Healing Hearts and Paws: The Emotional Journey of Animal Rescue

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Sharing pet stories that inspire and empower others to help animals in need. Joining your host, Julie Marty-Pearson is Amy Castro, founder of Starlight Outreach and Rescue. Together, we weave through the emotional narrative of animal rescue. We remember the pets that have carved out special places in our hearts, and Amy walks us through the turning points that propelled her from a volunteer to the helm of her own rescue organization.

This episode isn't just about the pets we've loved; it's about the complexity and responsibility that come with caring for our four-legged friends. She spotlights the importance of TNR programs and spaying/neutering to manage populations, sharing the story of Frenchie, the cat who represents the countless kittens born to feral mothers, and how we can intervene responsibly when we come across these vulnerable litters. From the challenges of returning unadopted dogs to shelters to the understanding of when to say no, we explore the full spectrum of emotions that come with volunteering and fostering. We leave you inspired to find your unique way to contribute, be it through fostering, volunteering, or simply spreading awareness. And remember, by subscribing and leaving a review, you help these stories reach others and contribute to the ever-growing community of animal lovers and advocates.

Amy Castro is a professional speaker, author, and pet industry expert who works with small businesses and large corporations to develop leaders, build great teams, and help both provide best-in class service to their customers. She's also founder and president of Starlight Outreach and Rescue, a 501c3 nonprofit animal rescue in the Houston area and the host of the rescue's podcast, Starlight Pet Talk. She lives on a 7 acre "rescue ranch" with her daughter kelsey who manages the day-to-day activities of the rescue. To learn more, follow Amy’s podcast on her Website, and follow on Instagram and Facebook.

Starlight Outreach and Rescue was founded in 2017 after the tragic death of 14-yea

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stories that I have collectedfrom around the world.

(00:27):
I hope you enjoy this episodeand I can't wait to share this
pet story with you.
Hello, my friends and fellowanimal lovers, welcome to
another episode of the Story ofmy Pet podcast.
I am your host, as always,julie Marty Pearson, and I'm
very excited to be episode ofthe Story of my Pet podcast.
I am your host, as always,julie Marty Pearson, and I'm

(00:48):
very excited to be here with anew guest to introduce you all
to.
Today I'm going to be speakingwith Amy Castro.
She is a professional speaker,author and pet industry expert
who works with small businessesand large corporations to
develop leaders, build greatteams and help both provide

(01:08):
best-in-class service to theircustomers all so important.
She's also founder andpresident of Starlight Outreach
and Rescue, a 501c3 nonprofitanimal rescue in the Houston
area, and the host of theRescue's podcast, starlight Pet
Talk.
She lives on a seven-acrerescue ranch and her daughter,

(01:30):
kelsey, who manages theday-to-day activities of the
Rescue.
Oh, so much fun stuff to talkabout.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Hello, amy, thank you for being here.
Hi Julie, Thank you for havingme.
I've been excited to talk toyou.
This is going to be a five-hourepisode, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
It'll be a miniseries in six parts.
Luckily for you guys, we'vealready been talking.
Amy and I are doing what wecall a podcast swap.
She just interviewed me for herpodcast Starlight Pet Talk, and
now she is coming here so thatI can interview her about all of

(02:07):
her incredible rescue work, andso I'm really excited for this
conversation, for you guys toget to know Amy and also learn a
little bit more about whatanimal rescue life really is
like.
As we often do here on theStory of my Pet, we like to
start off in the beginning.
Amy, were you always a petlover?
Did you have pets as a kid?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yes, I have always been a pet lover and yes, I had
pets as a kid.
I can remember, and I want tosay I was four years old, we had
just moved to a new house andmy dad's business partner who,
my dad, worked in New York City,his business partner lived in
New York City showed up withthis leather weird box and out

(02:50):
sprung this orange tabby cat.
Little did I know the cat wasprobably feral, or at least
borderline feral.
His name was Snippy, and a daydid not go by when that cat
didn't bite or scratch me, but Iadored him and so from then on
it's I don't care, I love youanyway and you will be my friend
.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
The tale is old as time.
They may bite us and scratch us, but we love them anyway.
That's right.
That's right.
Sounds like he prepared you fora life in animal rescue.
Yes, he did.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
He did.
Early on, I realized how, whento avoid a cat, when he was
telling you enough was enough,or at least I tried to.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
That is some really important information.
I think people don't realizeyou got to read the animal's
body language and do whatthey're asking you to do.
I'm sure you do a lot of that.
Yes, have you always been a catlady, or do you?
Are you a dog mom too?
Are you just happy to have anytype of pet in your life?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
older the ease and charm of a smaller animal like a
cat or a smaller dog.
We recently just had a150-pound Great Dame with a

