The human cost of rescue

[Liz]

I had a quick scan through some CP branches local to us and they have all closed their doors to any cats as they are full to bursting it breaks my heart thinking of all the ones who are going to be turned away

Makes me glad all my rejects have us as their parents - they are the lucky ones, ferals, health problems and the ones not for the feint hearted to me my rag tag bunch are my pride and joy

[AliCat]

Anyone at the sharp end of rescue is fully entitled to rant at times, feel down at times and feel uplifted occasionally.

Here here! A good moan does you good sometimes.

[LilyandGary]

Angie, I couldn`t agree more.

It is very hard to say "no" when Joe public puts the pressure on. However, after 11 years in dog rescue, I`ve finally learnt how much I can cope with and when the balance is tipped over into resentment. I know how much I and my animals put up with, and for how long. You dont do anyone or anything any favours by over-stretching yourself

However, there is always the time I go to assess a dog for rescue with the view to putting it on the rehoming list, and just end up taking it home with me. I have to use my judgement and I still get upset sometimes at the way people choose to keep an innocent animal who didnt ask to be aquired and then abused. It`s never easy to walk away and leave a dog in a home I know could be treating it better, even if its only for a few more days.

We need to make the most of the quiet times and relish in a break, for what ever reason it occurs. This re-energises us for the times we could quite easily throttle people! No need to feel guilty to having some down time occassionally. My friend in dog rescue has just been through a very hectic time, and finally had to take a break as her own dog needed a serious op requiring weeks of nursing afterwards. No-one wishes anyone`s animal ill, but it has been a blessing in disguise for her in many ways.

Anyone at the sharp end of rescue is fully entitled to rant at times, feel down at times and feel uplifted occasionally.

[Desley (booktigger)]

i'll forward it to you.

I think its more people working in shelters and to be honest they have it easier - i say this with experience having done time at the cp shelter in brum.

when you do it from your own home, theres less of a chance to get away from it (especially if you're the one on the phone!).

I fully agree with that Angie, and have said it more than once to Pennine Pen - there is a difference between going somewhere from 9-3 (and then a quick evening check) and having them all in your house, they can just focus on their own when they get home, they aren't going to get disturbed in the middle of the night if a foster decides they dont like being cooped up and are going to start being vocal, and obviously there is no phone ringing - it never ceases to amaze me what time people think is acceptable to ring a rescue - and then seem disappointed when you say 'sorry, its after 9, i will have to come and collect tomorrow'. Not having the phones this year has been the real bonus (although as the RSPCA still give out my number, i get some, but only about 1 a month now).

I really do think you should set limits on numbers before you start THEN TRY TO STICK TO THAT NUMBER - harder to do than most people think.

I completely agree with this Angie, and that is what I am determined to do this time, i have found my limits the hard way in the past and I dont want to do that again.

Sadly a lot of rescues loose people through their cliqiness and sometimes to many chiefs and not enough indians syndrome we have had a couple of CP branches close here and a local CAT 77 branch to

I totally agree with this Liz, although I think it is such a shame.

[Liz]

Rescue is hard and its not getting any easier in the current climate

I would love to foster but nobody wants to know except my old CP branch and I take their no hope of homing to a normal home hence I have Smudger and Ragamuffin, McKenzie and Gypsy all ferals who with a lot of time and love are coming on at their own pace = 2 years for the first 2 so far and they lost their Mum in June this year, we also have Miss Pagan as they had no room for her and and I have my 2 otherkittens Charlie and Echo who both will have costly futures due to Charlies legs and Echo's heart problem and they have been so good with Pagan and she is turning in to a proper little lady

I also have Miss Skye from Sunny Harbour who again is not for normal homes she is a shredder and means it but can be so sweet so she is my guest bedroom cat but slowly integrating in to our mob and again will stay with us - Daddy and Grandad adore this little tabby minx

I know about he cat on the knee to - currently Sweetie and Echo - we do fundraise to we do the sponsered walk every year for our old CP we travel 300 miles in a day to do this but OH's company do charity matching so we get double what we raise this year was £2000

I am very lucky to be able to have the Clan and all their issues but to do so we live apart, OH works long hours and wer have lsot my wages due to my back and I am on benefits so I eat beans on toast and they eat RC and the best of foods

Angie Romeo and the black kids are wonderful and a total credit to you maybe he was sent to you to take a little pressure from numbers for you enjoy him for as long as you can

Sadly a lot of rescues loose people through their cliqiness and sometimes to many chiefs and not enough indians syndrome we have had a couple of CP branches close here and a local CAT 77 branch to

[Angiew]

i'll forward it to you.

