Rescue Day at the Shelter

Today was a "Rescue Day". I always have mixed feelings on these days. I love loading up all the crates and putting them in my car, and making the list on which cats we're rescuing. I sit and look at their pictures the night before and wish I could communicate to them, "This is your last night in that scary place." Today was a snowy, icky day which makes the rescue seem more dramatic than it really was. I love seeing those cute little faces in person. They always look so different than on the shelter website.

Fortunately, the shelter wasn't that crowded today. I have a coping mechanism that gets me through the shelter: I never look at any of the cats in the eyes. If I look into their eyes and see the despair, anguish and abandonment, I just can't do it. It hurts too much. The pain is overwhelming. It's almost as if I can feel what they feel. So I breeze past the cages, stopping momentarily to make kissing sounds at some through the bars - but I don't look into their eyes. I try to stick to "the rescue list".

"The Rescue List". That's kind of a joke in itself. I talk a big game of "not looking into their eyes", but I rarely can get out of there with just the cats on the list. Have you ever gone to the grocery store with a grocery list and ONLY bought the things on the list? Me either. Today, the lucky kitty du jour was "Marlo". She's a little medium haired tortie that was purring and her eyes met mine. I was toast. "OK...load her up!" She was brought into the shelter with a note that said she was abandoned in a stairwell of an apartment complex. Charming.

You have to know that I've heard a million different excuses for getting rid of a cat. I thought I had heard them all until today. I saw this really cute black declawed cat - written on his shelter card for the reason he was being surrendered? "He kept jumping up on the furniture." God, I hate those ignorant people. Here's a picture of the "monster" that likes jumping up on the couch.

I grabbed the 5 other little sweeties on "the list" and ran out the door before I saw some other idiot trying to dump their cat. Don't worry - I'm going to go back for the "Couch jumper" and he can sit on any couch he wants.