January 28, 2026

𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 | 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬

The end of my week has arrived. Since I wasn't as successful at posting daily as I'd intended, let's start with the numbers.

We only had 4 adoptions during my week, but there were some great ones. Two kittens went home. More importantly, we got two special needs cats out the door this week! One was FIV+ and the other was an allergy cat. The sweet allergy lady had been recovering from her dental in preparation to go home with an amazing volunteer of ours. It always makes me happy when younger people are secure enough to give those a chance who may not find a home outside of the shelter otherwise. Even though the numbers were small, those two were huge wins for us.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

We also had 6 intakes. I told you about some of them. One was a return who's having intermittent diarrhea. Two were from the older gentleman who lost his longtime wife and needed some help dwindling his numbers down. We saved a 15-week-old from another shelter who was going to be euthanized because he's FeLV+. I told you about the one yesterday who was brought in as a stray but had a microchip—when the owner came, she ended up letting us keep him. Finally, we had the final one for my week come in today who is absolutely magnificent. We had to go get him because the elderly man who needed to surrender him couldn't get him from under the bed.

Thankfully, we made it through a week without gaining any additional angels. Whew!

𝐅𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬

Our mama in foster who is caring for her now 2-week-old babies is struggling a little bit. She's having some loose stool and she's lost some weight. This is not uncommon with first-time moms, especially when they're so young. The important part is catching it and combatting it. She came in today so we could monitor her and see if we can figure out what's going on with her. She was very anxious when she arrived. Once she settled, we could see she's still being a very attentive mom. The babies are growing well and their little eyes are open now. We'll get her squared away and back to foster tomorrow. We just need a day to observe her and make sure she didn't have mastitis and that she was still producing milk. All is well in that department!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲

I had hoped to sleep well last night. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Sometimes when I do what's in the best interest of the cat, it can still disrupt my psyche. I was jolted out of my sleep a little after 1 a.m. today from a horrible nightmare. In my dream, all of my animals were confiscated by the local animal control. I had to produce medical records and receipts to show all the care they'd been provided. It wasn't just the cats—it was the goats and the dogs too. I told them that I knew I had a lot of animals but they were all well cared for. In the end, I got to bring them all home. It was a jarring dream I couldn't shake off, and it took me a couple of hours to get back to sleep.

I realized that was the guilt of taking a cat from someone who'd had him for 11 years. My heart felt heavy for the human. Though I still stand by the fact that it was better for the cat to be with us and be safely inside, I feel guilty because this family no longer has their cat. If you remember, he was an indoor/outdoor cat, and when he went missing in December, they didn't look for him because they assumed a predator got him. He came to us injured. That is no way for a senior to live. Still, something in me felt guilty, and it was manifested in my dreams.

𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

I powered through the day the best I could and still managed to spend time with my shelter cats this weekend before I went home. One of my staff members has started coming out in the shelter with me at the end of our week. She's learning more about the cats and how to get close to the ones that typically only I can. I appreciate that, because the more people who learn their secrets, the more love they get.

Our veterinarian is back from her honeymoon, so all feels right in the world again. We missed her! We missed her laughter and spunkiness. I also terribly missed her guidance in these difficult cases. I know I did a good job in her absence, but part of me wonders how she'll feel about how things went while she was gone once she gets the rundown. I always do the best I can. This time she was away was not any different. It may not be completely the way she would have done it, but we survived it.