My boyfriend and I have been rescuing cats for the past four years and 4 months. For as long as I can remember I have loved animals more than anything on this earth and have wanted to run an animal shelter.
4 years ago the stars aligned and we began fostering a mama feral cat and her two newborn kittens. I randomly saw a post on FB that The Humane Society was looking for a foster home. I called to inquire which ended with me bringing them home a few days later.
You can read about my first experience fostering here:
http://wpexpertasia.com/dev/1244-2/
Shortly after that, my dad had two kittens in his backyard. That’s how Cat Rescue Crew was born.
4 years later and I rescued my 218th cat.
Mark and I have socialized feral cats, TNR’d cats (Trap-neuter-release/return), spayed or neutered cats for people of low income, fostered cats, volunteered at shelters, bottle fed kittens, even pet sat.
Sadly not all of the rescues were successful. More cats than I can stomach have passed away, we had to put a few cats down, and some cats we rescued got lost from their homes and ended up as strays again.
Tonight I feel sad. As hard and stressful as it is to rescue cats, I love it. I love helping cats and the people that take care of them. Though working with the people is the hardest part. So many people have been so nasty and rude to us, it’s unreal. I could not believe how poorly people treated Mark and I when we were trying to help them. The worst though is when people ask us for help and then tell us how to do our jobs, don’t listen to us, ignore us, basically tell us they could do it better, and even work against us. People are the most difficult part of cat rescue and we actually couldn’t save some cats because people did not follow our advice.
When we move and settle down we will get back into rescuing and volunteering. I am looking forward to the break. Cat rescue became my second full time job and it was taking it’s toll.
We can’t foster in our new apartment but I have already found two shelters and a TNR organization to volunteer with- all in time when I get back on my feet. Cat Rescue Crew will evolve many times but we will still carry on!
I am a crazy cat lady after all!
