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Angela Rafuse knew her grandfather’s cat Mackenzie was special.
But, when she started posting videos of the “spicy” senior feline in January 2021, she didn’t anticipate just how enamored with Mackenzie the internet would become–enamored enough that Rafuse would draw a community of nearly 650,000 followers and be able to launch My Grandfather’s Cat, a Canada-wide charity that works with seniors to secure homes for their pets after they pass away.
Rafuse stepped up to adopt Mackenzie after her grandfather passed away, but in doing so, became acutely aware that if she hadn’t, Mackenzie would’ve had a very slim chance at living out the rest of her life happily.
“If I couldn’t have taken her, Mackenzie would’ve spent the rest of her life at a shelter because she would’ve been 14 years old, hissing in a cage, and nobody would’ve taken her, which is valid. It’s valid, because she was very vicious. I have scars to prove it all over my body, and my face,” she says.
Despite that, Rafuse adored Mackenzie–and, watching her videos, it’s clear Mackenzie adored her too. Rafuse was working as a fundraising coordinator for the Salvation Army when she started sharing Mackenzie’s grumpy, growly life on TikTok. She thought maybe three people would see the videos. Instead, her early clips were viewed by hundreds of thousands.
“I was very naive of what the app actually was and mostly how powerful the app is, how easy it is to go viral, but how things can get picked up and shared,” she says.
And there was one prevailing question coming in from all those viewers: Why on earth did Rafuse give her cat such a human name?
Rafuse found herself explaining over and over that Mackenzie had been her grandfather’s cat, named by him. Sharing that story had a big impact on her followers. “People just resonated with it. So many people have been through this,” she says. “I love when people will comment or message me and say, ‘I adopted a senior cat because of Mackenzie.’ It’s just the best thing. Or even a spicy cat because of Mackenzie. I love that so much.”
When her account hit 30,000 followers, Rafuse figured she had enough traction to start doing something. Using her nonprofit experience, she launched My Grandfather’s Cat, which, like we mentioned, works with seniors across Canada who are going into a nursing home or preparing for death find a home for their pets, so they’re assured that nothing bad will happen to their animals when they’re gone. My Grandfather’s Cat also donates $200 worth of cats’ preferred food to seniors who need a little help keeping their companions fed. Also, most recently, My Grandfather’s Cat celebrated its three-year anniversary with a giveaway of pet food to over 300 cats and dogs in Halifax.
It was through Mackenzie (and then Bo, a soulmate cat Rafuse intended to rehome through My Grandfather’s Cat but ended up keeping) that Rafuse learned how she can make a difference to hundreds of people and their pets across Canada–with a little help from TikTok.
@angrafus3Mackenzie’s worst enemy: the parka♬ original sound – angrafus3
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Angela Rafuse: My name is Angela Rafuse. I am from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I started TikTok in January of 2021, I believe. I should know that, but I believe it was. I had adopted my grandfather’s cat, Mackenzie, after he passed away. I was just posting cute little videos with her because she had so much personality, so started posting cute little videos with her. Never thought anything would go viral or take off, and it did. Then it turned into an opportunity for me to start a charity to help seniors find homes for their pets before they move into retirement homes or pass away. That took over on social media. I adopted another cat, and that’s where we are now. We share about the charity, about my cat, Bo, Mackenzie stories, things like that.
Angela Rafuse: It was in the pandemic. I’m a millennial, so I wasn’t deep into TikTok at that point as everyone else was. One of my girlfriends is a lawyer and was posting TikToks. I mostly joined the app to support her and share her videos, and things like that, I guess, with friends or whatever was my plan at the time. I didn’t fully understand it. I know that’s wild, but I didn’t fully understand how the app worked. I thought it was like posting on Instagram. If I post a little video of Mackenzie, it would just go to the three people following me. I understand. Yes, I hate myself for that too, because I was so naive of what the app could do.
Angela Rafuse: It worked really well for me. I was very naive of what the app actually was and mostly how powerful the app is, how easy it is to go viral, but how things can get picked up and shared. I think we’ve all seen the perspective of somebody who will talk about their first date with somebody, and then somebody else will come and duet and share about their first date as well. It’s such a powerful app. Social media hasn’t been done like that before. I think it’s a really, really cool app. It’s also really cool for charities to spread the word about their work. It’s a lot easier to get the word out on TikTok than it is Instagram or anything else.