I think its more people working in shelters and to be honest they have it easier - i say this with experience having done time at the cp shelter in brum.

when you do it from your own home, theres less of a chance to get away from it (especially if you're the one on the phone!).

Its why i like to put my fosters to bed in the early evening and then try to forget about them until the next day. still get phonecalls of course but as we're not taking in at the mo, the evenings rushing out are not happening.

this summer with the bottle feeding and intensive nursing really took their toll on me, don't think I've recovered yet.
i also do a lot of the admin so thats sometimes done in the evening - its hard to sort out paperwork with a blackcat stuck to your knee (Romeo mainly and the others if they get the chance).

I really do think you should set limits on numbers before you start THEN TRY TO STICK TO THAT NUMBER - harder to do than most people think.
As Romeo is FIV I have an excuse not to be bringing anything else in until he has been homed.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I would be interested in reading the article too, and think it is an interesting debate. I know we struggled to get volunteers when I was with the last charity, and keeping them was hard, some soon realised that it wasn't the cute cat cuddling they thought - even one of the volunteers who just fundraised didn't last all that long. I think Kelly lasted the longest, but can't remember if she did 2 years or not - I personally am aiming for 10 years (have been doing it for 6, but not been as hands on this year, although not entirely through choice). One thing that I have discovered this year is that the less hands on roles are a lot less stressful (unless you are answering phones), not having cats in every room, with the extra housework they create and just going out fundraising and doing the odd home check is easier, but ironically it is now getting to me a lot because i know there are so many cats needing help and I have space and time to do it, just have to find someone to allow me to do it!! I know that fundraising is an important part of rescue, but it doesn't feel like I am helping that much.

The 'I'd love to but' people do annoy me to an extent, as we all have similar issues, but I would rather someone think about it and realise it would be hard for them than go into it without fully realising things and then end up struggling and have to pass the fosters to other people in the group, although some who don't give it a chance might find they would do really well at it. I do believe though that you have to be a special person to be able to take in cats that have been let down so badly, build up their trust/health, devote a lot of time to them, and then be able to hand them over - obviously some foster cats have been let down a lot more than others, and need a lot more time, love and patience, some act like nothing has really happened to them.

[nickynoo93]

No problem.

[Angiew]

thanks got it

[Tan]

Well said hun  and loads of hugs for every single one of you who dedicate their lives to helping the cats in need.  You are my hero's and my passion for this site.

I do love you all and always will
 

[nickynoo93]

Email sent, hope it came through.
Nicky

[Angiew]

angie@coventrycatgroup.org.uk please

[nickynoo93]

Do you want it through purrs or personal email?

[Angiew]

thanks

[nickynoo93]

Thats fine I will sort that this evening for you.

Nicky

[JackSpratt]

edit. Its in the November 2010 Your Cat. Do You want it photocopied? I can get it posted to you this week if you want it.

I was just told that. Was going to look what issues of the magazine I had but if you already have it in front of you that's great!

[Angiew]

if someone can scan and email?

[nickynoo93]

I have Your Cat going back to last sept, I will have a look as well, I think it may have been in recent months.

Nicky

edit. Its in the November 2010 Your Cat. Do You want it photocopied? I can get it posted to you this week if you want it.

[bunglycat]

I will look and see if its in your cat mag for you.

I dont foster or rescue -but -i have had a fosterer in my spare bedroom for 3 weeks now that i was asked to have temporarily !

[JackSpratt]

I'll try and find the article online for you, Angie. You never know. And vent away; a lot goes with caring for animals. It's not all cuddles and purrs.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Well said, Ange... 

My goodness I have seen some total COBBLERS going on in various ways, on this forum or on other forums or face to face... but we have to bottle it and keep our opinions to ourselves by and large. All for the sake of peace and the cats. 

It makes you wanna scream... half the time you feel like you are jugging soot. I know I could have been way more proactive this year but have shyed away and let others do it. I was just so tired of it all and had some serious home problems to contend with - I wonder has anyone thought what it's like having to listen to moaning people grizzing down the phone about Tiddles Tomcat spraying their front door while biting your tongue not knowing if you'll be homeless yourself before the month is out? 

