One mission of Feral Paws Rescue after pulling cats from a high-kill shelter is to find the perfect home for the cats who are deemed adoptable. Some cats who come to the rescue are shy, fearful of their new surroundings, especially after losing the home they were accustomed to, and others are naturally friendly either to their human caretaker, other cats or both.
Shrimp is a very special kitty that has touched so many lives (human). Shrimp is a beautiful orange tabby boy now four years old. Shrimp has been CCSPCA shelter office cat since he was just a kitten and was dumped at the shelter. Staff fell very much in love with Shrimp at the time he came into the shelter. The shelter's past office shelter cat on the adoption side of the shelter had passed away about three months before Shrimp came into the shelter.
Each non-profit rescue has there own views on who their rescue will be saving. Saving lives from kill shelters isn't an easy decision in the world of rescue and has many heartbreaks and nights of seeing the faces of the ones we couldn't save. Some we have to leave behind knowing those we can't save will most likely be euthanized in just hours after leaving a kill shelter. Don't think the faces left behind don't haunt a rescuer every day; seeing them reaching out to us as we walk by the kennels, as if begging to have there life saved. Rescue work isn't for everyone!
Our rescue, receives so many emails daily asking for help in receiving cats and kittens. Our board has a policy of taking in only animals from high-kill shelters, because the cats and kittens in high-kill shelters have such a short period of time before being euthanized. Our rescue currently has pull rights at 17 shelters in California. As the CEO/Founder of this rescue, I can step up to help non-shelter cats and kittens depending on their stories. I honestly try not to override that policy because so many cats and kittens need help in kill shelters.
Freddie was rescued from CCSPCA, a high-kill shelter. A shelter staff member at CCSPCA texted me to tell me about Freddie who was being pulled to be euthanized that day. He wanted to see if I would help Freddie because he was such a sweet boy that was born with a crippled front leg. He was good with the litter box and got along fine with his leg being crippled. The shelter had tagged him to be euthanized deeming him as being unadoptable due to being infirm, or crippled. He was not this perfect cat for the shelter to be concerned with as being adoptable. As if cats coming into high-kill shelters are perfect purebred cats!
This month I am going back in time seven years when my relationship with Feral Paws Rescue began, in February 2012. The first cat I got from the Rescue was a beautiful calico named Caleigh, and it went on from there. Each time Feral Paws Rescue would post on Facebook a black cat in need of saving from a kill-shelter, I inquired to see if they could pull him or her. In May 2012, one such post really got my attention.
It was early 2013, and inside the shelter was a very scared white cat who was only one year old. He felt so abandoned and was so fearful, that he was pulling the fur out of his tail, yet he was very loving whenever humans paid attention to him. Feral Paws Rescue stepped in and saved him from certain death, as he wouldn’t be deemed adoptable with his self-destruction.
I have been volunteering at Feral Paws Rescue for a few years, and I have an area where cats are housed that I, personally, take care of. One day in mid-June of this year, I noticed a new addition to my area, a beautiful large chocolate-point Siamese.
Miguel was saved from the CCSPCA (Fresno) by Feral Paws Rescue on July 21, 2016, when he was six-months-old. He had been a very special kitten at the shelter as he had been saved from euthanasia by the Shelter Director and spent a month in the Director’s office where he was given a lot of love by the staff.
In early 2017, Feral Paws Rescue received a call from the CCSPCA (Fresno) asking if they would help with a cat who had a very bad injury that had caused tremendous swelling to his face. The shelter had already labeled this cat as “feral” since he didn’t want to have anything to do with the humans there.
