Be Back in Seven Days!

As I type this blog post, it's hard to believe that I have a flight out of Toronto tonight for Paris, France. David surprised me a few weeks ago with promises of romance and shopping! (I love that man!) It's 10:30 a.m. now and I'm still in my robe and the suitcases are empty. I gave my sons the usual caveats of "No parties", and two pages full of directives on taking care of the cats and dog.

God, will there ever be a day where I can leave for a week without worrying?

It's not just the usual family worries, but I worry about the cats at the shelter. There are several sweet faces that I had been working on getting out of there, and I wonder whether they will still be alive upon my return.

I feel like I'm abandoning them.

I'm posting a few of my favourite "faces" with hope that while I'm away somebody will see it in their heart to come forward to help them.

"Lisa" has been moved to a dog kennel, because she's a big girl. She's been spayed and declawed. Lisa is a big, sweet love muffin. She was looking really depressed when I saw her last.

"Dexter" has been on the euthanasia list twice, but has been taken off because the staff really want to help him. I'm afraid he won't make it, and he's a sweet orange fluffy-tailed guy.

These 3 little sweethearts (Listed as "kittens{a}) were brought into the shelter the day I was doing another rescue. The "finder" brought them in an empty Pepsi case. I wanted to take them so badly. They're really sweet little angels. Yes, these guys will be euthanized - the shelter is very overcrowded.

"Noah" came into the shelter after being found tied to a tree with a rope around his neck. He's neutered and declawed. Stupid, stupid, people.

"Cara" and "Cora" love each other very much. I know it's a lot to ask, but they're only about 5-6 months old - they need to be rescued together. They'll either die together or be rescued together. I hope somebody comes forward.

"Armin" really hates the shelter cage. He claws at the bars and bangs his face against them until he bleeds. The last time I saw Armin, there was blood all over his cage. He needs to get out there. Somebody loved Armin. He's already been neutered.

Of course, I could post pictures all day. You can tell yourself, "I'm not going to look at the website with all the cats that will die because it makes me sad/upset/crazy/hateful - but the situation exists for these cats. Putting your head in the sand won't make it go away.

There are several rescues that for whatever-the-fuck-stupid-reason stopped rescuing cats from this shelter. Instead, they cherry-pick kittens from the public and call themselves a rescue. You can say, "I'm not going to look at that website because it upsets me", but it'll still be there. It's not going away.

I'll be in Paris checking their website to see the little faces disappearing off the shelter website as each euthanasia day passes. There's not much I can do. Life goes on for some of us.