FAIRBURY, Neb. -- Beetley Flowers in Fairbury has two sets of customers in it, people buying its plants and… cats.

This home owned plant shop has grown accustomed to bringing in stray cats from the shelter next door. 

“When they moved over there, people would come and they weren’t there or they would drop their cats off thinking someone would pick them up, and they came here and we fed them and they stayed,” said Paula Henry, Co-owner of Beetley Flowers. 

Steve Beetley has been a part of this business since he was a kid, when his grandfather owned it. Beetley is now 80 years old. 

According to his life partner, Paula Henry, the cats love him. 

“But they all love Steve. There is not a cat out here that he can’t pick up and do stuff with,” said Henry.

There is a big reason for that love though.

“But he is the one that feeds them,” said Henry. 

Beetley has had outdoor cats before but the strays make the population in the garden even more numerous. 

“Steve has had outdoor cats and he feeds outside. And every once in a while, we’ll get a stray come along," said Henry. "And then, unfortunately, a couple of them, we didn’t get them fixed in time and they had kittens and stuff. We have a pretty good cat population.”

Even the customers get to interact with the animals. 

“A lot of the time, one or two will be laying up on the counter in a box and they will come up and pet them,” said Henry. 

Henry retired from Walmart nine years ago. Since then, they have run the business together every day. 

Along with the responsibilities of keeping the plants healthy, they also take good care of the cats.  

“We have a shelter for them where they can get in the shed and we have a garage back here that they can get into stuff," said Henry. "So they are taken care of.