Animal Rescuers Are a Different Breed

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Welcome back everybody.

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Before we dive in, I wanna take a second to acknowledge something.

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For those of you who were looking for an episode last week, I'm sorry I ended up

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sick, and sometimes your body just forces you to rest whether you want to or not.

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That is living with migraine.

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It is what it is.

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And I know you get it, rescue doesn't stop, responsibilities

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don't stop, the messages don't stop, but every now and then you

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hit that point where you physically can't push through one more thing.

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So I took the rest I needed, and now we're back.

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So today's episode is for the rescuers, the ones who already know the drill,

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already know the chaos, already know the heartbreak, and already know

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what it feels like to be awake at 3:00 AM staring at a kitten's chest

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to make sure it is still rising.

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This isn't Rescue 101.

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This isn't a beginner's guide.

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This is the stuff we don't say out loud, but every rescuer knows So before

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we get into the deeper parts of rescue life, I wanted to share something short.

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I wanted to share how I actually pulled into all of this, because every rescuer

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has that one moment, that turning point, that one thing that nudged

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them into the life we all live now.

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For me, it started at a place of business.

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I carried cat-themed merchandise, cat shirts, all kinds of cat things,

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because I was a cat person, and it was pretty obvious that I was a cat person.

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So one of my regular customers noticed.

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She'd come in often, and one day she walked in with kittens in

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her arms and she said, "Hey, do you wanna bottle-feed these?"

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And here's the thing.

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I had already been taking in kittens on my own for years.

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As a teenager, I'd find kittens, take care of them, try to find

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them homes, do whatever I could with limited funds that I had.

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I loved kittens.

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I loved caring for them, and I could only have so many cats at home.

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So the idea of fostering, taking in kittens, getting them ready for

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adoption, and then sending them off to great homes was perfect for me.

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Was I worried about giving them up?

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Of course I was.

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Every new foster is.

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But once I saw how fostering actually worked, once I saw the loving homes

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these babies were going to, I felt completely okay about it, and I

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got hooked, completely hooked.

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I rotated kittens in and out.

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I'd take them in, prep them for adoption, send them off to their forever homes,

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and then I would start all over again.

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I was never without kittens unless I was planning a vacation, and even

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then I would have to plan around whether I had kittens or not.

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So eventually, I wanted to meet the families adopting the kittens

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I raised, so I started volunteering at adoption events, and I loved it.

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I absolutely loved it.

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And as So many people in rescue, I had a big dream, the big

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dream of having a cat sanctuary.

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We found 40 acres in the country, and I thought, "This is it.

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This is where I can build something."

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That dream led me to start a 501[c][3], The Unwanted Feline Organization, or

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as we like to call ourselves, UFO.

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We like to add a little bit of a sci-fi flair and funness to rescue because

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everybody knows rescue's hard enough, so why not lighten the mood a little bit?

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Now, of course, rescue never goes in a straight line.

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You plan one thing, the rescue pulls you in 10 different directions.

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So while I was dreaming sanctuary, kittens still needed homes, so I kept

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fostering, kept adopting out, kept doing what I had been doing for 20 years,

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getting kittens ready for adoption, watching them grow, remembering their

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names, their faces, their personalities.

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And yes, kittens are messy.

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It's a lot of cleaning, but I love being around them So eventually we got into

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a cat habitat at a pet store, and since May we've had close to 60 adoptions.

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For a small rescue, that is absolutely huge.

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We're still growing, still learning, still looking for fosters and volunteers

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to help with cleaning and care.

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And the sanctuary dream, of course, we still have a plan for that.

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So on our property, we have two sea containers.

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We're insulating them and converting them into climate-controlled cat buildings.

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We're gonna build a giant outdoor structure so the cats can move

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freely inside and outside.

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And another project that we have is a decommissioned ambulance.

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So we had a dream of getting a transport vehicle, and somehow we

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ended up with an ambulance instead because it was so multifunctional.

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So our dream with our ambulance is mobile adoptions, which we've already done

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to an extent at some farmers market.

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Works great because we have an air-conditioned unit that has a generator,

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so the kitties can be comfortable, they're safe, they're secure, and of course, we

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don't let them leave the adoption events, but it gets them a lot of exposure.

