Rescue. Having begun and administered the foster program at the humane society years before moving, I'd acquired about a dozen unadoptables. Knowing absolutely nothing about how tiny towns function, I was surprised that somehow everyone knew about all the cats... Plus we'd adopted 4 dogs...we'd moved in with. I didn't know that tiny towns didn't have humane societies! There was a city pound, but they were primarily a holding tank. Soon, everyone was calling or abandoning kittens at my place. If the animal control officer saw a dog worth saving, he'd call. Right away, I renewed my relationship with the humane society and over the years, I got about 500 mostly kittens into my old city for adoption. It was hugely expensive, because I didn't want to cause problems for my adoption source. I paid to vet for fatal health problems, vaccinated so mine wouldn't end up in their isolation unit, even paid a surrender fee on every animal, whatever it took. In return, the HS allowed me to funnel a huge number of rescues every few weeks. You can't rescue without an adoption channel.
Then the HS changed personnel. I was allowed 1 or 2 cages there per month, if they had space. No one there knew me anymore. My bottle babies were growing up while my appointments were being delayed.
I had to throw in the towel. So now I have an unreal pet population, ... living in 5 places throughout the house. It takes me about 3 hours for my morning chores, but the old body gave out so I pay for someone to come in every day for litter boxes and vacuuming. Then an hour at night.
But I have to say, I get a kick out of them! It makes me happy to help these guys, even if I'm not actively rescuing new ones. During all those chore hours, I'm smiling...really! They're so sweet and adorable!
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