Phone Yell Out

I exploded tonight over the phone. The people deserved it, I thought. But, deserve it or not, it would have been better, with hindsight, to swallow it all. They had contacted me wanting help getting a feral cat with newborn kittens fixed. They housed her in a cage for two weeks with the three kittens and one kitten "disappeared". Yeah, I know, how in the world does that happen.

So I agreed to meet them in Corvallis this evening to pick up the cat to be fixed tomorrow. They were going to bring her to Albany, but I was going to Corvallis this evening anyhow. They said they couldn't get her out of the cage, so they brought her in the cage. I was late to pick up the kittens fixed at Heartland today. I was dismayed to see this huge unwieldy cage they'd hauled in the back of an open pickup. It was covered with a blanket. I didn't look at it because I had to get inside.

I was supposed to go trap at two locations tonight, so went out to get that cage out of my car and the cat out of it. The vet would never consider taking a cat in a cage like that. I could not believe they had not transferred her out to something. They had said it was because of their irresponsible neighbors not fixing their pets, but then they admitted to having at least one unfixed house cat themselves. So at that time, I began thinking, 'all is not as it seems'.

So I take off part of the blanket to try to get the cat out and realize this is a disgusting insecure rusty smelly awful cage. And I couldn't get the extremely traumatized kitty out of it. there were some torn stinky pieces of carboard on the bottom, reeking of cat urine, dirty litter and cat feces, too, which all spilled out into my car. It took me over an hour to get that cat out, because of the shape and condition of that awful cage.

They had said at first they could pet her, then she turned very mean and would attack them, but they thought it must be because there was a kitten dead in there somewhere. It was an awful thought to realize she'd suffered under such conditions for two weeks.

Already exhausted, I was now very angry that I'd had to put out so much more effort for these people and that now, it was too late to trap the other cats I was to take in tomorrow. If they wanted this cat fixed, it was thier job, not mine, to get her into something suitable. It was not up to me to do so much for them.

So I called them and told them just that. I'd spent over an hour getting that cat out of that awful cage and that they should have done that, this was not part of the deal. She started screaming at me and hung up on me, all outraged. Then I get the nasty e-mail.

I love the part of her angry e-mailing detailing my faults, that also says they were actually helping me with my quest, instead of me giving them my time, my money, my knowledge, my energy for free plus a free fix. I didn't realize, all these people wanting help with their cats, are actually doing me a big favor.

Anyhow, I finally told her I was sorry for yelling and she said she was sorry for yelling and both of us are extremely exhausted and need a vacation.

I did not go out and trap anymore tonight. I still had a million hungry kittens to feed, litterboxes to clean, etc. I'm just taking in the two tomorrow. Sure that's no good, with everyone totally stressed from kitten season. I talked to a KATA lady tonight who also blew up at someone, who wanted their cat fixed for free right now, that sort of thing. It's a huge issue for cat volunteers, the demeanment, abuse, and exploitation of people. We all go through it and we explode at people now and then, treating them like we are treated so often.

The shelters are in the public eye, get the donations, the publicity and the workers are paid. Management is very well paid often. The people out there trying to solve overpopulation on their own are a completely different crowd than the shelter workers and staff.

A completely different cup of tea, we are. You've never met such people. You've never met volunteers who work harder or sacrifice more. And yet, you never hear of us from the mainstream. We're ghosts, myths, urban legends. Nobody believes we exist or that anyone would sacrifice so much for their cause.

Conversely, when we are heard of, nothing is ever good enough. It's pathetic in so many ways, but the people I've met who do this, are unbelievable people, not ordinary in any sense of the word.

Are we crazy? Quite possibly. But who isn't in this world.

Who out there wants to send me on a vacation to a nice warm azure beach? Because I'll love you forever and have your name tattoed on my butt. I know, fat chance. Nobody has any money anymore.