When It's Hard to See the Good News

I was really surprised when I did the math today. Total rescued....EIGHTEEN cats and kittens! You'd think with 18 cats and kittens rescued today that would've put a huge dent in the numbers of cats at the shelter. Not so. Most of these guys were kittens, and it really didn't free up any cage space.

But still....18 little souls. :)

I met one new foster Mom and her boyfriend at the shelter today. She chose a litter of 4 kittens:

I knew she didn't want to stay at the shelter very long. Not everybody has the stomach for being there.

The shelter is filling up like crazy. I feel so panicked.

I've had a lot of emails from people recently about why there are no adoptions at this shelter. I think I need to periodically explain this, since not everyone has read this blog over the past few years:

I rescue from a city pound (Animal Control) who has signed a non-compete agreement with the local SPCA that shares a building with Animal Control. Only the SPCA next door is permitted to have adoptions. The SPCA is under NO obligation to take cats from Animal Control for adoption. In fact, they haven't taken any cats in weeks.

When a person surrenders their cat to this shelter, they check a box on the surrender form that asks if they want, "Sleep Only" or "Adoption/or Sleep" (adoption not guaranteed). So here's the kicker: The cats aren't sleepin', and they aren't adopted!!! So "Mr. and Mrs. Jones" who want to surrender their cat due to allergies are hopeful that when they leave their cat there, that he will be adopted. How can that happen?

I'm sure you can imagine what it must feel like when a rescue person - like me - walks into this shelter to rescue cats and we're (pretty much) their only hope of survival. If the cats aren't claimed by their owner, they can (and will be) killed unless they are rescued.

The look of desperation in the eyes of these cats while I walk the cages is extremely painful. It's one of the reasons I go on angry rants on this blog...it's the PRIMARY reason I needed to start writing in this blog.

That being said, I would to ask for help for a little girl named "Ellie":

Ellie is 14 weeks old and was brought into the shelter with severe burns on her chin and tongue - probably from chewing on an electrical wire. She's in so much pain, but she's still eating. I don't know if she'll need part of her tongue removed or not...but I want to save her. She's such a dear and purrs despite the pain she must feel. The shelter will euthanize her on Friday.

I'm sorry for the downer blog tonight. You know it must be pretty bleak at the shelter right now if I'm not overly excited about rescuing 18 cats.

But I'm going back tomorrow to rescue two more. I'm not giving up.