We often see miracles that happen when people rescue a cat. Stopping to save one life has a ripple effect that can reverberate beyond anything you could imagine. And that’s certainly true for the story of Esbee, a cat that changed countless lives in Corpus Christi, Texas.
This story is astonishing on so many levels, not the least of which is how infinitesimally small the odds of it happening are!
Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary
The story started five years ago when Anissa Beal started a sanctuary in Corpus Christi, Texas. She decided to do it after rescuing Edgar, the kitten born with a heart defect, who passed away at eight months old. In his memory, she named the rescue for him with a mission to “save the cats and kittens that nobody else wanted.” Like Edgar, many of the cats here would have faced euthanasia without Beal and her team.
“[Edgar] changed my life,” said Beal. “I wanted to make sure that his name and cats like him were never forgotten.”
Image via YouTube with image from Edgar and Ivy’s website
The Rescue Was About to Shut it’s Doors For Good
In January 2024, the rescuers celebrated saving 801 cats as they gathered by a bonfire. Yet Beal had a heavy heart because things were falling apart financially. She had been paying employees out of her own pocket and it couldn’t continue.
“Something had to change and it had to change fast because I couldn’t hold on much longer,” she explained. “I didn’t know what to do anymore.”
Little did anybody know, but everything was about to change when a man named Spencer, from faraway Kansas, found a sick cat nearby while mowing a lawn!
Video by KZTV Action 10 News about the start of Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary:
Spencer Finds Esbee the Cat While Mowing
Think about the odds of Spencer finding a cat in Texas. He runs a lawn-mowing business called SB Mowing in Wichita, Kansas. Yet he happens to travel to the area to avoid the colder months. That’s why he encountered a cat later named SB, which became Esbee. Someone called him to mow a badly overgrown lawn, but something caught his eye.
Images via YouTube/SB Mowing
“…while I was cleaning up an overgrown lawn I found an injured cat hidden deep in the grass. He was visibly hurt with an abscess under his arm that was pretty infected. He couldn’t move and seemed like he was ready to lay there until he passed away from infection,” Spencer shared.
Video by SB Mowing:
Only Edgar’s Rescue Agreed to Help Esbee
If Spencer hadn’t found him, Esbee would have died within hours due to severe abscesses. In the search for help, he found Beal, who made sure the kitty fully recovered. But then things became even more extraordinary!
“I wasn’t sure what to do, so I called four different numbers including the city animal rescue, humane society, and other cat rescues but none of them wanted to take him on. Finally, I called Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary and they told me to bring him in and they would fix him up,” Spencer wrote on GoFundMe.
In a recent video, Beal explained how this turn of events changed the whole game!
“I can’t even tell you how this changed everything!” she said.
Video by News Center Maine:
Saving Esbee Saved the Sanctuary!
It’s funny that Beal was a fan of SB Mowing prior to meeting Spencer. Yet it didn’t click that he was the same person from Kansas until her employees realized who he was and started giggling! At that point, said told the Wichita Eagle, “I was blushing, and I got starstruck.”
As it turned out, Spencer is no ordinary lawn mower. He’s also a social media star that even the CaM Fam follows online. SB Mowing has an astonishing following of over 9.5 million on TikTok. Why? In essence, it’s due to restoring faith in humanity. You see, he loves doing good deeds by mowing overgrown lawns for free. And wonderfully, humanity jumped at the chance to pay it forward!
Always one for a good deed, Spencer started a GoFundMe to help Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary. But nobody anticipated the incredible response! So far, they topped $189,000! Plus, Beal says fully-stocked Amazon trucks arrived to donate lifesaving supplies they needed.
“I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening. I didn’t know there was so much good in this world,” she said.
‘The House That Esbee Built’
After such a serious infection, Esbee’s recovery took weeks. But as his strength returned, his wonderful purrsonality emerged. Today, he rules the roost and is permanently home with the sanctuary. Since he arrived, the rescue has saved hundreds of additional cats thanks to supporters’ donations.
“As he started the strengthen, I realized how special this cat actually was. He was loving, funny, fearless; he was everything! And just like Edgar, he was left in the grass like he was nothing. But Spencer knew that Esbee wasn’t nothing,” Beal said.
Images via Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary on Facebook
Everyone was so thankful to Spencer for saving Esbee and their sanctuary. And Beal even offered to name their new wellness center after him. But instead, he chose to name it after his followers who came through. And so, SB Mowing Community Wellness Center is now saving cats like Esbee who would have no chance for a happy life otherwise.
“I knew we have been blessed beyond belief,” she said. “Esbee has become our everything. Every time I feel that I can’t do anymore, I look at him and I know what I owe all of you; I know what I owe him, and I know what I owe Spencer. And I will never forget it.”
You can follow Edgar & Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok and their website.
