We had three cats already when we adopted Lilith in 2001. She was to be our "fourth and final" cat, but the addition of her kittens brought our total to ten! It was around that time that we started dreaming of having a cat rescue someday. "If we ever win the lottery..." we'd daydream; well, we most definitely did NOT win the lottery, but here we are with our rescue anyway!
We heard stories of cats whose owners were terminally ill, cats facing euthanasia at overcrowded shelters, cats whose owners were moving to a "no pets" environment, and kittens without a mother to raise them. We took them in and learned as we went along.
After a while, we reluctantly admitted we have a limit. We have on rare occasions had to turn away cats (after providing information on alternate no-kill shelters and rescues). It breaks my heart to say no, but if there are too many for us to give the care, love and attention they need, then no one benefits.
All of the cats, our pets and rescues, have the run of the house. We live in a 1500 square foot log cabin in the mountains outside Boulder, CO. There are cat trees in several rooms, cat beds and tunnels in just about all of them. The cats who enjoy the outdoors get to go out on a harness and leash on most sunny, warm days. We dream of being able to build an outdoor enclosure where they can come and go from indoors to outdoors as they please, while staying in a safe and secure environment.
Yes, there have been adjustments and sacrifices we've had to make. Going away on vacation is something that we'll rarely if ever see again! Any extra money goes towards the cats; a spay/neuter, dental cleaning, etc. But knowing that each and every cat here is alive because of our intervention makes it all worthwhile. I know we can't save them all. But we will save all we can.
~Susan Guerth, co-owner and Webmistress