(04:09):
broken leg.
Well, he was healing.
That was at my house and Irealized that is a lot of dog,
but as a young kid I like thebigger animals and horses.
I've always been a horse girltoo, so anything I can take,
anything that's around thatneeds my love, is going to get
it.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I understand we had a rescue possum at one point, so
I think we are each other'speople in that sense.
There you go.
So we talked a little bit aboutyour rescue Starlight, outreach
and Rescue.
So can you talk a little bitabout kind of the process of
getting that started, why youstarted and what the purpose is?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Sure.
So when I started, peoplealways have always said, oh, you
should start a rescue, becauseI'm always taking in and helping
animals, and I was volunteeringat my local municipal shelter
and had been for several yearswhen I got a text message

(05:37):
no-transcript.
These kind of things happen tome, but immediately I knew I was
going to start a rescue.
I was going to call itStarlight Outreach and Rescue.
I had the vision of what thelogo was going to look like.

(05:58):
That's how weird it was that itjust had to be done, and so
that was in October of 2017.
And by December we had our501c3 paperwork and our
incorporation done andeverything else it was a
mission-driven start for sureSounds like it.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's amazing, I think that a lot of times I
think in rescue and volunteeringwe get inspired by others Like
wow, they did that, I want to doit.
Or sometimes we lose someone orwe lose a pet.
That kind of ignites our wewant to help more.
So it sounds like that's reallyyou were doing the work already
as a volunteer, but thatexperience really pushed you to

(06:36):
start the rescue Right and Iforgot to mention Emma's middle
name because her brother hadasked to name the baby.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
and they said, yes, well, he wanted to name the baby
.
And they said, yes, well, hewanted to name the baby
Starlight.
And they were like, yeah, oh,how about the middle name?
So Emma's middle name wasStarlight and that's why it's
Starlight Outreach and Rescue,that's an amazing tribute.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
But also you wouldn't think necessarily that was
named after someone with such aunique middle name.
So I love that and I'm sure aliving legacy would mean so much
to her.
I hope so.
I'm sure it does.
Anybody who is an animal person, an advocate, a volunteer, all
of that, anything like that,would mean the world to them.

(07:16):
So that was your push toofficially start the rescue.
When you started, did you havea focus in mind of who you
wanted to help, what type ofanimal, or were you just getting
set up and then see where youwent?

Speaker 2 (07:32):
No, that's a good question.
I hadn't really even been hadthought about this, but we
really started off focusing onhelping that particular shelter
where I was volunteering.
So it started off on a smallscale because and many people
may not realize this when theyeither take an animal to a local
city shelter or pick up a strayanimal that all shelters are

(07:52):
different.
Ours happened to be a prettygood one in the grand scheme of
things, but from the standpointof fostering animals that can't
stay overnight in the shelter,like baby kittens or medical
treatment, most cities andcounties don't have budgets for
medical treatment for theseanimals and so, unfortunately,
they end up being euthanized.

(08:13):
So the original focus was tofoster animals that couldn't be
left alone at the shelter sothat they weren't euthanized,
providing medical treatments andcare so that animals couldn't
be euthanized.
And then we expanded and I knewin the back of my head that the
whole point of calling itStarlight Outreach and Rescue
versus just Starlight Rescue wasthat I knew that reaching out

(08:36):
to beyond that shelter, to thecommunity, was going to be a
part of our long-term mission,because education and helping
people on a one-on-one basis, Ithink, is the key to animals not
ending up in shelters andrescues in the first place.
So now we do it.
I wouldn't say we do it all,but we do work with local
shelters.
We do take animals in straightup as strays.

(08:59):
We do help owners with theirpets.
So it's an education, isanother big facet of our mission
with their pets.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
So it's an education is another big facet of our
mission.
Yeah, and I think in the animalworld rescue shelters education
is key because so many peoplehave pets and they have no idea
what animal rescue is, howshelters work and how each
shelter is different dependingon where their funding comes
from, and all of those thingsthat I have learned myself since
starting this podcast andgetting more involved.
That education is key becausepeople just don't realize the

(09:30):
ripple effect of a decision theymake about their own pet can
impact so many things.
Right?
So you talk about outreach.
So what way?
What exactly do you guys do interms of outreach to your
community?

