Waiting List

So, I've gotten a lot of emails from people lately... people who are on the waiting list, asking if we have room.  Now, I totally realize, they don't know how things go on here, and they don't know if I'm on top of things or not (and let's be honest... that depends what "things" we're talking about, lol!), so there's never any harm in asking.

Though there is one thing I will tell you, and that is this -- the waiting list is something that I am typically very on top of, because I understand what it's like to be on a list, and waiting around for someone to get back to you.  I get it!  You sit there and wonder, did they forget?  Are you still on the list?

And I think it's even worse with our list, because there's no set time frame.  Like if you're waiting for a puppy, well, you know when the puppies are anticipated to be born and you know hey you should be getting a call soon after that.  With our list, well, it's all dependent on adoptions.  If a ton happen, the waiting list can move quickly... if they don't, it moves slowly.

It's actually been almost amusing, because I heard from 3 people on the list... the people numbered 1, 2, 3, in that order, actually.  And unfortunately at the moment, I don't have room for them.  We don't have any open cages, and right now we have a lot here in terms of rats and other animals that are taking up spare cages and spare floor room as well.  Did you know we have 9 rats here right now?  We do!  We also have all our guinea pig cages full, and one of those was a pregnant female that had some babies!  So, we've got our hands full!

This year, also, I am doing my absolute best to not get overwhelmed.  With a lot of people wanting to surrender animals and a lot of people on the waiting list, I can practically feel the weight of people wanting to bring their animals in.  And I get it, they want help finding their animals homes, because they don't think they are the best thing for them at the moment.  I get it.  I want to help.  But... I also cannot do what I've done so many times in the past, and get in way over my head, with animals in every nook and cranny downstairs... it has to be reasonable.  Even with help, there's still only so many hours in the day and so much to do.  I've before made it so that there were so many cages downstairs that you couldn't easily move around, we couldn't easily get the cart around.  Should some emergency arise, I'm not saying I wouldn't help out, if I could.  But for the average person that just needs to surrender their chins cause they don't have time... it can wait.  And if it can't, well, then that person can explore their other options (which I'm happy to provide them with names of other rescues), but I can't overload myself.  It's not good for me, or the animals. 

You may have noticed, we've been listing a wider variety of used cages for sale and actually a lot of random stuff for sale -- this is also intentional, with the not overwhelming thing.  When we get in a lot of animals, it gets cluttered very easily downstairs.  It's great, like GREAT to get stuff in with the animals, but also, when there's a lot of animals and a lot of stuff, the clutter can become a bit much too... it all has to go somewhere!  So, before we even think of setting up additional cages, or allowing for someone with a cage to bring their chin, we are clearing out some of the currently used space here.  Having less clutter creates for a better environment for all of us.

So, I know this post has gone on and on a bit... but the general gist if you've been skimming is this -- we will call when we have room -- don't ever worry that we've forgotten you, if you're on our waiting list -- but if we have not called, likely we do not have room.  Though of course you are welcome to check.