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And in fact, this is what we were doing prior to getting into a cat habitat and

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having an adoption center of our own.

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The other thing for the decommissioned ambulance is a mobile spay/neuter unit.

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I looked at it and I had my vet come look at it, and she loved it, and I'm like,

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"Hey, can we do spay/neuter out of this?"

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And she's like, "Absolutely."

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So that was a project that we decided to work on.

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So We got a generous grant from Mission Meow, and we're outfitting

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it with everything that our vet needs: an anesthesia machine, oxygen

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concentrator, critical care unit, ultrasound, autoclave, the works.

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Now, it's taken longer than expected because of equipment delays, but we're

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aiming to have it running in 2027.

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And yes, we want to wrap it in a galaxy theme with cats floating

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in space promoting spay/neuter.

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It'll spread awareness, get attention, and make people smile because, cats in space,

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cats floating in space, cats on UFOs, people are gonna take photos of it, right?

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And when they see the signs that say spay and neuter, TNR, it's

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gonna make them go maybe that's something that we need to do."

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So it's gonna promote awareness.

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Now, funds are tight, so that part will come later, but the dream is there.

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So that's how I got here.

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One customer with kittens, one moment, one spark, and 20 years later, I'm still

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doing what I love, helping kittens, finding them homes, and building

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something bigger for the future.

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So as all rescuers know, rescue has a kind of emotional whiplash that only

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other rescuers understand, which is why I think we're all friends with each

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other because when you meet somebody in rescue, you know that they understand you.

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They understand exactly where you're coming from because I

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always like to say rescuers are like a different breed of people.

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They really are.

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You know you can be celebrating an adoption one minute and the next

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minute you're sitting on the floor with a kitten who suddenly won't eat,

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wondering how everything flipped so fast.

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You can be exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed, and then one tiny win

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will snap you back into the game.

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When a kitten who's been flat for hours suddenly lifts their heads and gives

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you that slow blink, or when a feral you've been working with finally decides

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that you're safe enough to touch.

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We don't talk about how heavy that swing is.

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We just live it.

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People see the cute photos.

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Rescuers see the spreadsheets, the late-night messages,

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the, "Who can take this one?

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I know you're full, but…"

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The disinfecting, the follow-ups, the transport planning, the meds, the cleaning

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again, and then the cleaning after that.

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There's so much invisible work that nobody sees outside of a rescuer's life

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There's no invisible work that nobody outside rescue ever sees,

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and sometimes it just feels like we're doing 10 jobs at once.

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Rescue coordinator, therapist, fundraiser, janitor, vet tech, adoption counselor,

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social media manager, colony track- tracker, crisis hotline, and problem

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solver somewhat because we're the ones that are having to answer those

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calls of, "Oh, I'm moving tomorrow.

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I need a place for my animal to go 'cause I can't take it with it, with me

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because, , my new lease won't allow it."

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But, when you talk to another rescue, rescuer, you don't

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have to explain any of that.

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They already know

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Every rescuer has that case, that one that you still think about, the

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one that changed how you do things.

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Maybe it was the kitten who came in ice cold and barely breathing, and

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you sat there warming them with your hands for an hour, even though you knew

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the odds weren't great, doing all of this while you're rushing them to the

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veterinary clinic before they close.

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Or maybe it was that cat who was so shut down that you weren't sure that

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they would ever trust anyone again, and then one day they leaned into

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your hand , like they'd been waiting their whole life for that moment.

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Or maybe it was the one you couldn't save, and you carry that

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quietly even while you keep going.

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We don't always talk about those cases, but they shape us

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Now, let's talk the part of rescue that hits the hardest, the up all hours of the

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night part Every rescuer knows this one.

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The nights where you don't even pretend you're gonna sleep.

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The nights where you're running on adrenaline, instinct, and fear.

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You finally get that sick kitten into the vet.

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They stabilize him, give him fluids, maybe meds, maybe a shot

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of something to perk him up.

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You bring them home and everyone says, "They're doing better now."

