I got in touch with a friend of mine who helps run a rescue outside of Portland. I told her Mattie and the kittens story and texted her photos. They had a meeting and they have agreed to take the whole family from us! They have access to excellent vets, numerous foster homes and people who are skilled in helping cats and kittens in distress. Right now, on this end, it is me and two volunteers and that’s it. Plus we now have a $3,000 vet bill to worry about.
So she is going to meet me later this afternoon in a neighboring town and take the family. I could just weep, I am so relieved. The kittens are all doing great. Mackie is energetic, vibrant, eating, drinking playing with the others. His only residual from all he has been through (just like Mattie) is a bit of diarrhea. Nothing too extreme and the new rescue will be fully briefed on the situation and all vet records will be transferred.
I heard from the owner of the cats from the car. The gal had found herself homeless after her dad passed suddenly and she was keeping the animals in one car at parks and using a second vehicle to look for a new place. At first she wanted all the cats back, but when I explained what had gone on since she left them in the car. She decided that she only wanted one back- but she is still homeless. It was a long conversation and there was a LOT I did not say to her, but in the end, she decided to just let all of them go on to happier more stable lives. She works part time on minimum wage and has one mama dog with two puppies and a boyfriend to provide for- she didn’t say if he worked or not. By Oregon law these cats became ours 30 days after we first rescued them. She swore she would pay me back for the hundreds of dollars caring for these cats have cost us, but I told her instead, I would rather she just promise me that she won’t have any more cats in her life until she is sure that she can provide a stable, loving home for them. I mean come on, she’s homeless and she is going to repay us over $500.00?
So at least these cats can go on into loving homes with people who have been screened and home-checked beforehand. Can’t get much better than that.
This is good news. That the feline family are thriving is because of you, but you have many others to look after and, as you write, the vet bill is already high.
I seem to recall another instance of someone promising to repay all the costs of taking care of the cats that they wanted back. I think you had them surrender them to you at some point. Or am I thinking of another rescue? It is probably a situation that crops up from time to time with many rescuers.
Nope, you are right. The person who had promised this to us is also still homeless. The only reason I know this, is I got an email from a rescue on the coast. The person that finally surrendered their cats had come in to adopt one. They used me for a reference! When asked if I would adopt to this person, my answer was absolutely not. The woman thanked me and said some of her red flags were going up during the conversation with him but she wanted to check him out first. We have never received a cent from him only some threatening texts that told us he wanted to see his cats or else.