Angela Rafuse: Mackenzie was my grandfather’s cat. I adopted her when he passed away. She did pass away about almost a year ago now, but she will always be the foundation of the work of the charity and everything else.
Mackenzie was a grumpy, growly cat. She had the growliest– I called it a smoker’s meow. I don’t know. She literally sounded like she smoked a pack a day for her whole life. She had this growly meow. She was such a chatterbox. If I was holding her and I would talk to her, she would growl or meow back. She would hiss all the time. She had just such a spicy personality. She was also sweet and loving and loved to go on adventures. She loved to go kayaking and boating, and just different things like that.
I just shared Mackenzie, our lives. We made these little “getting ready” videos, because when we were going on adventures, I would get her dressed to go, like just put her harness on, maybe a rain jacket if it was not nice outside, because I’m that kind of millennial cat mom. Those videos just took off because I think Mackenzie was just growling and then just sitting there, so no one really understood why she was growling but not running away. Those were videos that mostly took off in the beginning. Now, it’s more about sharing about the charity and Mackenzie’s legacy, and things like that.
Angela Rafuse: That was the coolest cat in the entire world. How many cats do you know that would sit on your lap in a kayak? There are a couple on TikTok. That’s what Mackenzie did. She would be on the speedboat in her life jacket just sitting on the front of the speedboat flying down the water.
I think another part that people didn’t realize is she was 17 years ol. She wasn’t a kitten, and she was doing all of these things. She just loved it.
Angela Rafuse: Yes.
Angela Rafuse: It’s funny. At the beginning when we would post videos and they would go viral, I would be in the comments talking to people. I don’t do that as much anymore for my own mental health and well-being. People say some mean things on the internet. I think once a video gets to a certain point, I just don’t read the comments anymore. I always do at the beginning, because those are people that are sweet, but then you know how the internet can be.
I’m definitely not the first person to talk about that. When I started posting videos at first, so many people would comment and say, “Why did you name your cat Mackenzie?” I would say, “She’s not my cat. She’s my grandfather’s cat. I didn’t name her.” Because Mackenzie is a weird name for a cat. I don’t know why my grandparents named her Mackenzie. It is a weird name for a cat.
Angela Rafuse: Oh, her full name was Mackenzie Sheila Diane Rafuse.
Angela Rafuse: She does. [laughs] I gave her those middle names. They were my grandmother’s middle names. It was bad, Mackenzie just wasn’t long enough, but Mackenzie Sheila Diane was. Then obviously she had my last name. Then we would get mail all the time, packages for “Mackenzie Rafuse,” which was hilarious because it was a person’s name.
So many people would comment and say, “Why did you name your cat Mackenzie?” I would say, “She’s my grandfather’s cat. I adopted her when he passed away.” Then people were sharing their stories like, “Oh, I wish I could have done this. My grandparents’ cat ended up in a shelter.”
I worked in nonprofit for a while. I was like, there’s got to be some resource that I can send to people. There was nothing that existed to help seniors rehome their pets in a way that the senior could keep the cat until the very last day, somebody could find a home, and when the senior moved to the retirement home, the cat could move as well. I worked in marketing for nonprofits. I knew how to run a charity. I was in the pandemic, and I was bored. I was like, I can start this just a little side project. Famous last words: How big could it get?
I think we had about 20,000 or 30,000 followers on TikTok when I launched the charity. After that, it grew like wildfire. Our account kept growing and growing and growing. It was just amazing. People just resonated with it. So many people have been through this. Even if people can’t adopt through our charity, it’s inspired so many people to adopt senior cats, which is my favorite thing in the world. I love when people will comment or message me and say, “I adopted a senior cat because of Mackenzie.” It’s just the best thing. Or even a spicy cat because of Mackenzie. I love that so much.
Then I shared my other cat, Bo. I adopted him through the charity. It’s a lot of Bo content these days. He was 13 years old when I adopted him. He’s going to be 17 in June. He’s just the best guy in the world and has so much life to live.
