10/25/2024
Go easy on us. We are truly doing the best we can.
Let’s talk about rescue.
Let’s talk about compassion - and compassion fatigue.
Those of us who care for and about animals know exactly what that means.
Whether you work in a shelter or in a foster based rescue - compassion fatigue is a constant background danger to what we do.
Compassion fatigue is emotional and physical exhaustion leading to diminished ability to feel compassion for yourself or others (animal or human). It is often described as the negative cost of caring and sometimes referred to as secondary traumatic stress.
Every single day is the same. We start the day with plans of how the day will go, and it never turns out as planned. We wait to find out what the newest unexpected tragedy will be.
Every single morning, we ensure that the animals in our care have a safe, clean place to lay their head. We provide them with fresh food and water. We medicate the sick, and in most cases, we watch them thrive. We drive to vet appointments, we wait for news that can make our day or break our hearts.
We wade through phone messages, emails and texts, listening to sad stories to figure out which new surrenders can fit within the limited spaces and resources available.
Some animals come in healthy and friendly - their caregiver died or has some other tragedy and the family doesn’t want to care for the old sad dog, or the traumatized cat that just had their whole life shattered.
More often people lie to us. That “friendly stray” is a terrified feral cat, or an unsocialized dog that spent its life on a chain in the backyard.
The “healthy, beloved pet” that they can’t keep because of ;
- the new baby
-sudden allergies
-moving and we can’t take them
-or any other excuse that focuses on the PEOPLE
comes in with any kind of issue that you can imagine.
Sometimes (rarely), people are honest.
“This animal is sick or old, and I don’t want to watch them die”.
But you know what? You have been their whole world. It isn’t about your feelings- it’s about theirs.
Sure, occasionally life can happen to the humans, and they need to rehome a dog or cat because it is in the creatures best interest. But that’s the minority of cases.
Usually people are “getting rid of” their animals because they have created the problem or don’t want to deal with the situation.
If we don’t answer the phone?
If we don’t answer your Facebook message right away?
We are likely holding space with a sick or dying animal.
Or trying to comfort and befriend a scared little being that has no trust of humans.
If we don’t respond to your email right away? We likely started typing a response and then had to take a breath to backspace and recompose what we really wanted to say.
Rescue people are expected to be available every single moment of every single day.
That phone call at midnight?
No, you can’t bring me your dying dog that needs to go to the emerg clinic. Or your moms 18 year old cat that stopped eating 4 days ago.
What you don’t see when you complain that the rescue was “slow to respond” to your message, is the laundry and dishes that stack up at home, the grass that has to wait another day for cutting. The number of times we had to cancel appointments, or cut short time with family, friends or personal animals. The relentless pleas for help placing your animals.
Every rescue person I know, balances the need to help another tiny soul, with the need to do our very best for the ones already sheltering in our arms.
We continue to think about the ones we can’t take - while caring for the ones we can.
That nameless dog that I just heard about, that mother with kittens under your porch will be on my mind tonight, and the first thing on my mind when I wake up tomorrow.
We have literally no staff, and very limited resources, but we make miracles happen every single day. Please go easy on us.
Compassion fatigue isn’t caused by lack of caring. It is caused by caring too much. Every year, hundreds of living beings come through the doors of rescues and shelters
Rescues and shelters are expected to “save them all”, and we know that isn’t possible.
Every day we make decisions on who we can help, knowing full well that our choices might mean who lives, and who dies. It’s as simple as that.
Every single day, rescues and shelters are cleaning up messes that we did not create.
We are comforting animals that are not our own. We are literally sacrificing ourselves to take care of living beings that have been let down by humans.
It is tragedy and joy every single, relentless day.
Finding an amazing home for the kitten who came in covered in lice and you bottlefed every 2 hours for a month?
Adopting a senior dog, to a senior person and seeing the spark come back to both sets of eyes?
Priceless
Rescuers don’t do this work for “personal glory”, or any expectation of recognition. We spend our own money, untold hours, and huge amounts of heart.
We do it because it is our life and our calling.
We do it because we can’t not try.
We do it because we love.
And I wouldn’t change it for the world.🐾💗
Shelly
Compassion For Paws
