
01/03/2025
It was the first week of January 2024, and we were very busy bees. We had all experienced loss to some degree, and were trying to pull through together as a little rescue family. I wrote to my board member, the one who now calls me a liar and a thief, "I am making an effort to show gratitude for all the wins we have had this year. And to know that with rescue we have to take the lows with the highs and keep moving forward. I know cats aren't the most altruistic bunch of animals, but I like to think the ones we lost would want us to keep pulling the tough cases in their memory, to give other hopeless babies their chance as well. Or some comfort in the absence of chance". She replied "And this is the thought that pulled me out of bed this morning".
She asked me if she could help with anything, and I told her I was good at the moment! I had recently boarded about 20 foster cats over my capacity, for our fosters over the holiday, so they wouldn't have to worry about getting a pet sitter for them and could travel and enjoy life without a foster placement setting them back. I was happy to provide that service for my fosters even to my own detriment. I did not get to travel that holiday with my family, but I made damn sure they were able to. After all, they sacrificed so much time and love and attention. For free! Fosters are the most unappreciated volunteer workers. Most of them had returned that week and picked their babies back up, putting me back at normal capacity instead of cat overload.
In the first week of January, my husband was taking time out of his weekend to drive out to foster homes to build custom wooden kennel stands for our fosters. We bought the wood ourselves, and he did the design on his own. The stands were perfect and were even customized to allow you to fit another kennel underneath it if needed. We mainly did this to elevate the kennels off the ground so the fosters would have an easier time accessing the kennels without having to bend over so much. We didn't really have the spare time for things like this, but we MADE the time. I would stay home and watch our baby while he did these tasks, or he would stay home with her while I drove to foster homes almost on a daily basis for a variety of reasons, usually having to take off work to do so. We went above and beyond like this, to try and make our fosters as comfortable and happy as possible.
I was also helping out our sister rescue, Puurrrfect Paws Rescue, on the side with cat errands like taking cafe kitties to PetSmart, grooming appointments, etc. And I was happy to help them because they have always been happy to help us!
This first week of January, we had lots of really big cases. Zaboomafoo, a case that came in needed extreme care. He needed a dental, had a UTI, fleas, dehydrated, you name it and he had the problem. We paid for all of his care. Some we were able to fundraise for, but a lot of it went on my personal credit card. But I was happy to contribute toward his health and happiness. He was so puny and weak.
We also had Blue and Campbell! Campbell had been found in a ditch at Starbucks, and we stepped up to the plate to pay for his much needed hip surgery to bring him relief. He suffered in agony after being hit by a car, and through a combination of fundraising and you got it- personal expenditures from myself- we were able to make that happen for the sweet baby.
We paid for quite a few spay and neuters at our rescue vet that week, pulled two adult cats who had been at an Animal Control for 9 months each (one was found to have pneumonia on intake and the other a UTI- not AC's fault because they hid it well). Both expensive cases requiring medical care. We of course, of course, of course paid for their vetting to get them well again. This is just the first week of January!
I keep mentioning money because the exact same board member who stated to me recently that I am a fraud, unethical, immoral, and unprofessional because I was recently "double fundraising" for a cat, is the exact same person coincidentally who came forward with Campbell at that time. I have since proven that we certainly did not do what she had accused me of, but the saddest part is she had never even asked me to explain the situation before jumping to those accusations about my character.
She had asked the rescue to please do something for him, knowing full well at the time that he would need an amputation or expensive medical care of some kind. She did not put down a personal credit card to pay for his medical expenses. I did that, without ever being asked.
My other board member recently also has stated that I am irresonsible with money and a liar. As I look back at these cases from over the year, I can see that yes, she is actually half right. I was irreponsible with my own personal money. I absolutely went into personal debt because I couldn't turn these guys away. I couldn't leave them out there knowing they wouldn't be saved otherwise. Have any of our followers paid for a hip surgery for a cat out of pocket before? Those things aren't cheap, and rightfully so. Because the vet has hours of work to do in these surgeries.
And we did help, of course. Because he needed the help. And we were so happy to help him feel better.
A foster asked me if a cat named Taffy could please free roam, and I repeated our rescue protocol of waiting until cats are combo tested and vaccinated to be released into a communal area. Safety first!
We had Hammy, an FeLV+ intake from our local TNR group. He stayed with me and I took him to events and sat hours and hours and hours with him at the store, literally dozens of hours, trying to find him a home. I put all that time in for one sweet baby. And I was happy to do it. Instead of euthanasia, my hours of work later paid off and he made his way home that week (thanks to PPR who helped us network him as well).
I had two sick, sick babies at my house that week. High fever, lethargy, near death. I was working on them day and night to pull them through their sickness. I was sleeping in 3 hours stretches only to care for them for the entire week.
We were closed to intakes, but a baby was found in a box at a church and was too sick to even eat. He was puny and pathetic looking. And I couldn't let him die alone. He came to my house so I could care for him and he too received ICU care with me.
Bam and Olive, two fairly wild children who came in by request of the other board member I believe, were finally adopted. They were not easy adoptions. The whole litter of kittens was wild and hard to tame. But we had a persistent foster to work with them, and a persistent director to get them moved. We also had a persistent sister rescue to help us find them a home. It was a happy day.
The first week of January was a tiring, but good one. Running on little to no sleep, I still took time to do a pulse check on my fosters and see that everyone was doing okay. I took a lot of time off of work to take trips out to fosters to give vaccinations. We took a lot of cats to the vet, and did a lot of fundraising. The fundraising wasn't enough, and I paid a significant amount out of my own pocket to fund the medical care. But these were my own fosters and board members asking me to help them. How could I possibly say no? The first week of January 2024, was full of tears and laughter, joy and sorrow, exhaustion and sacrifice. But we all carried on.