I think our account really does show how much life senior cats have to live, and how much they’re filled with love and personality at any age. Even though you won’t have a senior cat as long, if you adopt them older, you’re going to be loved to the point where it’s an unimaginable amount of love from senior cats.
Angela Rafuse: Bo was not a planned adoption. Bo, I emergency fostered for one night.
Angela Rafuse: He is a foster fail. He slept in my arms, and I could not let him go. Just couldn’t. He was mine. We were just meant to be together. We are soulmates in every way. We like all of the same things. We like snuggling on the couch. We both hate sleeping alone. We both like eating cheese. We were just meant to be together. I love him a lot, so I’m very, very grateful that he was a foster fail.
Angela Rafuse: He was actually our second adoptable. It was at the very beginning of the charity, where I was still trying to figure out how things were going to work. We really figured it out as we went along for the first few months, like, how can we create a service that’s going to work for seniors? I had found a home for Bo. His senior was moving on Friday, and the new family couldn’t take him until Saturday, or maybe it was something like that. I was able to drive Bo to his new home. When I drove him to his new home, the family changed their minds when we got there–which, it happens.
It was, again, in the very beginning they changed their minds. I was like, “That’s fine. I can take him to my place for a few nights, get him settled and then find him another family.” As much as I fell madly in love with him, I found him another family, because I was like, “I can’t keep all the cats. That’s not going to be a very good charity if it’s just me hoarding animals.”
I did find him another home.He made it two nights at his second home until the family called and they’re like, “Honestly, we feel like he’s waiting for you to come pick him up.” I went and he just came out from under their couch and ran into my arms and I was like, “All right, you’re going to come home and we’re just going to be together.” We’ve been together ever since.
I’d like to note, we have successfully completed 187 other adoptions and I have not kept the cat. I only did it once. [laughs]
Angela Rafuse: We are definitely meant to be together. He is such a lovebug.
Angela Rafuse: What we do is we have a network of volunteers across the country, across Canada. When a senior is ready to move into a retirement home, or somebody that’s participating in MAID, so medical assistance in dying, they submit an application. One of our volunteers will work with them. They’ll write the profile, get some photos, everything like that. We’ll post them on our website, social email list, the whole nine yards. When someone’s interested, the volunteer will interview them, make sure they’re a good fit for the adoptable, and a decent human being.
If we deem them a good fit, we’ll pass their information along to the senior. The senior then interviews all the applicants and chooses someone. Then they take the cat directly from the senior’s home to the new family. We don’t actually house any of the animals. The goal is for them to stay with their seniors and never have to be in a foster home or a shelter. Just go directly from one home to the other, because a lot of our adoptables are seniors as well, so it provides a lot less stress on the animal. It’s a really unique, not done service.
Oh, it is a free service–we don’t charge adoption fees either, which is really cool as well. We’re really grateful that we have a lot of donors and we don’t have to charge. We also provide a pet food bank. It’s called My Grandmother’s Pet Pantry. I named it after my grandmother, because I named the charity after my grandfather, so I thought she should get something as well. Every season, we provide 25 seniors with $200 worth of pet food that’s completely free, shipped directly to their door, to help them. We’re all impacted by the rising cost of living, so this helps seniors on a fixed income be able to feed their cats exactly what their cat likes. That’s how the charity works.
Angela Rafuse: Social media is how we find second forever homes. Without it, we couldn’t do the work we do. The charity wouldn’t exist without social media. It is the foundation of our work. We have the most incredible community. We have my TikTok community, which I believe is over 600,000 now. We have our Instagram community, which is over 100,000, and then our Facebook community which I think is 17,000. All people that are supporters of the charity, they want to adopt through us. We use social media in the way a shelter would’ve traditionally used adoption events.
People come in on a Saturday and just meet all the cats. We use social media for that. Social media allows us to save a huge amount of overhead. We don’t have to have cats in a shelter. Cats can literally stay in their homes. We can find them a home and they can move directly without, again, a foster, a shelter, anything like that. It actually makes it better for the animal, easier for us as an organization, keeps our costs really low. Overall, it’s the most powerful tool, and the charity couldn’t exist without it.