When I win the lottery, Ange, you me and all the other Purrs rescuers are going on holiday.  I will pay a bunch of vet students to run our rescues while we sip Malibu on a sunny beach somewhere... they'd be a darn site keener on juvenile neutering after a few months dealing with what we are left to mop up. 

[Tiggy's Mum]

So if we shout or are rude in our replies, or don't think you latest accidental litter is cute or that bog standard cat food really is such a sin and that only the best will do then I am sorry.

Its hard to condemn a home where cats are happy when there are so many of the things ill, homeless and hungry.
How can we help more than we are when that next "very Urgent" case is screamed at us and do you understand how just that tiny-little bit of frustration we feel may be the last drop to break the dam walls we all have our fingers and toes already plugged into?

Sorry, I needed to rant..... and if anyone does have that mag, please give me the nod.

Well said Angie 

[Gillian Harvey]

I am just starting to have some of these feelings myself just with the feral four I have now.

Me too, and I only started fostering in May this year, but have become so absorbed in it all. Ended up taking rescues into the house, which wasnt supposed to happen. Having my pens in the garden was meant to be it....... Mind you, one of our other fosterers (also a trustee - and coordinator at the moment) has been fostering for 25 yrs!   

[Rosella moggy]

Well said Angie   

Would this post get more noticed in general?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I understand all of that Angie, well as much as someone can, not being in rescue.

I think being on Cat Chat and Purrs that message is passed on completely and know its the exact reason I could not be in rescue.

Sometimes I wonder how much better my life would be without CC and Purrs, so much more time, so much less heartbreak and so much less time on the pc!

The otherside is the friends I have made and the knowledge I have gained and all the money made to help cats and my small efforts to pass on my knowledge to others who need help.

[Steff - Petsearch Bedford HQ]

I am just starting to have some of these feelings myself just with the feral four I have now.

I think this is a very important post.

[Angiew]

I read an article on this - must have been in the vets last week while I was waiting with Squirt. I only read part of the article as I was called in quickly (always happens when I get comfy!).

Don't know which cat magazine it was in.

Has anyone got a copy? If so ...... (please).

I shall be going back with Squirt later this week so may ask then if I remember.

I think I remember reading that the 'average' volunteer only lasts about 2 years before moving on and that people who go over 5 years are quite rare.

I certainly do think people under estimate the amount of stress involved in rescue. I think most people just dismiss it by thinking "how much stress is involved in having a extra few cuddly sweet kittens to look after". And of course there is the feeling that somehow rescues are special in that rescuers have no everyday problems or things going on in their lives.
How often do you read "I'd love to but.....

don't have the room....
work all day...
can't afford it....
not well enough....
Tiddles would hate it to have another cat.....
OH wouldn't stand for it.......
"

The list is endless.

Sadly all these also apply to those of us that have gone into rescue.

Thats the stress that no one talks about even before the whole thing takes off.

Once you are up and running of course, there is the extra work involved to keep everyone around you 'happy' - at best a compromise, the looking after the extra cats, the guilt at not spending as much time with your own family (both furry and non furry), very often the leap of faith that there is money for the next months bills (this doesn't apply to CCG), worrying about ill cats and having to medicate them and watch them die on you, not enough time for housework or looking after yourself, worrying about cats you've just homed, those you cannot find homes for and the ever lengthening list of those urgent cases waiting to come in, the next round of phone calls for people expecting you to be there for them to take their problems away........

And as for private worries and grief, you can't take a few days off to worry, put into perspective, mourn as you are on that never ending treadmill that you have condemned yourself to....

So what can you do?
Give it all up and hope that the guilt of the the homeless cats that will suffer won't get to you if you are a one man band and this means closing up or that you are dumping more responsibility on the rest of your band, who are also stressed?.

So if we shout or are rude in our replies, or don't think you latest accidental litter is cute or that bog standard cat food really is such a sin and that only the best will do then I am sorry.

Its hard to condemn a home where cats are happy when there are so many of the things ill, homeless and hungry.
How can we help more than we are when that next "very Urgent" case is screamed at us and do you understand how just that tiny-little bit of frustration we feel may be the last drop to break the dam walls we all have our fingers and toes already plugged into?

Sorry, I needed to rant..... and if anyone does have that mag, please give me the nod.