little People:

“Of course saving only one cat won’t change the world, but you will be able to change the world of that one cat.”

If you want to visit the sanctuary, it now has a guest house thanks to Bowell and it can be rented!

If you are wishing you’d have a job like taking care of the cats, Bowell is searching for another caretaker while she travels. She’s thinking of an American named Anna Novak as Telson’s replacement, but the position seems still available for now.