Mickey Disgdiertt awakes at 4 a.m. each day with the same mission: Feeding feral cats near his house not far from Hogtown Creek Headwaters Nature Park in Gainesville. Three hours later, he gets on his bicycle to feed other cats elsewhere in his neighborhood.
Disgdiertt, 75, said he goes through about 25 cans of cat food to feed more than 30 every day. The grateful cats eagerly consume the food off of small plates he places on the ground.
“I do it twice a day, every day,” said Disgdiertt, who owned real estate and insurance companies before retiring about 25 years ago. “I don’t care what the weather is.”
While other people occasionally donate a few cases of 24 cans to help with the effort, he said he spends more than $1,000 of his own money each month to make sure the cats are fed.
A native of Key West, Disgdiertt said he and his wife of 47 years, Jeannean, moved to Gainesville from Earleton in 1981. He said she began feeding feral cats while the couple lived in Earleton, and that after she died in 2015 he decided to continue the habit in her honor.
“They give me purpose,” he said. “They give me a meaning of life.”
Disgdiertt said many of the feral cats in his neighborhood were abandoned by people who moved away, not knowing or caring that they will breed and multiply to a community’s detriment.
He said he does his best to make sure “my cats” are spayed and neutered, and credits institutions and organizations such as Operation Catnip, the Humane Society and universities near and far for helping to solve the related public health concerns.
For his part, though, Disgdiertt said the feral cats and his neighbors alike know when he’s coming, thanks to him squeezing the squeak toy on his bicycle, which was gifted to him.
“It is the most humane thing to do,” he said of his cat feedings. “There is nothing worse than seeing a kitty hungry. It brings me joy to see them eat.”
