Adventures in animal rescue

Last autumn I registered a nonprofit animal sanctuary with the state of Nevada.  I was caring for an increasing number of foster kittens, and if nothing else, having a nonprofit would allow me to buy supplies at a discount.  My intention was to eventually register with the federal government, be a 501(c)3 corporation, and then I’d be allowed to donate to the charity myself, and deduct my fostering costs completely.  I haven’t done the federal application yet, but just being registered with the state has garnered me some good discounts on pet supplies, a Petfinder account, and even four donations.  That’s all great, except I didn’t realize how much attention the Petfinder account would bring to me.  I’m now running a part-time animal rescue business, if only on paper, because I spend hours each week answering emails and phone calls, trying to convince people to not give up their pets.  When the situation is desperate, I then spend more hours trying to help the caller place their pet somewhere, usually by listing it under my Petfinder account while they continue to “foster” it. 

The phone calls and emails involve a lot of behavioural counselling when folks are honest—I dealt with a woman who had three female cats who sprayed, but who really didn’t want to give them up.  I gave her some suggestions and haven’t heard from her, so I hope that’s a good thing.  Other people aren’t so honest, and it still ends up coming down to a behavioural problem.  One woman wrote a sad email about how she didn’t have time for her beloved cat, who was home alone all day, bored and lonely.  When I suggested the woman get her cat a companion, or just some toys, the woman blurted out that she had a second cat, but the second cat was nice and liked to be petted, while the cat she wanted to get rid of was surly.  Uh-huh.  She eventually broke off contact with me, but I’ve no doubt she was planning to dump the grumpy cat off on someone and then get herself a cute new kitten.  Cuz yeah, the world has a huge demand for middle-aged, surly cats—they always find new homes instantly.  I recently had another sad story from someone who claimed to be disabled and who could no longer afford to care for her cat, which may or may not be true, but it was eventually revealed that the cat she wants to get rid of isn’t neutered, and sprays in the house.  That cat will be another prize at an animal shelter.  I offered to put a Petfinder listing up for the woman with the surly cat, but I said I would have to describe the cat as potentially having a difficult temperament, and that was where the discussion ended.  I wasn’t going to lie to to a potential adopter.  The same with the woman with the unneutered, spraying cat—I’m offering to help her get the cat fixed, but I’m not immediately listing it for adoption.  Neutering may or may not fix the spraying problem, and who wants to adopt a cat with that issue?  I’ll work with the current owner to help remedy the problem, if possible, but I’m not going to be a party to passing the problem along to someone else.

One situation which nagged at me all this week was the case of a paralyzed kitten (it had no use of its legs).  The person who had it didn’t want it, and the vet didn’t know if it would regain use of its legs as it got older, but thought there was a chance.  I really wanted to take that kitten in to try working with it with physical therapy, massage, etc., and yesterday I was told that the kitten had a seizure and died.  Just like that.  It was a load off my mind, but it was still sad.

What surprises me most is how incessant the calls are, even though I don’t do any advertising.  This week I’ve had two phone calls, one to place a cat and one to place a kitten.  Last month I had a guy leave a phone message saying, “I need to get rid of two dogs… where do I bring them?” I didn’t return his call.  I had someone call me and ask if I had room for a Bloodhound, despite the fact my Petfinder page says I can’t take in dogs.  It also says, No phone calls, but some people just love the phone. 

My current “big case” is a sad one.  A family has to get rid of two cats (brothers) because the young daughter in the family has developed severe asthma.  I truly believe this family has tried everything to enable them to keep the cats, and they just can’t afford to keep running the cats to the vet (to give their daughter a break), and/or the daughter to the doctor.  The cats are friendly and young and handsome and good with kids and dogs, but to complicate matters, one of the cats is blind.  So, I want to make sure the cats are adopted together, as I’m sure they have a special relationship.  I’ve had one hit on my Petfinder site—someone who was terribly enthused about the cats until she found out the case was “urgent”, and then it turned out she was “just looking” to adopt some time down the road.  Now Best Friends is going to send out an alert to their newsletter subscribers in the Las Vegas area, and maybe we’ll get a hit.  The family would like me to take the cats in and foster them until they’re adopted, but I’m very afraid of the delicate “male cat testosterone balance” in our house right now.  We’ve got six male cats under one roof right now, and only one of them sprays, and he sprays in the litterbox.  I can’t get much luckier than that, and I don’t want to tempt fate by inviting more boys to stay with us.  I couldn’t afford it, either… good cat food is very expensive, and two more mouths to feed, even for a short period of time, is too many.

So, cross your fingers that some kind soul will fall in love with Greg and Spiderman (no, really!) and want to adopt them.  I think they’re great cats.  And cross your fingers that we figure out what to do about Bunny and Carlo.  Bunny could be adopted now, but Carlo can’t go anywhere until we figure out what’s wrong with him, and I don’t want to separate them yet.  The vet says to wait four more weeks until blood work can be done on Carlo.  If his liver seems fine, and he’s just “runty”, I may have someone who wants to adopt him and his sister.  If he has a liver problem, no one is jumping at the bit to adopt a fragile kitten who will need expensive surgery within a year.  For a number of reasons, this may be the end of my kitten fostering for a while.  I’m tired, and I think Bunny and Carlo will be residing in the “kitten quarters” for a while to come. 