Speaker 2 (09:43):
So we do.
We do public presentations, soI'll go to the library and do a
presentation that's open to thepublic.
One of the popular topics thatwe end up doing is what to do
when you find baby kittens,because too many times people
will come across a little bundleof kittens in there.
I've had them come out of woodpiles.
I've had them come out ofpeople's recycle bins, on a pile

(10:03):
of rags in the garage, andimmediately people look around
and say, oh, they're abandoned.
The moms I don't see the mom.
But what they don't realize ismother cats don't hang out with
their kittens all day long andthey may not need the rescuing,
but what they do is once theypull them and take them to a
shelter they've condemned is astrong word, but it is a strong
word condemn them to whateverthat future is going to be.

(10:25):
And shelters will ofteneuthanize them because they
don't have round-the-clock staffto take care of those.
So we end up with those inrescue, and it is a
round-the-clock job and it is alabor of love.
You've done it, I know, but youknow doing it times a thousand
is gets to be a lot, and so it'sso much better to just leave
them where you find them.
So we do things like that.

(10:45):
We do a lot of one-on-oneconsultations for lack of a
better term with people who willcall looking to surrender a pet
, and my first question, if theydon't make it quite obvious
from the beginning, is why doyou want to give up this dog?
Well, it's doing this or it'sdoing that.
And then the next thing I knowan hour has gone by with me
talking about problem solvingand troubleshooting, and I'm not

(11:10):
saying I've won them all, but Icertainly have had a lot of
people that have been like, oh,I'll try that or, oh, I hadn't
thought about that.
So that's part of the outreachis the education piece and then
also financial outreach.
We find that there arewonderful pet parents who, for
whatever reason, they're goingthrough tough times.
Somebody lost a job, they'velost a home you know their home
and they're now struggling toprovide either basic care or

(11:31):
extended medical care for theirpet.
And although I can't paysomebody's vet bills for the
rest of their lives, there aretimes where I can do a
fundraiser.
And one quick example was agentleman that had called us.
He wanted to surrender his dogbecause his dog had happy tail.
And if you're not familiar withwhat that is, it's when a dog
and it was a pity and I knowfrom the fact I've got a blind

(11:53):
pity in my house right now thatthat tail gets going hard and
fast.
If it whacks you in the leg ithurts.
And so this dog was such ahappy dog and wagging his tail
that he would whack it into thewalls and his tail literally
split open and would bleed, andit was.
Then it becomes a chroniccondition with blood flying all
over the house and the gentlemandidn't want to put his dog

(12:14):
outside but he could not affordthe surgery because basically
the solution is to amputate thetail because but after that
repeated injury it has it had tocome off.
And so you know, we did afundraiser in 30 minutes.
We raised the $500 or $600, Ithink.
It was to do that surgery sothat man could keep his dog.
And he still has his dog andhis kids still have their dog.

(12:35):
We've also had animals that havegotten hit by a car and it's
like the people are there whensomebody calls me and they're
willing to surrender their petso that the pet can have a
chance at a better life or alife at all willing to surrender
their pet so that the pet canhave a chance at a better life
or a life at all.
That to me.
I'm going to go out of my wayto help you.
It's a little bit harder whensomebody's I'm moving and I
can't take my pet.
Really, what apartment buildingcould you not find that

(12:56):
wouldn't take a pet?
I have a little harder timewith that.
I don't say that, of course,but if you're willing to give up
your pet for its betterinterest, I'm going to try to
help you.
So that's another element ofoutreach that we do.
We also do trap-doodle-returnwhere it's legal around us for
kittens, cats that are communitycats, like you mentioned.
In California we don't reallyhave that and, as a matter of
fact, in many municipalitiesit's actually illegal to have

(13:17):
cats at large, very unlikely tobe enforced because nobody will
ever claim that's their cat.
But we try to help reduce thosecat populations by spaying and
neutering the cats and thenreturning them to where they
came from.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, tnr is so important, no matter what your
situation is in your area.
I had mentioned to her that inCalifornia cats are considered
free roaming, so shelters cannottake them in as strays because
they're not considered such.
So they can only take cats inif they're sick or injured or,
as like you mentioned, kittenswho are too young to take care

(13:51):
of themselves come into theshelter system.
But unfortunately, because ofthat, we have rampant
communities of feral cats in alot of areas and trap neuter
return is so important because,gosh, you have a handful of cats
in one area.
That's going to become hundredsreally quick Hundreds, yeah
Well.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
And people, the poor people who are trying to feed
and care for those cats as bestthey can.
It's always some nice personwho starts off.
Oh, this kitty wandered into myyard so I started feeding it,
then it brought a friend, thenit brought her husband, then it
brought her significant other,cousin, whatever it is.
Next thing you know they've got50 cats they're feeding and
then they're breeding likewildfire and it gets out of
control really fast.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
So yeah, a lot of times I think people don't
realize how young cats can beimpregnated.
They can be six months old andbe pregnant, and that's actually
really dangerous.
And one of our cats, frenchie,our middle child at the time, at
right now she was actually thebaby of a feral that hung out in
our yard a lot and then shemoved her litter, but

(14:47):
unfortunately Frenchie didn'tmake the trip, didn't?
make the cut she got stuckbetween our fence and our
neighbor's fence, oh wow.
So here comes little Frenchiecoming out.
Once I opened the fence and,yeah, now you all know how that
story ended.
We heard her at first, we knewthere was a mom.
We waited, we watched.
We heard her at first, we knewthere was a mom.

