Tedra Villaroz quit her accounting job at First Hawaiian Bank after more than 20 years to set up a nonprofit shelter for stray cats.

Eight years later, Villaroz says, she often wonders why she made the career change.

"I was burned out and I wanted to do something that gave me a good feeling," she said. "But it's been much tougher than I thought it would be."

Villaroz's nonprofit, Joey's Feline Friends, takes in stray, injured and abandoned cats, and houses them in several 600-square-foot catteries at her two-story Temple Valley home and at a one-acre compound in nearby Kahalu'u.

The no-kill shelter houses 200 to 300 cats and has taken in about 1,000 strays since 1998. Of those cats, more than 700 were adopted, she said.

From the start, Joey's has been barely breaking even because of soaring demand for her nonprofit's services and large costs, Villaroz said.

After the 9/11 attacks, donations from regular donors began to dry up, and more recently the nonprofit's largest benefactor — who provided as much as $2,000 a month in operating costs — was unable to continue donating money because of illness.

The nonprofit — which gets its name from an abandoned Maine Coon cat that Villaroz rescued more than 20 years ago — also has debts of nearly $100,000 to the local veterinarian clinic, VCA Kaneohe Animal Hospital, which treated many of the injured cats taken in by Joey's.

Villaroz said she offsets some of the shortfalls herself and recently took a part-time job with a property management company to make ends meet.

Joey's monthly expenses come to about $4,000, including $1,500 a month for more than 1,200 pounds of cat food and another $600 a month for nearly 1,000 pounds of cat litter, Villaroz said.

Christin Matsushige, president of the Hawaii Cat Foundation in Kahalu'u, which operates a 200-cat shelter, said Villaroz's plight is common with nonprofit pet rescue organizations.

Matsushige said her shelter pays about $6,000 a month for the cats' food, litter and medical care.

"We're always short on resources, volunteers and time ... it's difficult to keep it going," said Matsushige.

Pamela Burns, the Hawaiian Humane Society's chief executive officer, said nonprofit groups such as Joey's provide the community with an important service by helping to keep the stray cat population down.

While exact numbers are hard to come by, some estimate the state's stray population at more than 300,000.

Last year, the Hawaiian Humane Society took in 17,150 lost, abandoned and sick cats at its Wai'alae Avenue shelter, compared with 16,901 in 2004. The agency adopted out 2,667, compared with 2,759 in 2004.

"We can all use more help to find cats new homes," Burns said.

Villaroz, meanwhile, said she's in the middle of finding a new home for her shelter due to a two-year zoning dispute with the city.

Although Joey's is a nonprofit organization, city officials say that she can't operate in a residential area because Joey's is technically a business.

Villaroz said that she's been able to address some of the city's concerns by halting adoptions at her home and moving them to the Kahalu'u property.

Even if her nonprofit does not survive, Villaroz said, she takes pride in its role in rescuing down-and-out pets over the years. One high-profile kitten, dubbed Matson, survived a week-long trip from the West Coast in a shipping container.

After Joey's volunteers helped nurse Matson, he was adopted and is now two years old, Villaroz said.

She said Matson has received fan mail from as far away as Pakistan.

"That charges you up again, and you get on the phone to your donors and you go back to the catteries to take care of the cats," she said.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.