What we had seen the first day was enough to crack even the strongest constitution but there is a certain amount of adrenaline that courses through your veins and pushes you forward in crisis. We worked through the night leaving at 3am only after everyone was triaged for initial emergency health issues and safely secured, fed and sheltered; 7:30am came early and the adrenaline had subsided.
Walking into the facility, the enormity of the issue that lay before us hit me hard. I didn’t know where to start. Not a single baby had eaten and I knew that was due to the tremendous stress they had endured. I questioned everything about what we had done and where we were going to go from here.
I carefully inspected everyone in their cages and then moved in the room that had been designated for the sickest of the sick. My heart just sank as I knew that some of these babies might be beyond the limits of veterinary help. Day 2 was, by far, my worst day in animal rescue. One of our veterinarians came back to help assess everyone again, and we had to make the difficult decision of letting go of those who were suffering beyond all humane standards. Without going into too much detail, we saw everything from massive infected wounds compounded by searing upper respiratory infections to cats that were missing both eyes (most all of them were missing one) due to fighting or infection, or both. Those, believe it or not, were not even the most sick.
I consider myself pretty strong, being able to make the most difficult decisions and facing the most difficult circumstances in order to save lives. This day I came to my breaking point. I had several meltdowns throughout the day as I held the sick who were too weak to fight. I apologized to them for what they had endured at the hands of their well-meaning but misguided caretaker and bid them farewell. I said goodbye promising them a healthy happy existance beyond the rainbow bridge.
This day, I wanted to give up. The enormity of pet overpopulation and the impact it has on the lives of the most innocent is hard to grasp and I really questioned if I could make a difference. This is the first time I ever questioned my ability to create positive change. For a fleeting moment I was ready to throw in the towel.
Then…..I heard it…one of the cats was eating. Was it possible that it was all going to be ok?