(15:08):
We waited, we watched.
We didn't see the mom again fora whole 24 hours.
She continued to cry.
We're like, ok, we got to stepin and help her because she
can't take care of herself.
But I think that's an importantthing no matter what the
situation in your area is whenit comes to cats, if you find a
litter of kittens that areobviously too young to be on
their own, don't just grab themand go.
So what would you say tosomeone who finds a litter of

(15:30):
kittens in their yard, in theirarea?
Some tips of what to do andwhat not to do right away.
Well, I think identifying abouthow.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Obviously you're not going to know the exact age for
kittens and I won't waste timegoing into all the at this age
this happens or whatever but youcan certainly go out on the
internet there's plenty.
Even if you just search images,there are a lot of great charts
.
It'll show you.
This is what the kitten wouldlook like and this is about how
old it is, and based on the age,you can usually figure out a
newborn.
Anything under a month old,anything under two weeks old

(16:02):
probably needs round-the-clockfeeding.
Beyond that it gets to be.
It's like a human baby, right.
As they get older it spreadsout a little bit further.
So, being able to estimate theage and knowing, like you said,
if that kitten was teeny, tinythat you found and it had been
24 hours that's a long time forit to go without eating and if
mom hadn't come back by then youneed to intervene like you did

(16:23):
and you did the right thing.
But one of the things that Ifind really helpful that I tell
people to do is just take someflour whatever kind of flour you
have in your house and put aring of flour around where the
kittens are and then go awaybecause mom's unlikely to come.
If it's a stray or a feral cat,she's probably not going to
come just moseying up.
Because think about it from herperspective If she makes a

(16:45):
beeline to those babies, she'sshowing predators exactly where
those babies are and as far asshe knows, you're a predator
Right.
Put that flower around, go backin the house and then wait
again a proportionate amount oftime based on the age of the
kittens, and then if you don'tsee any little paw prints in
there, then yes, you mightconsider taking them in.
But consider too at least inTexas, consider too what you're

(17:05):
going to do with them once youdo that.
Because I know I was naivebefore I started volunteering.
The very first cat that I found, that kind of started my whole
fostering process was a kitten Ifound and I thought, oh, my vet
has rescue kittens there in herlobby, I can just go drop this
kitten off.
And folks, it doesn't work likethat and you'll be surprised

(17:26):
how many times you'll be turneddown by a rescue or even
shelters, depending upon whereyou live to take that animal.
So you might become thatanimal's caregiver and now
you've taken that responsibility.
So think about that for sure.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yes, I've seen that happen in my area at the shelter
.
I worked there part-time forabout six months doing adoption
events for them, and some ofthat before I got started.
I would sit in the front officeand help, but I would observe
what they were dealing with anda lot of people would come in
with a cat or a kitten andthey'd be like well, how long
have you had it?
Well, I started feeding it andI had it for three days.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Okay, well, legally, that cat is yours now it's the
same in Texas, three days andit's yours.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
You have to be aware of that, obviously, but you also
have to be aware that whenyou're taking a kitten or a
litter of kittens you've found,you've done your due diligence.
Mom hasn't come back, whateverit may be.
I think this also you mentionedis when you take them to a
shelter.
Most shelters cannot care forunderage kittens because one
they don't have staff 24-7.

(18:24):
So most shelters like mine andI think yours is those kittens
have to go immediately to foster, otherwise they could possibly
be euthanized Right?
Could you talk a little bitabout your experience with being
a part of that kind of processand how your rescue helps or
what people need to understandbetter about that?

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, well, what's interesting now is as far as how
this whole process works.
It's so different than the waythat it worked a couple of years
ago and this could be a wholenother episode talking about the
no kill movement.
But the concept of no kill isgreat.
I would love it if a day wouldcome along where animals healthy
, adoptable animals were noteuthanized in shelters.
The dilemma in Texas is the.