On a related note, I was accepted as an affiliate member of the IAABC (International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants).  I believe I’m qualified right now to be an Associate member, which is a step below being fully-certified, but I’m feeling my way around the organization and getting to know people before I apply for the next step up.  My main area of interest is cat behaviour, not just because I have a house full of them, but because I’m realizing that most people give up their pets for behavioural reasons.  I’ve learned so much over the past few years through reading and observing, so joining the IAABC gives me a chance to organize those experiences, and to learn from others.  I hate to admit that I didn’t even know IAABC existed, but I was taking that class in “Feline House Soiling” on VSPN, and I was excited because author Pam Johnson-Bennet was in my class.  She had a reference to IAABC in her sig, and so it began.

Speaking of the Feline House Soiling class, it was fantastic!  I learned a lot from some really smart people, and felt really enthused about tackling behavioural problems when it was through.  I’ve got a class on cat body language coming up, which is a self-study class on DVD, and through VSPN this summer I’ll be taking a class in nutrition for cats with FLUTD, a class in triage and first aid, and a class in canine and feline pain management.  Perhaps I have a future as a behaviourist or nutritional consultant, even without Penn Foster’s help.

I apologize for spelling errors.  So, so sleepy… must get up in five hours…

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/18 at 01:32 AM

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  1. Hey Leigh-Ann. One thing I did once I went “internet” was to go “email only.” I figured--hey, if they found me on the computer, they can reach me via email, or their friend who found me can email on their behalf. Then if I am overloaded, I can send the person links to information on how to resolve their problem themselves, to spay/neuter resources, direct links to places where they can advertise their animal themselves, etc. If I want to call them, I can ask for their phone number and call them back. Once I’m on the phone with someone, I’m a goner---I have to help them, so I do not list my phone. Also, between work, caring for the cats, and trying to (minimally) maintain a house and understanding husband, filling up all my evening hours with phone calls until it was too late to politely call anyone back was hurting my home life. So if it does get emotionally draining, consider only going “email.” Even my phone message gives my email address and says “I’m sorry, due to family commitments, I can only respond to cat questions via email.” When things are a bit more under control, I take the message off.

    Posted by Susan  on  05/18  at  05:33 AM

  2. Can you just take your phone number off the listing? (I cannot understand people who, presented with a perfectly good e-mail, would rather use the phone--e-mail is so much quicker and more convenient for everyone involved!)

    I thought Bunny and Carlo had a home to go to when they were old enough...or am I mixing them up with the previous pair of kittens?

    Posted by Helena  on  05/18  at  07:52 AM

  3. Susan, is there a way for me to remove a phone number from my public profile at Petfinder?  I just assumed it was required.  I do say “email only” on my Petfinder page, but the phone number is visible, so people call anyway.  I will make sure to change our phone message this evening, regardless.

    And Helena, yes, I did have someone who wanted to adopt Carlo and Bunny, but the person has backed out because Carlo might have health problems.  Email me, I’ll rant about it in more detail wink

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  05/18  at  07:02 PM

  4. It must be really difficult to try to sift through the contacts to get the truth of the situation - and it’s so important to have the truth in order to help find the right solution!

    Hubby and I are trying to help a friend now who is fostering a wonderful dog - but the dog is a few years old and of medium to large size, so we’re having a hard time finding a home. I can’t take her into mine because my current female Sheltie reacted very badly when they were introduced on neutral territory.

    Finding homes are hard enough - but to find the right home to be a forever home is even more difficult. I really admire you for putting so much effort into it.

    Posted by prajantr  on  05/18  at  07:19 PM

  5. Yup. Send me your shelter ID at Susan at Petfinder dot com and I’ll check your site for you.

    Posted by Susan  on  05/20  at  07:20 AM

  6. I have more to add to the story about the woman who had the disabled kitten that I was going to take, but then the kitten had a seizure and died.  The woman was a bit peculiar in her emails, but hey, there are lots of different people in the world.  After her cat died, she didn’t know what to do with it, and I suggested she take it to the pet cemetary to have it cremated.  I gave her driving instructions, told her the cross streets, etc.  The next day she said she tried to find the cemetary and drove all over looking for it and didn’t see it.  It’s a big place, on a major street, so I thought that was strange.

    Next, I offered to help the woman get her female and male cats fixed through a low-cost spay and neuter program run by other group in town.  That way, she wouldn’t end up with any more disabled kittens.  I arranged the whole thing, and the night before the cats were to be fixed, the woman wrote to me because she didn’t know where she was supposed to take the cats in the morning.  I had no idea, either—I don’t know where the clinic is.  The next day, she wrote to me again and said her husband drove all over the place, couldn’t find the address he was told to take the cats to, and he ran out of gas.  Someone else had to go pick him up and bring the cats home.  Then the nonprofit clinic supposedly said they couldn’t reschedule the cats for six months, so instead, the woman’s mother-in-law was going to pay to have just the female spayed.  And the mother-in-law supposedly took the body of the dead kitten to the pet cemetary and had it cremated.  Oh, and while all this happened, the woman who was writing to me was in the hospital, and then her daughter got sick and was in the hospital too.  It’s like a soap opera.

    Now, I’m not saying the woman was lying to me, but I’m awfully suspicious.  Everytime she needed to go somewhere, she got lost, or ended up in the hospital.  Whenever I was going to take a kitten for her, it died (or vanished—she had a second healthy kitten she needed to place, and all of a sudden she stopped talking about it).  Her male cat sprays in the house, but instead of getting it fixed, she gets the female fixed.  And a mother-in-law mysteriously comes out of the woodwork to pay for everything.

    That’s all weird, right?  It’s not just me?

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  06/05  at  07:24 AM
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