Breaking Even

When I went to bed last night, I had a long list of cats to rescue. I have an ongoing nightmare after days like today that I go to my car and discover a cat that is still in a carrier and is hungry and thirsty and has no place to go. Then I wake up.

By 10 a.m, my long list of cats to rescue had gone *poof*. We had an adopter back out and there was an emergency with a cat at Petsmart, and that cat had to take the place of a cat who would've been rescued at the shelter today. It sucks, but that's what happens with rescue sometimes. I was watching my "to rescue" list dwindle and my heart sank.

The adopter that backed out was a young woman that Kathleen had been working with the entire week I had been out of town. It was a "courtesy adoption" and not part of the usual rescue adoption process. She was very interested in "Calum":
After a week of emails and screwing around with this woman, Kathleen FINALLY got her to commit to a time and place today. We were all meeting up at the same location in the city. It was exciting - Calum had been at the shelter for such a long time.

Then, the email came in this morning:

" Kathleen, It is my deepest sadness to write this but my boyfriend came home from his shift late tonight and I discussed with him about me picking up Calum. I had already asked him prior and he told me I could do what I want and it was my decision, but now after I told him that I am going ahead with the plans to adopt, he has changed his mind.."

Sooo....screw her. She obviously has no control over her life and the boyfriend calls the shots. Calum was better off at the shelter on death row than in that situation.

When I arrived at the shelter today, I found that a cat I was going to rescue had been euthanized this morning. Imagine me walking up and down the aisles peeking into cage after cage after cage holding my cat carrier. My heart sank when I came to the last cage and she wasn't in it. What else could I do but brush off the dust and find a suitable cat in need for the foster home?

To make a long story short, as I'm leaving the shelter today another rescue calls and says, "We can take Minucho....and one other one..." I turn the car around in the middle of the street and went back to grab Minucho:

....and can you guess who my "other one" was????

C...A....L...U...M!!! After all that crap, Calum ended up being rescued anyway. Many thanks to Debbie who was a hero today in my book!

I also ended up rescuing Ozwald who had been at the shelter for 3 months, bless his little heart:

I also received a call from Guinea Pig Rescue last night and they found out I was going to be at the shelter today, so I left with 2 guinea pigs too!

Seven cats and 2 guinea pigs. Despite the morning downer, it turned out to be a wonderful (and surprising) rescue day.

I can't imagine this blog post being titled anything else...