(19:06):
It's just there are too many.
And so what shelter?
What our municipal shelters aretrying to do?
Nobody wants to be the bad guy.
That is like you referred to, akill shelter.
So everybody's trying to eitherbe no kill or achieve a level
of live release which isgenerally going to be over 90
percent.
So 90 percent of the thingsthat come in here go out here

(19:27):
alive.
The ripple effect of that is, inorder to do that, what shelters
are now having to do is tellyou, no, they can't take those
kittens.
Tell you, no, they can't takeyour grandma's dog when your
grandma passed away.
And so now you turn to rescues.
Well, we're now taking in allthe animals that they're saying
no to, plus the strays on thestreet, because even in Texas

(19:49):
I'm still shocked about thisthat many of our municipal city
shelters in the Houston area.
If you call and say hey,there's this German Shepherd
running up and down my street orwhatever kind of dog it is,
they'll say we're full, we can'tpick it up, so it's left to
roam the streets and get hit bya car or whatever happens to it.
Or you end up responsible forit as the person who found it
and I get a lot of actually veryangry people that will call me

(20:12):
and they'll say I tried callingthe shelter and they said they
wouldn't.
I pulled over on the side ofthe road and picked up this dog
and I'm thinking to myself Ihate to say this, but I'm
thinking that's her firstmistake, because it's not a
mistake.
It's just so awful that we haveto think that way, I know, but
it's like the shelter's notgoing to take it.
The rescues are full and overand bursting at their seams, and
good luck with that.

(20:32):
This is tough.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
This is a very important conversation because I
know, just before I met you andtalked to you, that Texas has a
lot of the same issues that wedo with overpopulation and
crowded shelters and stray dogsand all the things.
Yeah, and people hear this nokill and they're like, well, why
aren't you no kill or aren'tyou no kill and why can't we be

(20:55):
no kill?
And they just have this idea ofwhat that means, and so I can
from my own experience where Ilive.
There are three shelters in mycounty.
Two are what we call killshelters, because one is run by
the city and one is run by thecounty.
Therefore, they are mandated.
They can only hold so manyanimals at one time.
So what happens is, if there'snowhere for them to go, they

(21:15):
have to be euthanized to makeroom for the new animals coming
in, which they have new onesevery single day, yeah, and so
that's why they have to becalled that, because they're
only able to save so many.
We have a third that is a SPCA.
That is no kill, but, like yousaid, they are no kill because
they can say no to whoever theywant to.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
That's why they're no kill, no-transcript think it's

(22:15):
interesting to me for people whowill say, well, I only want to
adopt from a no kill place andI'm like you should be looking
for the kill place.
That's where you're saving alife You're not saving, Come to.
I will tell people flat out golook at your local shelter.
If you haven't checked therefirst, and then, if you don't
find what you're looking for,come back to us at the rescue,
because these animals that arehere are not going anywhere ever

(22:36):
Like.
They will live here for therest of their lives.
Now it may stop me from bringingin more animals, because I can
only put so many animals.
Even if I stack them to theceiling.
There's, like you said, there'sstill a line more animals that
probably need to come in.
But yeah, the whole no killthing is a.
It's a sticky situation andit's very much up to, like you

(22:56):
said, interpretation.
It's easy to be no kill.
We've got facilities aroundhere, large ones that will only
take owner surrenders.
No strays will not take anybully breeds or even anything
that looks like a bully breed.
Well then, that does make iteasier for you, because those
are going to be easier to adoptout than the ones that are poor.
I can say all kinds of badthings about the municipal

(23:17):
shelter where I worked at, andthat's why I don't name it, but
what I will say is it's hard tobe no kill when you're mandated
to pick up those strays thatpeople call about Like you have
to.
That's the law, and so whereare you going to put it?
Somebody's got to go.
It's unfortunate, so they'vegot to go out the door one way
or the other.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
And obviously the first ones to be euthanized if
they're very sick and they can't.
They always look at injury andillness and sickness and things
like that first.
They look at behavior.
Obviously, if animals come inthat spit someone or whatever,
but I think a lot of peoplethink that's all that are in
shelter.
There are amazing hundreds andthousands of amazing dogs in
shelters everywhere that haveended up there because they were

(24:01):
lost, because their persondidn't take care of them,
because they dumped them whenthey were moving or whatever.
Or it was a breeder who wastrying to make money.
No one bought the puppy, sothey dumped them on the street.
There's so many ways they endup there.
Oh yeah, but I think whatyou're saying is my shelters,
the ones that have to take instrays they're full of pit bull
mixes, german shepherds, huskies, all these dogs that are big

(24:28):
dogs that take a lot of time andtraining and cost a lot to feed
.
That's why they end up there isbecause people get over their
heads and they can't take careof them, or they're a breed that
people think are bad justbecause of what they look like.
That just stacks up againstthem more and more of the
shelter being able to adopt out?

