Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fighting the Burnout

I'm feeling a little burned out today. I sympathize for other people in rescue who don't have an outlet in which to vent like I do. I've spent way too much time in the car lately and would like to have a day to myself. How on earth do people drive for a living?

Today's rescue was really terrific despite my cranky, burned out attitude:

Luke was marked for euthanasia two times. He's safe now!

Gumby has MASSIVE feet! He's going to be Luke's new BFF


I renamed this little monkey "Bob". I also rescued a buddy for him but don't have her picture. He's a curtain climber for sure!

This is "Alice". I rescued her for a new foster Mom. She's a VERY sweet little girl that came into the shelter already spayed and declawed.

Nine days ago a woman inquired about adopting Alice directly from the shelter. She's contacted me via email every day for 9 days telling me that she's been "too busy to call me". I kept telling her the importance of the call...please don't delay....euthanasia...yada, yada, yada. I needed to speak with her and screen her as a potential adopter. As I read through her latest email apologizing for not calling again last night, I became madder and madder. I want to write her back and say, "Alice died, because you were too eff'ing busy."

I won't send that email. But it sure felt good to type it here. Unfortunately, it could've easily been the truth.

On my way home from dropping off the kittens, I stopped at a local clothing store and bought myself some things that I didn't really need. "Retail therapy"....I swear they invented that saying for me.

I think I'm really feeling the pressure of the pending kitten season. It hasn't arrived yet, but it's looming. Craigslist is already full of people trying to dump their cats for stupid reasons, and those cats are taking up adoptive homes from MY cats that are scheduled to die.

There's a VERY sweet Mom that just delivered a litter of gorgeous kittens - little dilute calicos..I'm worried about this family making it through the euthanasia day on Friday:

But then again, I always worry.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So sweet. That mother and kittens is absolutely adorable....and I love Gumby...he screams personality.

Shannon said...

Ah Beth, sorry you're feeling a bit rough right now. I know it hurts and I know that certain faces haunt you but think of the good that you do. Murphy, Connor, Malcolm, Kentucky, Charlie Brown, Raya (Lulu), Celeste (mom) and her six kittens, are all alive with a chance at a forever home (or in their forever homes) because of the work that you do. They thank you and I thank you and Connor's new mom (who happens to be my mom) is so, so, so happy that you rescued him and that he is in her life now.

House of the Discarded said...

Shannon: Thank you for the wonderful reminder! Would love to see pictures of Charlie Brown and Kentucky! :) I hope CB is behaving himself now.

((HUGS))

Unknown said...

Connor is a sweetie with one of the sweetest faces! He wasn't a fan of going to vets but he only puked and no number 2:)

<3 kitties.

Hey Beth, what do you think of petinsurance? I am looking into a few companies now. Just curious as to your experience with this.

House of the Discarded said...

Julie: A lot of people will disagree with me, but I think Pet Insurance is awesome! I have too many cats to make it worthwhile for me, but for those of you who have 3 cats or less it's well worth the cost. It can really make the difference financially.

Shannon said...

Hey Beth,
Justine and I played 'juggle the cats' the other day. Her kittens (the mom that she picked up a few weeks ago when I got Malcolm) got pretty sick and she was worn out from bottle feeding every 4 hours. So now they're here, so I'm playing nurse maid and my boys are at her house :( They've been neutered and are sharing a room and haven't had any problems that I know of. I miss Kentucky. He's such a love bucket.

Anonymous said...

Omg, that litter is so right up my alley... If I wasn't on quarantine 6-month hold when Elton and Lacey leave, I'd so take them...

And I love Petsecure. I *got back* nearly $4000 in 2009. Yeah.

Renee

Elizabeth said...

Beth, its people like you who change the world. Mourn the losses but moreso celebrate the victories and never burn out! The world would be fvcked without you.

Caroline said...

Hey Beth,

It's great you got some adults out, hopefully Momma will make it, it's too bad we didn't have a storefront as the kittens would find homes really fast and the fosters could take the adults.

I know about the long drives, I personally can't drive more than 1/2 an hour without being exhausted.

canuckpet said...

I would have been tempted to tell her that Alice had been euthanised because she was held for her too

As far as pet insurance, I adopted a senior who had an existing policy which we kept up - I am not sure I could have afforded all of his care if we didn't have it (I am not sure we could have taken him if he didn't have it) I know we saved at least $8k one year using it.

With the others, they have less issues, so we just use the credit card if we need to for their care but I have so many cats its easier to put the amount of the policy away as a savings plan for them

Unknown said...

Did that little family make it, Beth?

House of the Discarded said...

Kia: The little family is still at the shelter. They're alive, but there's always the risk of URI in this shelter :(