Angela Rafuse: It is. Also what’s really cool is just the things that have happened since with the charity. The ripple effect, I guess. So many people have been inspired to adopt senior cats because of our organization. Not only that, but a lot of seniors have adopted senior cats. It’s so funny, because seniors will apply through us and say, “Am I too old to adopt a cat?”
At our organization, no, you’re not. We only want to rehome a cat once, but heaven forbid something happened to you, that’s why we’re here. A lot of seniors have actually adopted cats because of us, and have been able to have that companionship that they would’ve lost out on solely because of worrying what would happen to the cat when they passed away. That’s been really cool as well.
For us, I say we don’t discriminate. I know maybe it’s not the best word, but we don’t discriminate based on age, health condition, no matter what it is. We will help a cat at any stage of life, at any age, because I know there’s people, really great people out there that will adopt cats at older ages. We’ve had multiple cats with diabetes that need insulin injections. We had a 17-year-old cat once.
We have a lot of 16-year-old cats, where people will go to shelters and because there are no-kill shelters in Canada and they’re to capacity, they’re just like, “Look, if you can find a home for this cat on your own, that would be great,” because a 16-year-old cat in a shelter… One, they’re not going to do well. They’re not going to adapt easily. It’s going to be really hard for them and they’re probably not going to get adopted. You don’t want them living the rest of their lives out at a shelter like Mackenzie would’ve.
If I couldn’t have taken her, Mackenzie would’ve spent the rest of her life at a shelter because she would’ve been 14 years old, hissing in a cage, and nobody would’ve taken her, which is valid. It’s valid, because she was very vicious. I have scars to prove it all over my body, and my face. I think that’s what’s great about our charity too, is it doesn’t matter. I won’t give up on an animal. That’s somebody’s best friend. I couldn’t give up on an animal. We will help no matter the age. We’ll be there, and we’ll do our best to find second forever homes. I believe our success rate right now–I hate saying this, because then I feel like it jinxes it–I think it’s 97%.
Angela Rafuse: The cats we’ve helped have been adopted, but again, that’s social media, that’s our community. There are such good people out there just waiting for the opportunity to adopt an older cat. It’s the greatest thing ever. It is truly the greatest thing, or it’s the greatest joy. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. It’s my whole life. It’s my life’s purpose. I should probably get a hobby or a relationship. Till then…
Angela Rafuse: He is. He’s the only man that’s allowed in this apartment.
Angela Rafuse: It’s my greatest joy. I’m so lucky and fortunate and grateful that I get to do this every single day as a job. I do social media on the side, which I’m very fortunate about as well, but to do this charity as a job and have people just believe in it and support it, I’m so lucky. I’m so, so lucky.
Angela Rafuse: We have. For the first two years, I did this on top of my full-time job.
Angela Rafuse: I worked in fundraising for community programs for the Salvation Army, all the different shelters, the youth programs, the LGBT programs, all of that, that’s what I did. I did the fundraising for all of that at Salvation Army. That’s my background.
Angela Rafuse: I had the background. I had the experience and I had also been there for five years, so I was ready for a change. The bigger the charity is, the more of a slow-moving unit it is for change in any way. Even something simple as filming Instagram Reels becomes a beast with big charities. It’s not as simple as me with my phone.
That’s what I love about having my own charity and being able to do this. I have a lot of creative freedom, where I’m like, this is a trend we can jump on, and I can do it right away. Granted, we are getting big. The charity is becoming an absolute beast of its own, but what a problem to have! We’re helping so many cats. We’re providing food for so many seniors.
We are getting to the point now that this is my full-time job now, and I’m very fortunate that it is. I get to now take the time to apply for grants. We did receive our first grant for our pet pantry, and we’ll be applying for a lot more grants as we grow, as we get bigger, and as we need funding. I’m not really one to hoard grant money or things like that. If we have enough to operate, great, but we’ll continue to apply as we get bigger and the needs get bigger as well.