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah Well, and rescues, rescues face the same
challenges.
There are a lot of rescues.
Rescues are a funny businessand people can be.
I don't know if it's acombination of competitive judgy
with each other, whatever itmight be, but you'll see some
people complaining about acertain rescue because they only
take in little fluffy dogs orthey only take in this, and I
never thought much of it until,as you know, as we've gone on

(25:04):
with the rescue and you get tothe, as somebody is requesting
for you to take something in,one of the thoughts is going to
be how quickly can I turn thisanimal around?
How long is this?
The cat with the ringworm?
I've got an entire building.
It's a small building, but I'vegot an entire building that is
being occupied by now by one catand her five kittens because

(25:26):
they have ringworm.
And normally I could probablyput 15 animals out there.
I didn't know they had ringwormwhen they first came in and I
used to take in anything andeverything.
But then you realize when youdo that I'm now condemning 14
other animals because they'reit's a mom and baby, so they're
only in one kennel out there.
But now I can't put 14 otheranimals in there.

(25:47):
So I have to say no and leavethose animals on the street.
And it's weeks and weeks thatthis mom and her babies are
going to be there, whereas ifthey were healthy and they
didn't have ringworm, I couldput them out with my other cats
in my other cat room and thenI'd have room for 15 animals in
there.
If you're smart in rescue, Ithink a lot of rescues get
themselves in over their heads,but I try to be smart and

(26:13):
realize that, yeah, I might notbe that person that is helping a
thousand animals a year,because we're a very small
rescue, but I'm going to do adarn good job of helping the
three or four hundred and doingright by them, because that's
what I can manage.
You want to give me anotherthousand fosters?
If I get another thousandvolunteers that want to come and
take those pit bulls into theirhouses, great.
But since I have none that willtake dogs right now, they're
all in my house.
There's only so many I can havehere.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
I think that is so important.
First of all, it's a dominoeffect, depending on who you're
taking in, what their needs areand how much it costs, and the
needs that they have.
But also, so importantly, whatyou're saying, because I've
heard this from so many people Iknow in rescue, where I live
and other places is fostering iskey.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, it's huge.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Rescues survive and can save more animals with
fosters.
If they have no new fosters andadoptions are slow, obviously
you're stuck.
You can't move more animals in.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow fosters work with you and
what that's and why it'simportant for you to have them?

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah well, I think one of the things that and I'm
sure there's probably a lot ofrescues that are like this, but
one of the things that I thinkwe do that makes fostering easy
which sort of boggles my mind asto why I don't have more
fosters than I have is that weprovide everything.
If a foster calls me up andsays they want a certain type of
nipple for a baby bottle forthe babies that they've got, I

(27:31):
will have it on their porch thenext day.
Our rescue.
We don't believe that thefoster, they're already giving
their time, their love, theirenergy.
We don't want them to have tospend money out of their own
pocket and so we'll provideeverything that you need.
I also think that we do areally good job of determining
what the level of commitment isgoing to be time-wise and

(27:51):
matching that to you and yourschedule, and so I'm never going
to leave a foster with.
I told you it was going to betwo weeks, but now you've still
got this animal six months later.
Now, if you want to keep theanimal, but once that two weeks
is up, I'm going to call you andsay would you like to continue
to keep the animal, becauseobviously we haven't found an
adopter or it still needs thismedical treatment.
But in order to be able to dothat, I have to leave a spot

(28:19):
here at the rescue ranch forthat animal to come back.
If you decide, you did your twoweeks and God love you you did
what you said you were going todo and I appreciate that, and so
I think that's something thatrescues do.
That hurt themselves sometimesis that they don't plan
accordingly and so they tellsomebody, hey, julie, it's going
to be two weeks, and then theyleave you stuck and that sounds
terrible, stuck with an animal,and now you have to cancel your
vacation or you've got to paysomebody to come and babysit it

(28:40):
while you're gone.
And then you think twice beforeyou do it again the next time
around.
We try to provide our fosterswith everything, everything that
they need.
I also try not to give anyreally heavy duty medical cases,
especially if I think theanimal might pass away to
fosters, because a lot of peopleI've had that happen before,
not even intentionally.
I had a lady that one time tooka litter of kittens and they

(29:02):
passed away one by one over timeand despite going to the vet
and everything else, and shenever fostered again, and I get
it.
The whole dying thing is reallytough.
So I think, making it as easyas possible, we provide all
training that the person needs.
I'll literally deliver theanimal to their house.
Once I get used to it, thenit's like more hey, can you come
pick it up?
Or I'll drop these kittens offand you take them at the door.

