This post should get you all caught up on the history of my relationship with the shelter. Tomorrow’s post will still have to do with the shelter, but it will be more on a personal note. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to cram twenty years in as few posts as possible. Time to get into the mud with shelter life!!!
The past couple of years during the Covid pandemic have been a trying time for all of us, and especially animal shelters! Think about it — people were out of work so donations were down; some volunteers wouldn’t and couldn’t come in to help with the daily duties; traveling to other states to pick up cats from other shelters was nearly impossible; etc. I was not immune to the stress due to Covid. At the time the pandemic broke out in March of 2020, I was working part-time in a grocery store. Given my immune system was still compromised from the chemotherapy, I had to put my employment on “hold”. I couldn’t risk it, and vaccines were not available then. In November of 2020, I found employment as a remote mortgage processor, and let the grocery store go.
Really?
I was the work horse for my team at the mortgage company. My workday around 6 am, sometimes 5 am. I would work until at least 8 pm, and once even into the “wee” hours of the next day. Can I get a heck ya’? #Noworklifebalance. To my surprise, I was laid off in early August 2021. The Universe works its magic though. Turned out my father’s health would take a turn for the worse two weeks later, and he passed on September 9th, 2021 (I am foreshadowing here — wink wink). R.I.P. Dad.
A New Phase In My Life
Well, I have an abundance of time on my hands now, don’t I? What shall I do with all this extra time? Duh. The shelter became front and center. My good friend Joyce told me there were kittens whose mother was feral and needed some socializing at the shelter. Socializing sounds “easy” or “fun”, but socializing is so much more than simply “petting” or “playing” with the cats/kittens. These poor babies are frightened to death and do not trust humans. It is the responsibility of a socializer to teach them they can trust humans. They are safe now.
Soon after I was let go by my company in August, I was contacted by another mortgage company to work for them remotely. Cautiously optimistic, I accepted the position. My heart was hesitant as I knew that would mean less time available to work with the timid cats and kittens at the shelter. Taking the new mortgage position felt like the “responsible” thing to do. Thinking with my head and not my heart has been, what I would consider, my biggest downfall in life. Hmm…not this time.
I had to take a medical leave in October, and I decided not to return. Since 1998, I have worked in and out of the mortgage business as either a processor or as an underwriter, and I despised every second of it. My mortgage days had come to an end. I had more important work to do…
Meet Elfie
Elfie was one of the “Woodland” crew. The Woodland crew consisted of five kittens — three girls and two boys. Boys being boys, they got adopted relatively quick. What absolutely shocked me was that this sweet, but extremely timid girl named Elfie went home with her brother Boyce. Elfie and Boyce were the second and third kittens that I had worked with that got adopted. The other boy was the first (why I can’t remember his name is beyond me). It felt so good to know I was making a difference in their lives! I was hooked. Now it is my calling.
As you can from the video below, one of the most important processes with semi-feral kittens is to hand-feed them. It allows them to get used to human hands, because hey — “These things feed us too??? Maybe these strange beings aren’t so bad after all?”