It's Overwhelming....

Thank you everyone for your inspirational thoughts and kind words...You've made me cry. I'm going to save these posts and come back to them when ever I have rough days. It's wonderful to have this support network to help!!

It takes a special person to do what you do. I'm kind of the other side of the coin. I used to do TNR and work a regular schedule at a clinic, but when the pressure started eating me up, I had to walk away from it. Now I only work occasional Saturdays when the Dr needs help.

I contribute instead by donating to a thrift store that funds spay/neuter. And along the way I accumulated 14 cats that were not adoptable. Not a huge contribution by any means, but it means quite a bit to them.

I guess my point is...do what you can do and live with. The only ones who really fail at this are those who do nothing.

I really like this...

I swim as fast as I can, as hard as I can, for as long as I can. And the sea takes the rest.

Renny, you NEED this shirt!
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94242

http://www.cafepress.com/petrescueshoppe.68246787

Cinder, without people like you who will take the difficult to adopt kitties, they end up warehoused! My Jasmine is an "undesirable"...too skittish for adoption, so we decided to keep her.

Renny, are there other rescues by you? Maybe they can somehow team up to help each other.

My rescue is overrun with brown tabbies this summer. It is so hard when most of the kittens look alike. I'm sure some of them will end up not getting adopted. Hopefully not my two brown tabbies!

I just wanted to thank all of you for your inspirational words and, most of all, for your efforts to help the kitties in whatever way you can. I've really been struggling with my cat involvement lately, and it's both comforting and inspiring to read about your thoughts and experiences.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

My rescue is overrun with brown tabbies this summer. It is so hard when most of the kittens look alike. I'm sure some of them will end up not getting adopted. Hopefully not my two brown tabbies!

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We've had a run of black/white kittens this year.....at some point, I would love to have the opportunity for rescues to work together to help each other place cats. Right now....we are all full and all struggling against what has been an incredibly difficult kitten season. That is why I feel so strongly about pre-adoptive spay/neuter and TNR. We need to get these cats fixed before they can have kittens of their own.

Katie

There are other rescues in my area, but they are all much larger and have their own buildings and staff. We are by far the smallest but also the only one that will never say no.

Just got some more frustrating news....at the adoption fair yesterday some people returned kittens that they adopted a year ago from us (all kittens come with voucher to be s/n if they aren't old enough to be done - voucher is for 50). Well all of these now 1+ year olds have not been neutered, and in one case they were also returned with a litter of kittens of their own. I'm glad i wasn't there to meet these people...I might have snapped and said something I would regret later (or maybe not regretted...)

Just remember, at least they were returned.

That's an improvement over what might have happened to them.

Originally Posted by Renny

There are other rescues in my area, but they are all much larger and have their own buildings and staff. We are by far the smallest but also the only one that will never say no.

Just got some more frustrating news....at the adoption fair yesterday some people returned kittens that they adopted a year ago from us (all kittens come with voucher to be s/n if they aren't old enough to be done - voucher is for 50). Well all of these now 1+ year olds have not been neutered, and in one case they were also returned with a litter of kittens of their own. I'm glad i wasn't there to meet these people...I might have snapped and said something I would regret later (or maybe not regretted...)

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That is unfortunate and now I know why the woman I work with refuses to let an unspayed/unneutered kitten go to any home. They MUST be spayed/neutered before they are adopted. She has them operated on while they are very young and I have yet to see any type of problem.

I even asked if I could have a person pay me, I would drop the kitten off at the vet and the new owner would pick up the kitten after surgery at the animal hospital. She was even leery of that!

Originally Posted by Renny

Just got some more frustrating news....at the adoption fair yesterday some people returned kittens that they adopted a year ago from us (all kittens come with voucher to be s/n if they aren't old enough to be done - voucher is for 50). Well all of these now 1+ year olds have not been neutered, and in one case they were also returned with a litter of kittens of their own. I'm glad i wasn't there to meet these people...I might have snapped and said something I would regret later (or maybe not regretted...)

