Afternoons at the Shelter

Going to the shelter in the afternoon is SO completely different than in the morning.  In the morning, the cats are noisy and desperate.  They haven't eaten for 24 hours and although the staff is busy cleaning the cages, many of the cages are still disheveled with empty food bowls  as the staff move through the rooms. 

In the afternoon, the cats have been fed and are quiet.  Many of them are curled up asleep in their litterboxes and others come up to the front of their cages yawning lazily.  I have mixed feelings about the afternoon - the vet comes tomorrow and the cages are marked for euthanasia.  Walking through the rooms and knowing that the sweet furry faces are facing their last hours on earth is horrendous.

I went in today to rescue two cats and left with five.  Two of the kittens remain in my older son's room - The Land of Dirty Underwear - and the other three are being delivered to a foster parent tonight.  The two kittens came out of their carrier and looked around my son's room cautiously.  One of them looked around the messy room and back up to me. If he could talk he would've said, "You call THIS rescuing? I know my rights - take me back to the shelter!"  :)
 
I've been waiting to hear about an adopter for my little "Chester".  I haven't said much about him, but he's really a joyful, happy boy:

It's SO nice when a foster cat comes into your home, makes himself part of the family without a bunch of fanfare.

Tomorrow is going to be a bad "vet day".  The shelter was almost full.  Believe it or not TWENTY...yes, T-W-E-N-T-Y cats were brought in yesterday.  I guess people were lined up out the door to dump cats there.  There was a Siamese cat that had just been brought in because the owner committed suicide. 

I still have some foster space available, so will keep doing what I can, but it always feels so desperate the closer we get to Christmas.