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But you don't relax, not even a little bit, because you've seen kittens

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crash after they're looking better.

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You've seen them fade fast.

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You've seen the ones who rally and then suddenly dip again.

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So you set up the little station, heating pad, blankets, syringes, fluids, whatever

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you need, and then you sit on the floor next to them and you watch them, and you

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watch their breathing, you watch their color, you watch their posture, you

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check their gums, you look at their eyes.

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You tell yourself you're gonna just check on them every hour, but you don't.

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You check on them every 10 minutes, and then every five, and

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then you just kinda stay there.

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And I know everybody has been through this, and I will just say, for me,

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this summer has been absolutely brutal.

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It's the worst that I have ever seen it.

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I'm used to dealing with kittens like this all the time, but it just seems

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like this year there's so many of them, which is why it's so critical to get

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people involved with spay and neuter, especially with all these kittens

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coming from these feral colonies, that might have a feeder that they're not

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being spayed and neutered fast enough, and they just keep reproducing, and…

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you know the story.

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I don't have to tell you that.

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But it's just "How do we get people who aren't in rescue to understand this?"

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They look at us like we're the ones that are supposed to be jumping

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around and saving all these animals and taking care of everything and

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abandoning their responsibility.

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And one person can only do so much, but I know as a rescuer, you're

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doing everything that you can.

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Every rescuer has done this.

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You lean in close, staring at a kitten's chest, waiting for it to rise.

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Sometimes you even put your hand on them just so you can feel the tiny moment.

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You don't wanna wake them, but you also need to know, because if something

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changes, you need to catch it fast.

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It's 4:00 AM.

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You haven't slept.

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You're sitting there with a kitten who's refusing to eat, and you're trying just

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to get a few millimeters into them.

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Your back hurts, your eyes burn, your brain is foggy, but you keep going because

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you know that sometimes the difference between a kitten making it and not

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making it is that one extra feed, that one extra push, that one extra hour.

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These nights don't get talked about enough, but every rescuer knows them.

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And I know from experience, I keep referencing kittens

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because that's what I do.

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That's what I'm used to.

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But the dog rescuers are there right with us.

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The bird rescuers, everybody, the rehabbers.

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So it's not just limited to a one particular species.

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We're all involved in it together, and we all understand each other

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and burnout in rescue is real, and it's heavy.

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And it's not just being tired, it's being emotionally empty.

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It's the moment you stare at your phone and you don't have the energy

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to answer one more intake message.

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It's the moment you feel guilty for needing a break.

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It's the moment you wonder if you're still helping or if you're just surviving.

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But here's the truth.

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Every rescuer goes through it, every single one, and taking a break

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does not mean that you're weak.

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It makes you human.

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It keeps you in rescue longer.

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It protects the animals you care for.

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We don't say it enough, but burnout is normal, and it

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doesn't mean that you're failing.

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We deal with so much that you have to remember it's important to give

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yourself a break, give yourself a vacation, and don't feel guilty about it

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You know, and for all the chaos, all the heartbreak, all the

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exhaustion, we still show up because we know what happens if we don't.

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Because we've seen the difference one person can make.

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Because we've watched cats go from terrified to trusting.

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Because we've seen kittens who should not have made it grow up and thrive.

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Because we've handed over a cat to their new family and felt that

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moment, that quiet, powerful moment where everything was worth it.

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Rescue is hard, but it's also beautiful.

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And even when we're tired, even when we're overwhelmed, even when we swear

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we're taking a break, we still come back.

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Not because we have to, - because it's who we are

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If you're listening to this and you're in rescue, I hope this

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episode made you feel seen.

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We don't get a lot of spaces where we can talk honestly about what this work

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feels like, but we should, because we're not alone, even when it feels like it.

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Thanks for being here.

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Thanks for doing what you do, and thanks for showing up

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for the animals who need you

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And if you wanna talk about it, call me up and we'll talk about it.

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I can have you on the show or we can just talk because we all go through this

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together and we all support each other.

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And leave me a comment and let me know, did this help?

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Is there anything else that we need to be talking about?

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I'd love to hear from you and I hope you listen to us next week.

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Thanks for listening to Animal Posse