A Pause in My Cat Rescue Work
- Lyllian
- Mar 1
- 4 min read
I made a decision last year to change directions in my volunteer work and focus on raising and training my next therapy dog. I just couldn't continue the amount of work I was doing for Cat Rescue & Adoption Network and therapy work and the other things I have taken up like photography and line dancing and give my pets and husband the attention I wanted to.
I retired from my volunteer job with Cat Rescue & Adoption Network (CRAN) and finalized everything yesterday. It was really bittersweet. I have been rescuing cats for as long as I can remember and would get them the medical care they needed and then find them homes. 2012 was a really busy year between a feral cat, BabyGirl, having kittens across the road and then finding several cats (another one who was pregnant) at work. I realized I had run out of friends and acquaintances to place my kittens and cats. When I started trying to find help, I initially approached our local humane society. I had an older cat (8 maybe) who had mammary gland cancer, was unspayed and had severe dental disease. I was able to raise the money for her surgeries and dental work with the help of my vet clinic and some very generous donors. She made a great recovery and when she was healed from surgery and was ready for a home, I couldn't find one for her. She was the sweetest cat. When I called the humane society and told them I had a very sweet, adult cat that I had spayed and took care of her mammary gland removal surgery and dental treatment and just needed to find her a home, they said they could not take her. She was older than they could accommodate at that time. Really? That's a thing? So, I called West Coast Dog and Cat Rescue (now Cat Rescue & Adoption Network). I received a call back within a day and they said they would take her. They also offered to post her on PetFinder for me. I took them up on that and found her a home that way. A few weeks later, I found Mr. Man. This time I called West Coast and asked if they could take them. Yes! I fostered him (just a hint, if you need help with a cat, if you can foster you have a much better chance a rescue can take them). Mr. Man was neutered and microchipped and vaccinated and soon found a home. I was asked if I could foster another cat. I said, "not now, maybe when I retire". Well about a week later, they called again to see if I would take a cat with FIV from our county shelter who would have to be euthanized if they couldn't find placement. So much for waiting until I retired, I left several minutes later to pick up Garfield and so it began. I tend to be one of those all or nothing people which often gets me in trouble.
Before I knew it, I was fostering at least one but often a few cats at one time (in addition to my own and my dogs). I developed a love of working with the frightened cats and started taking the difficult cats that needed a lot of work to learn to trust people again. I became pretty good at working with these cats. I took in pregnant cats, orphaned kittens, cats that needed medical care. I became an adoption counselor, I helped with phones and email, I helped with bio writing and fundraising. I worked on videos and flyers and cat cut-outs to get our cats into their forever homes. In the last few years, I started doing website support and content management, developed web forms, handled stats and the yearly state audit and grew and managed our social media marketing team. I was the liaison for Best Friends Animal Society and I even got two of our cats, Will and Cole, into Best Friends Animal Sanctuary as they needed more than I could give them. The last two years I worked, I often put 40 hours into my paying job and 40 hours into CRAN. It was definitely a labor of love. Even though I retired from my paying job, I knew I needed to make some changes for my own sanity. Something had to give. When I lost Emmi and made the decision to get a puppy to train as a therapy dog, I decided to start phasing out my work with CRAN. I wanted to focus on my therapy work and also my cat and my interests. It was a hard decision. Helping cats has been some of the hardest but most rewarding work I have ever done. The people I volunteer with are some of the best and many have become close friends. I know this was the right choice though. If I encounter a cat that needs help, I will help but I'm not going looking anymore. I will miss everyone, but we will keep in touch. I also will be available for any questions or things that come up.
Yesterday, at the CRAN volunteer appreciation event, I was given a wonderful card and the best thank you gifts ever. I got a fleece with the photos of 30 of the cats I fostered and a pillow with another 22 cats I have had (that's not all of them either lol). Such a perfect gift! I remember each cat and their stories. Some were with me only a few weeks, some for 6 months or more. I've kept in touch with many of the adopters of my "special" fosters. I loved each of these cats. It was so hard to let them go but they all found the most wonderful homes (and I knew I couldn't give them what they needed if I had too many cats). My job was to prepare them for their forever person. I wouldn't trade the last 13 years with CRAN for anything. I chose to volunteer with them because they will do anything for the cats in need. Truly a great group of people. If you want to help, go to: CatRescues.org
I can tell cat stories all day but know you don't all have time for that and most of you are here for Izzy's journey. So, I chose to share videos of just two of the cases that affected me the most and show what we do in cat rescue. Meet Cole and Will (Watson) and Awe.
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