Rescue FAIL!!!

[JustOneMore]

*sigh

I am sorely disappointed. I will admit, I saw their pics and read their stories on this site and fell in love with 2 cats, one male, one female. I fell so head over heals for them both I told myself I was rushing things and needed to think it over over night before I decided weather or not I would try to adopt both of these cats. Well one night turned into one week and everyday I checked their page and read again and again their stories. I started to wonder how they were doing or if they had already been adopted and a little part of me ached and I knew I had to adopt them if possible.

This all happened about 3 1/2 weeks ago. On the girl (who looks to be a kitten) I emailed the rescue center and asked if she was still available. I have yet to hear from them. On the male I have emailed the foster family to ask if he were still available. I have yet to hear back from them. I talked to my friend about it (and how upset I was over it all) who decided to try things out herself. She emailed them both and got from the male's foster family that he was still available but nothing since then. She heard nothing back on the female. I have called the rescue center twice for the male and have heard nothing. They are both at different rescue centers in different states.


Apart of me still aches. In my heart they are mine and I feel broken. I didn't know rescuing could be anything like this.

[Carmel]

I'm sorry it didn't work out (something similar happened to someone I know when they filled out a long application for a dog - never got a reply), but I think you have to consider it from the shelter's point of view. Why are you trying to adopt cats from two different states? If I was the shelter, I would be highly suspicious. They likely see it as a waste of time to reply to someone out of state/far away. They are very busy. A lot of shelters don't adopt out to people whose homes they can't inspect. I also wonder how you planned to get them? Were you going to go on a road trip to get them? What if they weren't the type of cat you'd want upon meeting them, and what if they don't get along? It's much easier two adopt cats from the same shelter, by seeing them interact there, or getting an already bonded pair. I'm positive if you take a few trips to more local shelters you'll find some cats you'll fall in love with, you'd be helping out your own community in the process.

[Marcia]

For the life of me I don't understand why you feel heartbroken. No word in your email about actually picking up the phone and CALLING and TALKING to a real person. If you are truly that interested then do that first before crying in your beer - or juice - or pillow. Not hearing back is NOT a no. Do you have any idea how many idle requests a shelter might get?? A casual email is not true interest - they probably figure if you are truly interested you'd (GASP!) call. TRY HARDER if you really want one or both of these little guys. BTW, most shelters do not adopt out of state. CALL THEM.

[JustOneMore]

Originally Posted by Marcia

For the life of me I don't understand why you feel heartbroken. No word in your email about actually picking up the phone and CALLING and TALKING to a real person. If you are truly that interested then do that first before crying in your beer - or juice - or pillow. Not hearing back is NOT a no. Do you have any idea how many idle requests a shelter might get?? A casual email is not true interest - they probably figure if you are truly interested you'd (GASP!) call. TRY HARDER if you really want one or both of these little guys. BTW, most shelters do not adopt out of state. CALL THEM.

Marcia I do not know why you are being sarcastic with me. I actually say in my first post that I called one shelter twice already. What I hadn't explained yet was that I left a message both times as prompted and have yet to hear back from them. This same message says that the voicemails are checked several times a day. This was over 3 weeks ago and I have not heard back.

The other shelter says to contact them by email only. As of right now it is out of my hands. I can not make them answer me no matter how many times I call.

Carmel I am sorry but I am on my way to work and will have to answer your questions on my lunch break.

[Marcia]

Then I apologize, I missed the part about your actually calling. Perhaps they are very overwhelmed. Contacting a shelter by email ONLY sounds strange and precarious to me. What if the email goes down?, what if the server goes down? (as mine did here for 4 days), what if's can add up if only using email. Call them. Tell them you have tried to contact them through their preferred means but haven't been able to get through. Apologize for calling and blame it on bad advice from a crazy cat lady on the internet..
I'm a little testy about only relying on email and texts for inquiries and responses and not using the human touch when wanting a living being as a pet, so I apologize again if I over reacted - I just read your post a tad to hasitly. I do wish you the best of luck with your search.

[Greenport ferals]

It is easy to fall for a cat in need through an adorable photo posted on line, but have you tried visiting your local rescue or humane society in person? You might have that once in a lifetime cat fall for you.

[StrikeEagle]

Agrees with Greenport. Why look so far away when there are probably plenty of needy and lovely cats in your own locality.

[CatMonkeys]

IMO, lusting over pictures and stories of cats online and out of state is just setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. As others have said, why can't you look for cats locally?

[JustOneMore]

Originally Posted by Marcia

Then I apologize, I missed the part about your actually calling. Perhaps they are very overwhelmed. Contacting a shelter by email ONLY sounds strange and precarious to me. What if the email goes down?, what if the server goes down? (as mine did here for 4 days), what if's can add up if only using email. Call them. Tell them you have tried to contact them through their preferred means but haven't been able to get through. Apologize for calling and blame it on bad advice from a crazy cat lady on the internet..
I'm a little testy about only relying on email and texts for inquiries and responses and not using the human touch when wanting a living being as a pet, so I apologize again if I over reacted - I just read your post a tad to hasitly. I do wish you the best of luck with your search.

I accept your apologize. Glad we worked that out. Sorry if I sound like I'm throwing a pity party but I imagined this turning out differently and I don't know what to do. I don't have much experience in rescue.

[jadis]

I work in rescue and the one I work with will not adopt to people out of state, primarily because if it doesn't work out, we want it to be easy for the cat to be returned to us and not have to arrange another transport, and also because we do home checks. That's probably why you haven't heard back, though I can't speak for why no one has emailed to tell you. Rescues vary greatly, some have physical locations, some operate out of a network of foster homes, some are highly organized and well funded, and a few are one man operations that end up resembling hoarders.

I would try a local rescue or shelter. Sooo many cats are put down in shelters, that's where I would start. Just stop in or look on petfinder, or if you find a good local rescue, find out where they have adoption events (ours are Saturdays at Petco) and stop by in person to talk to volunteers and meet cats.