Feeling the Heat...

As anyone who is involved in animal rescue/shelter work knows, the time from Spring to Fall is the most stressful and difficult time of the year. This is my first Spring/Summer working at Boone County Animal Shelter. I expected it to be difficult, but I didn't expect it to be this hard to deal with. The worst part of it all? We still have months and months to go, with no relief in sight until the leaves start to turn and the temperatures begin to cool.

Every day I walk through the shelter doors, I enter with a heavy heart and a feeling of dread, knowing that however crowded it was when I left, it will be even more crowded when I return. It is "kitten season," the time of year that produces a HUGE influx of newborn kittens. We are trying to save every single adoptable kitten and have had an incredible response to our call for foster homes. However, it still isn't enough. It feels like every week we are scrambling to find one more foster because ours are all full and we suddenly have a basket full of adorable kittens because someone didn't get their cat spayed/neutered. And we have lost a few litters, at this point. When you can't find anyone to take the babies, they simply can't sit in the shelter where they would be exposed to sickness. I stopped by yesterday (my day off) and left with an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was early afternoon and we had already taken in 20+ kittens. How is a shelter supposed to cope with that? I know that the staff is having a difficult time coping. Often I think to myself, "So THIS is why shelters resist attempting to go no-kill." Trying so hard to save them all and not being able to is surprisingly more difficult than not trying at all.

Our adoptions are down. Way down. We have been in the "danger zone" with adult dogs for a while now. Even ONE adoption brings a sense of relief. That is one more life saved. I understand that people want to adopt puppies or small dogs but I can't help but feel bitter about the fact that there are wonderful adoptable dogs who happen to be a bit larger and because of that, they are passed over again and again and again.

The private rescues, one of our major lifelines, are so full they aren't able to pull animals from us as frequently anymore. There are a few who are helping so much, but even then it doesn't always work out. For instance, a local rescue pulled a dog from us only yesterday. At last report, he wasn't doing well at all in his new foster home. He was with us for so long and I can't help but think that he is acting badly because he has no idea how to be in a home anymore. The shelter became his home, and that is heartbreaking.

What keeps me going? The little "wins." The person who takes a chance on a long-term resident dog, or the new foster home. Support from my coworkers and my loved ones. On the note of coworkers, I don't know that I have ever felt so closely bonded with people I work with. I think it is an emotional survival tactic...we have to band together to make it through and keep our heads above water. We are quick to make each other laugh, try to make each other smile whenever we can because we don't know what will come through the door next.

I'm certainly not too proud to beg. If you have thought about adoption, please do it now. If you have thought about volunteering, please do it now. And for goodness sakes, if you can foster, PLEASE do it now. We need you now.