My daughter Katy has been visiting since Wednesday evening. If you've read this blog for a while, you know how important these visits are to me. She's not a baby - almost 27 years old, but I miss her terribly and hate that she lives so far away. Juggling the demands of the rescue and having quality time with my little girl has been more than difficult. I feel like I haven't written a well thought out email response in days.
I have some exciting news that only my foster parents know for now. It's going to add a HUGE amount of work for me and the rescue, but I think it'll double the amount of cats we can help. In the meantime, I've been trying to come up with a list of "Volunteer Opportunities" with hope some kind people will give me a hand. Lately, the workload has seemed overwhelming.
Last night, I received a call from a favourite person asking for help with a kitten that she found. She knows me too well and sent me a video and photos of the little monkey just to solidify the deal:
I had put out an urgent plea for a little cat that came into the shelter with a probable broken jaw. I had 2 really wonderful foster parents offer their washrooms for a few days until I could sort things out, but I knew that at this point in time, I wouldn't be able to sort things out quickly enough and the vet bills might have been more than I could afford. She was euthanized at the shelter this morning and I'm devastated. It doesn't happen very often where I put out an urgent plea then have to walk away. I feel like shit. But I have to look out for the cats currently in my care first, and my latest vet bill was more than $4400.00. She needed a more permanent foster home, lots of donations and I couldn't rally the help. I feel badly for the wonderful people that did step up to help and I hope they understand why I couldn't help her.
"Brush off the dust and move on, Beth...
As usual, I'm going to try to embrace all the good things coming my way lately. Our adoptions are awesome, and my little rescue has truly THE BEST foster homes in the business. It's the emotional rescue rollercoaster ride, and I feel VERY fragile during the down part of the loop. I'm hanging in there, doing what I do! As always, I appreciate all the love, care and support.
9 comments:
Hang in there, Beth! The first step to running a responsible & respectful rescue is to ensure you can care for the cats you do take in. No one will blame you for that -- unfortunately, we can't save them all :/
I'd love to help Beth, if there's anything I can do from Toronto.
Don't be afraid to ask me! :P
-tally
Stretching yourself too thin, and stretching the rescue's finances too far are, I'd bet, the two things that will doom any rescue. Let alone a growing one like yours. It's tragic that the poor little kitty-girl couldn't be saved, but you'll be able to afford to help several other cats with the "savings", if you put it abstractly. We'll mourn her, and curse the people who let her get into that position, but we'll understand what you HAD to do.
As for yourself, if you don't recharge your batteries, they run dry. Ask for help, and accept it when it's offered. It's the right thing to do for you, your rescue, and everyone involved. :)
Renee
I know it's been said before, but, you can't save them all. We just had one come in at the shelter, a shelter with an "in house" vet clinic and a veterinary surgeon...they couldn't save that one either. It wasn't a matter of money or a post op place for her. It was the jaw itself, part of it shattered, torn ligaments, pieces missing...she was a mess. I cried, in private, because the man that grabbed her from the road and rushed her in wanted to adopt her and even said he would pay for the surgery! When they called and told him she was gone his first words, after a brief pause, were "well, at least she didn't die alone on a street and suffering". Then he asked about any other "old girls" we may have for adoption. He said he'd made a promise that day and even if it wasn't her he had to keep it and take care of somecat who needed him. I'm thinking of hooking him up with Maggie, the 10 year old who's people decided that they couldn't 'afford' her health issues. I'm pissy about this one because I saw them arrive to dump her, in a brand new car with the '$22,988' price sticker still in the window and the designer clothes and the coach handbag! She had apparently caught her leg in something that shattered the femur and they had let her suffer with it for two weeks before they decided they couldn't afford to fix it. She had the leg amputated rather than trying to re-break it and do surgery. I think he's going to like her, she's a little love bug and a pretty wild feather wand chaser.
Donna: Love that story about Maggie!
Tally: Thank you, Tally!
At least the Animal control euthanised the kitten instead of letting it suffer like they have in the past. Financially we can't save everyone and the bigger medical issues can cause rescues to close due to no financial resources. Have fun with your daughter you need time for yourself, you're doing a fantastic job!
Why don't you put a "donate" button on your blog here?
I'm sure you'd see some extra donations from "drive-by lurkers" who read about what you do and would like to contribute.
I'm sure there are links from the sites you link from here, but most people won't go searching for it.
I should probably add that I used to design corporate websites and learned a lot of stuff like this while doing so. I have a couple of other suggestions if you're interested.
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