Maine Coon Rescue need voluneers

Maine Coon Rescue (www.mainecoonrescue.com) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing Maine Coon and Maine Coon mix cats and kittens. Each cat or kitten is vetted and then placed into wonderful foster homes until a loving, permanent home is found. In order to continue in its mission, Maine Coon Rescue is looking for more dedicated volunteers to help.

Several volunteer opportunities are available:

Foster Homes - Both short term and long term foster homes are needed. This is always our most urgent need. If you are interested in helping out in this capacity please fill out the foster application found at the following link: http://mainecoonrescue.com/fosterapp.htm

Transporters - From time to time kitties need to be transported from shelters to foster homes or from foster homes to adoptive homes. If you are interested in helping out in this capacity please fill out the transport application found at the following link: http://mainecoonrescue.com/coonectio...ortvolapp.html

Case Managers - This individual will coordinate rescues and adoptions by corresponding (via e-mail or phone) with foster parents, shelters, owners needing to find new homes for their kitties and potential adopters. If you are interested in helping out in this capacity please fill out the case manager application found at the following link: http://mainecoonrescue.com/rcapp.html

Thanks for your interest in helping Maine Coon Rescue and I look forward to working with you to help save these kitties. Please pass this e-mail along to anyone else who may be interested.

I'm sure MCR is a fine organization, and certainly very well intentioned. I have no idea how many cats they've helped - I'm sure it's hundreds if not thousands. I'm sure we're the exception, but the rehoming to a "loving, permanent home" didn't happen in our case. Before Gary and I had any experience rescuing and rehoming ourselves, we had a Maine Coon stray that we'd been caring for for over a year. She was (IS!) beautiful and loving (after the first few months of cheese tossing ). MCR helped us to find a new home for her. We went to great lengths to transport her from NJ to OR, spent a lot of time with her new mom on the phone (someone who fostered for MCR). Unfortunately, last year was apparently a very tough year for this woman, but after trying to contact Boog's new mom for some time, we finally came to the conclusion that something had happened to her/Booger. We contacted MCR to help us discover the truth. That was back in June/July. 7/8 months later, we're still trying to find out the truth of the matter! All we've been able to establish, with the help of MCR, is that Booger is no longer in the care of her adoptive mom. Given the on-going lack of communication with us on the part of MCR, I can attest to the fact that they very badly need volunteers, because they clearly do not have enough people supporting the organization!

LDG , I remember you were posting about that wonderful cat in a other thread . I am very sorry that you still hurting and still not know what ever happend to that wonderful cat . I am sure if they had more info what happend they sure would let you know about . Sometimes people don't keep up with the contract and do what ever they like . It is like I would give the 2 persians to some one else I got from a rescue group ( I would never do that ), the rescue group would never know .But yes they need help for sure .

Hedi, like I said, I'm sure we're just falling through the cracks. But in our case, MCR has gone several months at a time without contacting me. I finally went to the website to contact them instead of through my co-ordinator. After a several week discussion, the reasons for lack of contact were provided, and they asked for my patience. Some information was provided to a long-time rescuer I know and then communicated to me - none was provided directly to me. Why, I'm not sure. However, after another month of not hearing from them, I asked MCR website contact how long did they think was reasonable for patience? The co-ordinator was then in touch with me. That was November 15th. I figure that three months, this time, is enough patience, since one month, before, apparently wasn't enough.

My problem with what the adoptive mom did with Booger is only part of the problem. That MCR never responded to my questions for assistance until several months had gone by and I felt placed in a position where I was forced to complain about it is part of the problem. That the information they had was then communicated to me third party and not directly is another part of the problem. And that the co-ordinator couldn't even take the time to zip off an e-mail two weeks, a month, two months after our correspondence to say "I've tried to be in touch with Booger's adoptive mom but have had no response" is also part of the problem. It, obviously, makes me feel like Booger and I have been forgotten.