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The rescue I volunteer with used to adopt out on a spay contract. The spay fee was included in the fee..they just had to go and get the spay done...however we would get cats back pregnant or unfixed. So now, we spay/neuter every cat and kitten before we place them. I would try to find a vet who is willing to perform pediatric spay/neuter OR only rescue kittens/cats that have already been fixed.

Katie

Most of the vets around here are of the mind set to do spay or neuter until 5 to 6 mos...it was even a huge battle for me to have Rambo done at 5 mos. We unfortunatly don't have the resources to foster all of our kittens till that age (and we have to take advantage of any vets that are willing to work with us!). We have to do what we can...and it would seem that with our method a few will still get through. Hopefully it's the vast minority!

Originally Posted by Renny

Most of the vets around here are of the mind set to do spay or neuter until 5 to 6 mos...it was even a huge battle for me to have Rambo done at 5 mos. We unfortunatly don't have the resources to foster all of our kittens till that age (and we have to take advantage of any vets that are willing to work with us!). We have to do what we can...and it would seem that with our method a few will still get through. Hopefully it's the vast minority!

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If you do not do spay follow ups....you don't know how many of your cats are out there right now having kittens of their own and those kittens could then be having kittens and so forth...

What I would do is foster to adopt. The adoptor pays a fee...but they are considered fosters until the kitten reaches 5 months of age. Once the owners provide you with the spay/neuter certificate, the "foster" status changes to "owner". If the cat isn't spayed/neutered by 5 months of age...I would reclaim the kittens back and then have them spayed/neutered.



Katie

Originally Posted by Renny

THe director of our rescue has some farmers that will give her 3 or 4 litters a year but absolutely refuses to let her get his barn cats spayed and neutered (no charge!!!). Says they aren't as good of mousers if they're fixed. ARGH!!! So every year it's 15 or 20 kittens (or more) from just him every year that he expects us to vaccinate and get adopted.

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What a load of bull hooey!! I have my 8 "barn" cats(fixed). They all hunt mice, catch them, & kill them! Of course, they don't eat them, mice are too gross to eat...they would much rather leave them on the front step for me to step on so I scream...

No matter how many you save, there will always be the moron who throws a kitten out of a moving vehicle, or whatever other sick thing people can come up with. If only they realized how many cats & kittens who are sweet, healthy, and cute get euthanized unwanted & unloved.

I know farmers like that & I made one of them go in & watch a cat of theirs be euthanized. The cat had been hit by a car & sat for days somewhere. Within a week all 15 cats of their were altered. I told them that is what happens to all those unwanted cats of theirs....and the ones in the shelter. He is now a big "adopt a farm cat" advocate for our shelter.

Katie, the method you described is what our shelter wants to do, but there are currently 3 cat foster homes including me...2 of which are full with pregnant mommas & their babies. We adopt out unaltered kittens/cats, & give out a spay/neuter certificate for a discounted altering. We keep track & if the pet isn't altered within a certain time period, we reclaim the animal. We cannot find a vet to fix younger than 5-6 months, either.

It sounds like a wonderful idea in theory for us, but practically impossible at this point. Any kitties that are "fostered" in my direct area (same town director lives in) are checked up on and considered just fosters until they are adopted (then they only pay the fee for hte s/n instead of the $80 adoption fee. But the market in the town for kitties is just to small so we drive over an hour into Toronto to touch on a bigger population. There is no way we could keep track over that great an area. Our director tries her hardest to stay in touch and she does have contact people in Toronto that do follow ups...It's the best we can do and better then doing nothing.


