I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends...

I'm a deliriously tired girl tonight. I knew today would be a big rescue day, but nothing prepared me for rescuing 14 deserving, sweet souls from death row. I only had 8 cats on my list for rescue, but ended up meeting more foster homes at the shelter than I anticipated. Of course, once you're there - it's hard to leave with just one. (Me included!)

Gratefully, I had lots of help today. Diana who recently adopted Mitzi came along and helped me with the loading and unloading of cats. She was my navigator and dutifully listened to my complaints. Lordie...Lordie...was I grateful for the help AND the company.

Kathleen showed up today to play "cat taxi" and took 3 of the cats to a local vet for me so I didn't have to stop on my way to vet #2. Sometimes all the stopping, starting, and in/out of the car is what makes me so exhausted!

Three other foster Moms showed up - 2 whom had never been in the shelter - to choose their foster cats. It's always very overwhelming the first time you see all these darling cats in cages knowing that you might be their only hope. Everybody left with one more than they intended to leave with. Who can blame them?

Diana and I spent a lot of time on the road today. We were hungry, undercaffeinated, and happily tired. We delivered the remaining cats to vet#2, and took one more sweet cat directly to her foster home about 30 minutes away.

There were two "cat taxis" set up to pick up the cats from vet #2 after their spays/neuters this afternoon to drive them in their new foster homes. (Some of them were adopted directly from the shelter. Yay!) It's really amazing that 7 volunteers (not including Kim at the shelter or the vets) were directly responsible for bringing these cats to loving homes.

The back of my little sports car was loaded with 6 cats. Of course, "Iggy" pooped and barfed before we had even gotten on the highway. *sigh*

The BEST part of my day was sitting on the phone tonight to call some of the foster homes to see if their new house guests arrived safely. The first call was to the lady that is fostering "Erin". "Erin" had a huge CAUTION sign on her cage. Somebody thought she wasn't a very nice cat. She sure was sweet when I rescued her. I called the foster Mom tonight and the foster Mom said that Erin was following her around like a little dog. :) You can see Erin in the picture above - she's in the hot pink cat carrier. (Trying to look scary. LOL!)

All the cats were settled into their foster homes and in the process of being loved. I couldn't have pulled off this larger rescue without the help of my friends and volunteers. Tonight, my gas tank is almost empty and my heart is really full.

I still left many, many cats behind. I want to go back in a few days. Some of their faces are still haunting me tonight.