Please HELP ME!

[ms_joshica]

Don't I know it! We have money now and a bigger place thank God but there is still so much more. I really, really undersand about going to other cities and getting help from them and helping them. Which is why I am looking into fostering because you can only do that in other cities, but I def. wouldn't mind crossing the border, by train of course and getting suggestions and things of that nature.

Thanks I'm looking into it now. I can always catch the trains to certain parts of Illinois, and who knows, if they can get those kind of mountains just being next to them might have a Big Brother/Sister affect for me on my city

 

[murfins]

Great ideas and advise.

I agree that contacting local rescues or shelters and fostering THROUGH them is the best way to get started. You can search www.petfinder.com for local rescues and shelters or you can ask at local vets or do your own online search. It is best to remember that every animal you keep is one less you can foster and although it is incredibly difficult to let them go, it helps knowing you have found a wonderful forever home and that now you are open to help one in desperate need of TLC.

I admire your passion - try not to lose that.

 

[jen]

I am the same as you! I want to help every cat I see! It is at the point where cats come up to me, or I am driving and a cat crosses my path, or I am walking and there just happenes to be a cat there when I glance over to the right or whatever. I must give off good "I am a sucker and want to help you" vibes. My boyfriend says they know I want to help and can sense that so they find me!

Well who knows if that is true but I do what I can until the day I move to a large house and can officially start my own rescue. I am trying to research if there is any sort of government help I can qualify for once I get started or to start.

Right now I basically keep an ongoing ad in the online paper, on petfinder, on craigslist, etc...Saying that I have cats available at almost any given time, housecats, barn cats, etc... If someone is interested then I can actually take action and trap the cat or pick it up or whatever, get the vet work done and adopt it out. If there is a particular cat I take in, like the pregnant one I had or a particularly sweet one, or even the tailess male for his unique ability to imitate a beanbag and just lay there all day, those cats I will actually take in, get spayed or neutered, and vaccinated etc... and either keep inside or release.

If someone is interested and I do not currently have a cat in need of a home, I direct them to the APL or to an ad I find in the paper or petfinder and match them up with someone to contact on their own. I also send links to low cost spay/neuter clinics or whatever.

I do what I can now until I have a bigger house and I can do this more on a regular basis. It is a lot of fun, but hard on the bank when you have very little money.

Good luck to you!

 

[ms_joshica]

I have sincerly decided that I WILL give myself one year! I am working at a job I HATE, but I thank GOD it is MY JOB and I am not jobless, but I can't give it up b/c I am moving into a bigger house. I would really like to see a "cat sanctuary" more than a shelter. The word shelter makes me think of somewhere cold and hopeless and I just CANT see doing that to an animal. I've been researching the TNR links and I am going to start fostering as soon I get my babies weaned and everyone fixed. I HAVE to do something for these babies. I had one on my porch just the other day and darned if I could do nothing b/c my baby hasn't been fixed yet and was just about to go into labor soon, but that is exactly my issue. So many and so little.

 

[ms_joshica]

Thanks everyone for all of the ideas and advice. My cat has had her babies now and I am having everyone spaye/neutered as soon as everyone is weaned fully. After that I will be able to foster some beautiful babies tht need good homes for a while. I have decided to invest a year in learning all I can b/c knowledge is definetly power! After that my husband and I are going to seek out a nice home with a few nice acres and price how much it will cost to build a beautiful cat jungle. I know the road we are looking at is one that is uphill, but to ensure that more animals have a decent home, food, and someone around that loves them, is worth it. The plan is to perform adoption that require very very vigirous questioning and bg checks to ensure that these animals will not just end up on the street or worse, dead. Thank you all for the advice and please don't stop sending it, I need all I can get!

 

[huggles]

congrats on the safe arrival of the kittens.

I think its a great idea to wait a year before you venture into this... that way you can gain as much knowledge and preparation as possible. Stick around here and read through the forums. You will get some great ideas and advice.

 

[ms_joshica]

Thank you. They are georgous too lol, but what grandmeowmy doesn't think so lol. I just want to do right and I think the shelter idea is too cold and too impersonal, but I also know that any type of rescue shelter ventured into unplanned is very very bad and I don't want to hurt rather than help.