(29:25):
But if it's somebody's firsttime doing bottle fed kittens,
for example, I'm going to makesure that you get that training
and I'm going to show you how todo it.
Make sure you have all yoursupplies so that helps, but
still we don't have enough,especially on the dog front, for
whatever reason.
So fosters are the key and Ithink there's a lot of
motivation for people to foster.
If you find the rightorganization to foster with, I

(29:46):
think you need to.
As much as an organization willmake you fill out an
application and maybe go throughan interview or whatever their
process is.
I think we need to do, asvolunteers do, our due diligence
in investigating theorganizations.
How does that work?
What happens if I need to givethe animal back, asking lots of
questions?
What's provided so that youknow that you're getting in with
a reputable rescue that's goingto support you in that process.

(30:09):
I think that's an importantthing for volunteers.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Yeah, I think that's so important.
Not only getting to know thepeople who work in the rescue,
like yourself.
Speaking to other people whohave fostered for them is a good
way to get a sense.
Did they take care of this?
Did they respond to you rightaway?
Because I have heard of peoplefostering and then they're like
left in the lurch.
They have this animal, they'renot responding, they don't have
what they need and that's likeyou said.

(30:34):
It's not going to make themwant to foster again.
So it is important to set yourfosters up for success and it
sounds like that's exactly whatyou do and anyone considering
fostering investigate theshelters, the rescues, whoever
you're considering, learn whatyou can yourself, ask the right
questions and just get yourselfprepared, because those animals

(30:55):
need you.
But we want to set you up forsuccess so that you come back
again and not the opposite.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Exactly and also thinking about.
Sometimes fosters, especiallywith their first couple of
animals, get super, superattached.
So I always try to encourageindividuals and telling their
children for those who havechildren that are going to be
involved in the process I saidjust tell them that this is Miss
Amy's kitty cat and you'regoing to watch Miss Amy's kitty
cat for two weeks while she'sout of town, or these puppies

(31:20):
are, so that they don't.
It's a little bit easier togive them up because the whole
foster fail and I know there's anicer word for that people have
come up with but basically afoster fail is when you take in
that foster and then you fall inlove with it and you decide you
want to keep it.
The dilemma is, on one hand,great, I got an adoption.
On another hand, great.
I lost a foster, because nowyou're preoccupied with your own

(31:42):
puppy and this pipeline can getbottled up and backed up pretty
quickly if people just adopteverything that comes through
their house.
So it's important to thinkabout it as you're part of the
pipeline.
You're just part of thisprocess of getting that animal
to its forever home, not beingits forever home.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Right, I think that's so important.
I think a lot of people fear,like well, they're going to want
me to keep it.
Actually, no, we need fostersto, like you said, be the middle
point from the rescue to theforever home.
If you're considering adoptingand you want to do a foster to
adopt, those are also availabletoo, from rescues as well as
from shelters.

(32:21):
A lot of times shelters willsay yes to a foster, to
potential adopter, because thatstill gets one cage open at the
shelter and they know you'reconsidering it.
But you want a test drive sortof situation and sometimes you
need that if you have other pets.
You want to see how they do,because how especially a dog,
how animals behave in sheltersis not actually how they are.

(32:41):
They're in a very differentsituation.
So, yeah, fosters are soimportant, but I think, like you
said, if you really want to bea foster that's going to
continue to help, you don't wantthem adopting everything that
comes Right.
I would never tell somebody.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, I would never tell somebody no if they truly
wanted to adopt it.
But I know that when I firststarted volunteering at the
shelter and I thought it was agreat rule it was told to us
right at orientation that youmay not adopt anything for the
first six months of volunteering.
And I don't know that sixmonths is a magic timeline.
I think it's more of a don'tfall in love with the first

(33:16):
thing, you fall in love withkind of thing and what I have
learned, having I havepersonally fostered and I'm not
necessarily even counting the 25or 30 cats that are in my cat
room.
I'm talking about when I hadthem in my house and I'm
personally providing theday-to-day care.
I fostered more than 4,000animals and I remember the first
ones, the 4,000 animals, and Iremember the first ones.
The first ones were basicallynamed after the chipmunks and it
was near Christmas time andwhatever else, and I remember

(33:37):
those kittens and I rememberthinking how am I going to ever
give these guys up Becausethey're so special and you know
what?
There's been hundreds of sospecials along the way, even to
this day I'll have somebody comethrough.
I just adopted out a Frenchbulldog and it was like I think
I might need to keep her becauseshe's so special.
And yes she is.
She's super special and she'sprobably even getting more

