Many years ago, I began taking care of the cats in whatever neighborhood I lived. When I moved to my current city over ten years ago, I volunteered for a local shelter and became a foster home. When I gradually learned their policies on euthanasia and did not agree, I volunteered for a group called the Bend Spay/Neuter Clinic, whose focus is spay/neuter as the only way to get a handle on the cat population.

We live in an area where there are far too many cats, and therefore a lot of people place no value in them. When Bend Spay/Neuter decided to make their main focus just spay/neuter and stepped back from fostering and adopting out, I began handling that on my own with the help of a few others. Over about three years we took in and placed an average of 500 cats and kittens each year. We were fostering them in our homes, in dedicated spaces like a bedroom or family room. About a year and a half ago, I decided to look for a home on small acreage with the goal of it having a separate sanctuary building. 

We have placed nearly 900 cats and kittens, about double of the previous years. So many are being abandoned or given up due to the poor economy, and people are not spending the money they should on care for their cats, including spay/neuter. We are bracing ourselves for an even difficult time this winter until the economy improves. We are no-kill, will take back any cat from an adopter for any reason, and we hold onto our cats until the right home comes along, which can sometimes be months or even years for cats with special needs. 

Personally, I love them all but for the past 10 years have only adopted those cats that were impossible to place. I have had and still do have cats that have chronic sinus issues, asthma, thyroid problems, bad or missing eyes, etc. as well as some that are considered very geriatric, 15 to 20 years old. I am often tempted to adopt some that could get other homes, so I limit myself to the special ones. Otherwise, I would have a hundred cats of my own! Right now I have seven, all inside only, all very spoiled. I cannot even picture a home without a cat in it.

There are a lot of heartbreaks and not everything runs smoothly all the time. You can expect that with any group, but especially when you are dealing with living things that do not always come to us in the best condition. We are always struggling for adequate funding and are bombarded with all kinds of calls about cats in desperate situations, which can be very depressing. More than once I have been told that we can’t save them all, nor can we even try to do that. But to the ones we do help, the ones that have no one looking out for them, it makes all the difference in the world.

In the early 90s, I was working a corporate job, and living life with my two cats. I was in Petco one day, and noticed a cage with some cats in it, and women trying to talk to people about pet adoption. This was an “aha!” moment for me, and that’s when I decided to get started in rescue.

I volunteered with a small group for a year, and started to realize the huge need for adopters. A friend of mine asked me why I don’t just start an organization. After a lot of thought, I found out how to start an organization: get a 501(c)(3) and never give up. Fortunately, this friend also had a closet-sized space for me to start MEOW cat rescue, so we had a few cages and started doing adoptions.

The most rewarding part of this is when we help difficult or handicapped animals. This just happened with a cat, Milo. He was there for a year and a half, and was untouchable for the first few weeks. He spent a year in foster care because he couldn’t be around other cats, and wasn’t raised around animals, so was very quick to swat, bite and charge. But as time passed, he learned to trust us and eventually graduated to a community room with other cats. About a month ago, a couple met Milo and said they really liked him, but they have an elderly cat with cancer so they can’t take him home. Well, sadly their cat just passed away, so they came and took Milo home with them. It was such a joy seeing this cat finally adopted into a forever family.

My husband and I decided for our first anniversary together, we wanted to adopt a pet. We went to the Burbank Animal Shelter, and there were a lot of animals, specifically dogs, vying for our attention. I really wanted to bring home all of them, but decided to go with a yellow Lab that we soon named Sunny. This was 18 years ago.

I decided then that I wanted to work with a shelter to help animals -- both cats and dogs. I now work with the volunteer group, Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter. Our number one goal is to find homes for all of these pets, but we’re also working hard to educate the public so not so many animals end up in the shelters in the first place. We just had an adoption fair, and adopted out about 30 animals.

We have 118 amazing individuals gravitating towards their own unique areas of expertise: graphic artists who help with flyers and ad design, writers who make up bios to hang on kennel doors displaying each animal’s personality and traits, trainers and those wanting to learning training work help teach animals basic commands, others just play with the animals. It’s not a job for any of us, everyone just really loves animals, and it shows in their caring attitudes.

Also, because everyone loves kittens, we’ve started a kitten foster program. Our volunteers foster the kittens at home until their healthy enough and ready for adoption. But I think the most rewarding thing is seeing that person or family walking the dog on a leash or carrying the cat in its carrier to their car. It’s that moment when you see them, when everything is done, and the animal is in their new owner’s arms. You can just tell the family is so happy and the animal is off on a new adventure.