White cat lover...what an eye opener making him watch the kitty get put to sleep. I would love to shake these guys sometimes! All we can do is keep trying...and maybe if try to knock enough sense into their heads something will get through. Until then...it's either let him drown the kitties or take them in. Well...you can guess what option we chose. But good news for farm kitties...my first feral momma Millie was just adopted with another feral (spayed) girl for a ladies new barn. She's off to a great hunting ground and has befriended this other female!!!

just wanted to post about the "fixed kitties not making good mousers". i didn't even adopt Wonton cos i wanted a mouser-i adopted him cos he was a stray who crossed my path, and i fell in love. he's fixed, AND he's a bit overweight...and he's a great mouser! we have a little bit of a mouse problem in our apartment, and he's caught and killed two in the past six months, and i've rescued two more from him (i don't really want him to kill them). i honestly was shocked-i thought he was a lazybones lapcat, but turns out its true, those instincts never go away. So yeah...being fixed has nothing to do with it

Yeah I never understood the correlation people have with being altered and not being good hunters, the cat has to be hormonally charged to catch a mouse? My sister's beast, Baby , is going on 11 years old, has been fixed since kittenhood, and regularly brings home moles, bunnies, squirrels etc no lack of hunting skills there!

You need to find a vet who will alter them early.

I don't understand why they will not do it unless it's just too hard to perform the surgery? The little things are too small?

I've only been at this six weeks or so but I've not seen kittens in pain or discomfort, with any problems of any kind. My own little males were running around the next day.

Some of the kittens aren't even two pounds yet. My two weren't.

I would have a talk with some compassionate vet, and tell them what YOU are up against because he will not perform the surgery until five months. You may find one who will make an exception!!! Heck, there's got to be someone...

In the past when I have adopted out kitties, after screening the potential owner I have always felt confident that they will do what's required and best for their new pet. Unfortunately, people aren't always truthful, circumstances change, pets develop bad habits... That said, there are very few people I am 100% certain of when it comes to whether they will give that animal the quality of care that I want them to have over a lifetime. It would be nice to have every kitten that leaves the rescue already spayed or neutered, but if you can't trust an adopter to carry through on that part of the agreement, then can you believe them when they say they'll provide veterinary care, feed it, give it shelter from the heat/cold, etc? So do you stop adopting them out? No way. You do the best you can, which is what you're doing.

Originally Posted by Renny

Thank you everyone for your inspirational thoughts and kind words...You've made me cry. I'm going to save these posts and come back to them when ever I have rough days. It's wonderful to have this support network to help!!

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We all need kind words sometimes when we are having a rough day. It's an excellent idea to keep this thread full of encouragement for all of the people that are working so hard to take care of stray and feral cats. Everyone that works in a shelter, fosters, or is involved in TNR, deserves kind words from all of us. You have my utmost respect.

Renny I wanted to let you know the day you posted I too was feeling very overwhelmed and was losing site of exactly why I was fostering. So you were not alone! I have 16 of my own and at the moment have 14 fosters. I just foster for the group but sometimes feel like they aren't listening to me. Sometimes I don't feel like they trust my judgment. I had to step back and remember why I do this. Because where would my ferals Snow White and Fergie be if I didn't want to take the time and help them? Where would Faith be if we weren't working on her trust issues and learning to get along with the others? Where would the little ones be if I hadn't decided that although I had reached what I thought was my limit I would find room for them? I had to figure out that if one person wasn't listening perhaps somebody else would. I had to decide that I live with these fosters and I know them better that anybody else. I try to educate those who just don't get the concept of spay and neuter. I am sure that there will be more days of feeling like it nevers end but when a little one wakes me up at 300 am purring I know I made a difference in his life! When I catch Faith playing with one of the other cats I know I made a difference for her. When one of my fosters moves on to their forever home a happy well adjusted cat I know I made a difference. And then the rest of it doesn't matter!

My fosters send out a great big thank you to those who foster!!!

Regina (Dozen2luv)

Thank you Regina, what a wonderful post. No matter how overwhelming the big picture is, I have to remember to take a reality check (which usually involves cuddling a few kitties) and re-focus myself. I have a limit to my fostering myself, in that during the school year the basement apartment of my house is rented out to a student, so I only foster from May to September during peak kitten season. I will continue to help out my rescue by volunteering a adoption fairs, and organize drives for litter and food. I have nothing but praise and admiration for those of you that do it full time.