Labour of love: owner of takeaway shop in Hong Kong uses her profits to rescue stray cats and get them adopted

“I was crying every day [before my flight]. When I was feeding the cats and when I was walking my dogs, I kept thinking: when can I ever see them again?” recalled the Hongkonger, who has been tending to stray cats and dogs since 2014.

“I had been wanting to leave. But at last, I decided that if I could help them, I’d stay.”

Now, the tender-hearted former football coach is the proud owner of a small takeaway shop hidden away in Tai Kok Tsui. Most of the profits from her small business are channelled towards her mission of helping stray animals.

So far, she has rescued more than 100 cats.

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The inconspicuous eatery, called Spicy Fishballs Please, doesn’t advertise itself with a fancy facade or loud banners. But it is filled with stacks of tinned cat food, strings of cat toys and – of course – a clowder of felines.

“From the start, my neighbours had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t put my name at the door. There are no menus. Many thought this was a pet shop,” Chow laughed.

During the day, she cooks up a storm while fulfilling delivery orders. The self-taught chef is particularly proud of her mouth-numbing spicy chicken pots. By night, she scours the neighbourhood for stray cats, feeding them and, if she can, rescuing and sheltering them before they can be placed in permanent homes.

“This is my childhood dream: I have always wanted to open my own shop so I could cook for others. And now, I can even help stray cats – it feels even better,” she shared.

The restaurateur’s love for animals was nurtured by her family. Chow jokingly described her childhood home as a zoo: a rooster, a hen and a dog lived on the balcony while the living room was for the turtles and cats.

One memory that has always stuck with her is of her grandfather rescuing a stray cat.

“I used to go down to the back alley and play with this cat owned by [someone living there] ... but one day, the Social Welfare Department and police brought him away and left the cat there,” Chow said of the feline her grandfather later brought home, saying this was the moment that inspired what she does now.

In 2014, while living near Mong Kok’s market, she started feeding the cats hiding in the backstreets. Slowly, her territory expanded to Yau Ma Tei and Tai Kok Tsui. Eventually, she began taking in these strays due to how tough it was asking other groups to help the animals.

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“The most difficult part was to bring them to the doctor. I didn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit the vet whenever, so I’d sometimes host charity sales of fish balls to raise funds for the cats,” Chow shared.

One day, while roaming Tai Kok Tsui for food, she came across a Japanese restaurant, where her shop is now, and bonded with the boss over food. But during the pandemic, he fell ill and stopped operating for half a year.

“I sent him a message to check in on him. He knew I had been saving stray cats with my cooking, so he asked me if I was interested in taking over his shop,” recalled Chow, adding that he gave her two days to think about it.

“And at that time, it was a bit hopeless. I was originally a full-time football coach, but suddenly, I was out of a job,” she said, explaining that her work as a football coach had come to a halt amid the Covid-19 social-distancing rules.

“Actually, at the moment, I was already 80 per cent sure I wanted to do this,” she revealed.

In December 2021, she opened the shop, pursuing her food dreams by day and looking after her strays at night.

“This shop is quite a comfort to me. When I was signing the contract, I was tearing up,” Chow shared.

Despite Chow’s devotion to animals in need, working at the shop by herself while also rescuing cats is not easy. Every night, she only sleeps for about four to five hours.

“Usually, I only sleep when the sun rises. Those times when I need to rescue the cats during the night have kind of shaped my daily routine now,” she chuckled.

The pet lover can name all of the cats nearby and knows their hideouts and favourite treats by heart.

“There are days when I can’t go, such as when I’m suffering from a high fever, but it’s rare,” she said.

Even when she could not feed the strays, Chow said that she still thought about them, wondering: “Did they get fed properly? How are they doing?”

For this dedicated cat mum, her love for strays has gone beyond just helping creatures in need: they have also become her family.

“Spread the love when you still can. One time, when I was preparing to save a cat, buying cages and everything, I saw it get run over by a car. That feeling is ... heart-wrenching,” she recalled of that agonising moment.

“So if you can do it, why not help?”

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And finding them new homes felt “unreal”, she shared, explaining that potential adopters would contact her on social media and come to the shop to meet the felines.

Receiving videos of the rescued cats having the time of their lives with their new families gives her great comfort.

“I miss them, but it’s OK because there will always be new ones needing me,” she said, smiling.

Looking ahead, she still has a bigger dream to achieve.

“My ultimate goal is to open an actual chicken pot restaurant, not just a takeaway shop. And next to the restaurant, I would rent a space ... so people can come to look at the cats and play with them.”