Once upon a time, a girl had just moved into her apartment on the north side of Chicago, and wanted…read moreto fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a crazy cat lady. To do this, she needed to adopt some cats. Two cats, to be exact.
Knowing that a big city like Chicago had an abundance of animals in need, she figured this task would be an easy one. However, try as she did, the various shelters she contacted in Chicago failed to return her phone calls and emails in a timely fashion, or at all. She had, however, contacted PetsConnect in Indiana, and although it was a two hour drive from her apartment, the girl's eagerness to adopt, combined with the friendliness of the volunteers of the nonprofit organization and their timely response led to the girl driving all the way to South Bend to meet the kitties.
And what wonderful kitties they were. Young ones, old ones, brown ones, black ones, striped ones, solid ones, cats with extra toes, cats that were missing eyes, cats that had been abandonned, lovey cats and lonely cats. The organization was not a formal shelter in one location, but rather, a volunteer-run organization that rescued animals from shelters and fostered by volunteers who cared for the animals in their homes. The volunteers of the organization rescued not only cats, but dogs and other small animals as well. All of the animals had names and histories that the volunteers were all too happy to share.
The girl met with one woman whose whole garage was devoted to housing rescued cats, and even though this might sound strange, the space was ideal for the animals--heated, clean, with plenty of space and toys. Even better was that all of the animals had been checked out by a vet, had their shots and were spayed and microchipped. The girl was able to take as much time as she needed to meet and spend time with the kitties, and the volunteer made sure that she had a firm grasp of the cats' personalities and the responsibilities pet owning entailed. Additionally, the organization's policy is one that they ask that the animals be returned to them in the event that they must ever be surrendered, lessening the likelihood that the animals would ever become homeless again. Ultimately, the girl would adopt her two kitties, rejoicing in her decision to drive all the way to South Bend, IN.
Naturally, her and her kitties lived happily ever after.