The only thing I can conclude is that she is overwhelmed with work (easy in the rescue business) and that tracking down what happened to one of their adoptions is really, really low on the priority list. I understand and agree that finding homes for cats should be a priority, but the on-going welfare of the cats placed should also be important. That this saga continues to me indicates that they desperately need volunteers, because in at least my case they've exhibited an inability to follow through with the placements being made. And that was with someone who fostered for MCR, so one would expect that it would be easier to discover what happened than with someone with whom the organization would have no other reason to be in contact.

Maybe she is overwhelmed , I could not tell you .

This come in my e mail and thought it was a good idea to post here for help . Not knowing it was that group you had a problem with . Maybe it was wrong of me posting here .

I am truely sorry that this thread of mine freshen up the pain you had with Booger again .

Hedi, it was NOT my intent to make you feel bad about posting their need for assistance! Believe me, I think about Booger every day, so this is no reminder of a painful thing, per se. But it did make me get off my butt and try, one more time.

I think it admirable of you to post this here! While I have not had a great experience with the organization, like I say, I'm sure they've helped many, many cats, and they are obviously in need of more volunteers! My experience with them only points to this and should simply reinforce that they are in need of responsible help. I would not discourage anyone from volunteering with MCR.

I would only hope that my experience could help anyone interested in working with such an org understand the importance of all aspects of the work, including the follow-through with cats that have already been placed.

After my latest correspondence with MCR, I simply want to say that MCR clearly needs to implement clearer policies and practices. They definitely need people who are polite and caring, because there seems to be a lack of that forthcoming when people have problems.

Because of this thread I volunteered to help MCR , and I adopted my beautiful Bellah ( Thank You ) , but what has been said in this thread is true MCR leaves alot to be desired , I asked normal pet owner questions , like what does she eat how much how often has she been ill ect , no one would answer me or when they did I was told everything was fine ) , we got the cat with no medical records , she was also transported unrestrained (no cat carrier ) from CT to VT they only put her in the carrier to bring her from the car to the house , a violation of good sense and MCR rules, when the records were sent , they weren't records they were paid bills, from that we were able to contact the vet in CT and have them fax us the records , the cat had with in the past 3 weeks had a URI that the foster had been advised that she needed to bring the cat back for a recheck and never did , was older than she was said to be , where we have only had her a week I wasn't surprised that she was picking at her food , until I smelled her , her mouth smelled awful , we took her to the vet today at 230 , she has open sores on her gums and tongue left over from the URI and she has major dental issues, I told the board of directors via the feed back form what I thought went well and what I thought needed to improve I was nice I tried to be fair , I was told "if you don't want the cat give her back" , I never ever said that I said the process is broken.

My supervisors started to act cold toward me , and basically told me to not talk about it .

if they treat their volunteers like this I shudder to think of what others might be going through , when this was happening to me I came back to this thread and pointed out that they better fix this , that they hurt someone ( the person who posted about Booger ) , I was told they were ignoring you ....for a reason that I don't think is true and Id rather not post.

I am so sad this went the way it did I had such high hopes to help make a difference for homeless cats , the breed never mattered to me .

I quit being a Case Manager for them tonight , I couldn't stay associated with something like this.

Dana, I'm sorry to hear this about MCR. I had hoped that Laurie's was an isolated incident, not the norm.

There are a lot of great organizations where you can make a difference to a lot of cats. Don't give up because of a bad experience, the cats of the world need good and caring people like you.

Originally posted by valanhb
Dana, I'm sorry to hear this about MCR. I had hoped that Laurie's was an isolated incident, not the norm.

There are a lot of great organizations where you can make a difference to a lot of cats. Don't give up because of a bad experience, the cats of the world need good and caring people like you.

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I thank the powers that be that I learned all I did from TCS before I went on , it was what I learned here that helped me know that the questions I was asking were right , it also helped me to know it was time to go.

If anyone knows of a rescue that is online and needs help Im more than willing

Dana , you can check this one out if you want to

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AdoptaCat/

or this one

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Persian_Rescue/

Thanks I joined the first one , so I will see what I can see

That is great .

You will get a lot of email , there is always one baby in need .

Originally Posted by PurrfectCatlove

That is great

.

You will get a lot of email , there is always one baby in need

.

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If you could email me at [email protected] I would be interested in adopting another maine coon 6 months old to 7 years.