It breaks my heart when we have to turn them away.

We are full to the brim! Then last night during open house a guy brought in this beautiful tabby point siamese male. He was young, I would say 7-8 month, beautiful blue eyes. We had to turn him away & all he would say was I'm going to let it go back out side. We just had no choice. As we were dealing with this guy someone else brought a cat to the door & we had to turn them away as well. Luckily about 20 mins after the first guy left we were able to come up with another solutions. Unfortunately we can't take the cat until next Thursday. Which means this sweet guy is going to be living outside for the next week. The guy absolutely refused to take the cat into his house & no one there could foster for a couple weeks. If something happens to that cat in the next week I'll be devastated (as will the rest of the volunteers). Please send vibes that he comes back to us in one piece next Thursday.

We have not had to turn away a true stray yet this year (and haven't for a few years) but we are boarding them at vets (which we do for the hold period anyway but some are there for weeks until we have space - and it hurts our finances).

We have turned down most surrenders unless it was a real emergency though

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

We have not had to turn away a true stray yet this year (and haven't for a few years) but we are boarding them at vets (which we do for the hold period anyway but some are there for weeks until we have space - and it hurts our finances).

We have turned down most surrenders unless it was a real emergency though

Click to expand...

We are lucky because we have a vets office that will let us "show" 2 cats at a time in their office. We supply the food & litter, they take care fo them & find them homes. The vets office has done a great job taking care of them & we have gotten some long term cats placed through them. I wish there were more vets willing to do this for us.

None of our vets will do that, we have a few local pet stores that do. However our vets do recommend us to anyone who asks them about adopting.

The way we work are strays are taken to the vets who hold them for us while we advertise them and try to find an owner. We pay per day to have them there. After the 'advertising hold' is up - that vet does all the care (vaccines, speuter, deworming, microchip and any other medical care needed - we usually do advantage when they come in and eat the cost if they are claimed so as not to spread fleas).

Then as we have space, we bring them over to the shelter. We have a pretty good adoption rate so bring over many of them right away but as we get more animals in the summer, many of them spend a couple of weeks at the vet.

I understand completely how you feel about turning away cats. It's awful. The rescues I work with are out of money and having a devil of a time getting cats rehomed.

I was at walmart last night and had to turn away a little guy in the parking lot. I fed him a can of Fancy Feast and said a little prayer for him. We didn't have a carrier in the truck, and we are at our full capacity at my house. I can imagine how the shelters feel.

I'm at work & just can't get this cat out of my head. I just have this sense of dread about what is going to happen to this cat. It's very strange, we turn cats away often & it makes me sad, but I never have this strong of a reaction. I am struggling to concentrate.

Originally Posted by abbycats

I was at walmart last night and had to turn away a little guy in the parking lot. I fed him a can of Fancy Feast and said a little prayer for him. We didn't have a carrier in the truck, and we are at our full capacity at my house. I can imagine how the shelters feel.

Click to expand...

Someone probably dumped him there... poor baby. Is there anyone you can call about him?

Originally Posted by Rang_27

I'm at work & just can't get this cat out of my head. I just have this sense of dread about what is going to happen to this cat. It's very strange, we turn cats away often & it makes me sad, but I never have this strong of a reaction. I am struggling to concentrate.

Click to expand...

It's probably because he sounds so adoptable. Those are the easy ones to take because they have happy endings. It's hard when you have to turn one like that away.

We turn down almost all surrenders, unless they are kittens....there just isn't any room.

You know, as much as it saddens me to read these posts, I am very glad you post them. People need to put faces to the poor kitties and be drawn to reality, with my hopes that it will help them think twice about abandoning their kitties.

Many this beautiful baby makes his way back in one piece.

It was difficult for me to sleep last night because it was cold, windy & rainy here last night. I just kept thinking of that poor sweet boy outside in that terrible weather. I know how many cats live outside, but it's harder when you have a face to the truth.

I find a lot of people when we say can you keep them for a night the vet is closed say no because they are pushing for us to take right then, but come back in with stories of them sleeping on their beds etc - hopefully that is the case with this kitty

Well he came back tonight. He is now named Lynx, he tested negative for FIV & FeLuk. He is being shown at the vets office. All we have to do now is get him neutered. The vet tech said she thinks about 8 months is correct. He is missing most of the hair on his ears & she thought it was from frost bite. But when I think about it, would that mean he is older than 8 months? He is a super freindly guy. I am slightly suspicious that this cat belongs to this guy. Now he is saying he has 2 other cats & that is why he couldn't keep him. Before it was because his wife was so allergic. I find it strange that he had no fleas & his ears were clean as a whistle. Either way this sweet guy is now safe & sound and on his way to finding a happy home.