Angela Rafuse: It’s definitely inspiring people to adopt senior cats. I think that’s the best thing ever. I think that’s definitely my favorite thing, is when people adopt cats because of things like this. It’s also made me feel very normal about my love of cats. I don’t know how to describe that. For me, Bo is my child. Mackenzie was my child. They are the loves of my life. Bo is the love of my life, so was Mackenzie. Because they are, I love them so deeply. I treat Bo like gold. Bo doesn’t have bad days. Bo has his own iPad. He’s currently sleeping in his, I think it’s a yurt. [angles camera]
Angela Rafuse: In his yurt. Brands are really, really generous. They will send us lots of things for Bo as well. He’s got so many toys and things, even Mackenzie got them, that I didn’t know existed beforehand. Once I watched Mackenzie, I remember this day so well, she ate breakfast from the feeder that was sent to her, played with toys from a subscription box that was sent to her, then climbed up on her cat tree that was sent to her, and then laid on the window ledge that was sent to her. Her whole life was just brand things that were sent to her. I don’t even know half of these products exist until a brand reaches out to us and says, “I think your cat would love this.” I’m like, “I think they would too.”
The other day, somebody sent Bo whack-a-mole cheese. It looks like a little piece of cheese, and little mice come out of it and my cats can whack them. He loves that so much. I wouldn’t have even known that that existed. Bo and Mackenzie, it gave them such a more exciting life, and it’s made me feel so much more normal. I did a video the other day of packing for Bo’s stuff to go to my parents’ house, and so many people were just commenting like, “I feel so seen. I feel like this is me.” Different things like that. Even people were commenting. I remember this one girl commented about how she has a plant that her cats like to dig up and then plant back. She has to replant it. She sent that to her mom’s house when she was babysitting her cats. That makes me feel so much better about the extreme I go to.
Angela Rafuse: I just feel so much more normal and seen, and relatable. It’s nice to have that many people believe in my idea. Because sometimes you sit there and you come up with these ideas, and you’re like, I wonder if this will work. It’s very validating that that many people support it and think it’s a good idea too. Very lucky.
Angela Rafuse: I think a lot of food banks in, I know Nova Scotia, for sure, do carry pet food, but there’s a big difference I personally find. When it comes to humans, say you’re giving me two types of crackers. I might not prefer the second type, but I’ll eat it if I’m hungry. I’ll understand that I need to eat that to survive. Now granted, nobody should have to do that. Absolutely no one should. If there’s a human in a desperate situation, they know how to do that.
Cats don’t understand that. Cats, especially if you have an older cat, will stick their nose up to anything. Bo ate only cheddar cat food, the cheddar-flavored Fancy Feast, for an entire week. Then he woke up one day and decided he didn’t like that anymore. Thank goodness, I had bought three boxes of it. Thank you, Bo. We always have to rotate flavors. Cats just don’t understand that. That’s why with our pet pantry, you just can’t give a person anything for a cat and hopefully their cat will eat it. That’s why with our pet pantry, we work with the seniors to send them the exact food that their cat eats.
Angela Rafuse: We just ship it directly to their door. Even starting a pet food bank and having pet food is amazing. It’s amazing to have, but we try to take it the extra step to make sure that we’re sending people exactly what they want.
Angela Rafuse: Seniors have such a hard time get getting out. We send $200 worth of pet food. That’s a lot of pet food. We really can send enough that it’s going to make a big impact in their lives and it’s not going to help them for just a week, but actually a big impact. That’s why we use Amazon to ship it directly to their door. It works really well. It ships directly to their door. Seniors love it. The dignity is a big piece as well. A lot of seniors just have a really hard time asking for help in any way. Especially the ones that have been independent their whole lives and now need help. This is a discreet way of going about it. They apply online, I reach out to them, ship them the food, they never have to leave their home.
I definitely structured it so it’s a very unique program. Now we’re not as able to help as many people through a program like this, but we just launched it in February. We’re really trying to grow it as much as we can and as much as we can get donations and eventually grants and things like that. My only other note, I don’t know if I mentioned this is because I’m a marketer. This is important to me. We launched my grandfather’s cat, the charity, on my grandfather’s birthday, which is May 18th. We launched the pet pantry on February 20th, which is my grandmother’s birthday.
Angela Rafuse is repped by Viral Nation.
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