(33:59):
special love and attention ather new mom's house than she
does here.
And guess what?
Tomorrow there'll be anothersuper special.
It's amazing how many wonderfulanimals there are that just
touch your heart.
And just when you think youcouldn't like or love anything
more, here comes this other guyor gal and it's pretty amazing
the animals that you get to havein your life when you foster
and volunteer in this way,absolutely.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
I know having done dog adoption events.
There were so many dogs that Iwas like, oh my God.
I want to take you home andhaving to take them back to the
shelter after an event and theyweren't adopted, it just broke
my heart to put that sweet dogback in a cage and know
uncertain of their fate.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Luckily I have a husband who can say no to me.
Yeah, because if I hadn't, Iprobably would have adopted
several dogs during that timethat I connected with.
We took out time and time again.
They were amazing dogs, theywere so sweet.
We took out time and time again.
They were amazing dogs, theywere so sweet.
Inevitably I knew I wasn't theplace for them, no matter what
happened.
That we have to learn to say no, no matter how much we want to
help.
And if fostering is where youcan help, but short term, and

(35:02):
you can do it when it works,just realize that's a huge
impact.
You just have to find yourplace in the world because I
think, like you said, it can beso overwhelming.
You want to save all of them,but you have to do what works
for you.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah, and with most rescues, I'm sure with all
rescues.
If fostering, if you feel likeI just couldn't handle that,
then don't foster.
Do something else.
Do their social media.
I have people that come outActually, I've got two, I would
love to have seven so only oneperson had to come out once a
week that comes out here to therescue ranch and takes care of
the kitty cats here.
So they don't have them attheir home, they don't have to

(35:35):
have someone transporting them.
It just it allows me to focuson the other animals, because
we've got horses, we've gotdonkeys, we've got the sick
animals.
Just volunteering at a facility, volunteering at events, like
you did, that's a huge help.
There's so many jobs that couldbe done and the more that we
spread those out, the more itallows the people who are

(35:56):
running the rescue to focus onthe day-to-day running or the
future of the rescue.
Where are we going?
That kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, I think it's so important because rescues are,
it's all through donations, it'sall through volunteer time that
if opening your home to afoster isn't what's going to
work, like you said, go to theirfacility and help.
Help them with social media,help them with newsletters, help
them with calling, whatever itis.
There's so many ways that youcan help a rescue and if you're
not sure, just contact them andsay I want to help, but I can

(36:23):
only do this and they'll be likegreat do it.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yeah, I'll give you a list of things.
We've got people like we've gota lady that her and she gets
involved sometimes in otherthings, but her primary
volunteer is volunteer job is tokeep an eye on our Google forms
when the volunteer applicationscome in, and then she sends a
welcome email and then shefollows up on their training and
then when they get ready to go,then she passes them to me and
I do my part.
And we've got a lady thatfollows up on spays and neuters
to make sure those appointmentsare happening, for because

(36:54):
sometimes we adopt out animalsthat are not old enough to be
neutered, but we don't want tohang on to them for five months,
so we get them into their home,but we want to make sure they
get spayed and neutered, and sowe've got a lady that follows up
on those appointments if theyget missed, or something like
that, to make sure that theyhappen.
So there's a lot of jobs thatdon't even take a lot of effort.
But, boy, it's just one extrathing for me not to have to
remember or to stay on top of,because, like you, I wear

(37:17):
multiple hats the podcast, I'vegot a business, I'm running the
rescue.
It's a big help.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, I think with animal rescue there's always
something else that could bedone and they don't have time
for or whatever it may be.
So just ask.
Just many rescues like Amy'shave volunteer forms on their
websites or a little contact usand fill out info, let them know
and if you don't hear back fromthem right away, don't worry.
Sometimes it'll take a coupleof weeks, depending on how busy

(37:43):
they are and how much help, butthey'll get back to you and
they'll let you know how you canhelp them, because they all
need something, trust me,definitely.
So, as we're coming to theclose of our time together, I
want to first say thank you forsharing your experience and
sharing some really great infoand education for the listeners.
But in this last few minutes,if there was one thing you

(38:03):
wanted people to know about theworld of animal rescue right now
, what is something that youwould want to put forth to
people, either a way they canhelp or what you really want
them to understand about animalrescue and what's going on in
the world I would say two things, because one is geared towards
the person who's not necessarilygoing to physically get

(38:24):
involved in rescue.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
But you know, just if you love animals, you know,
find out, find a local rescue,find a local shelter and support
them in whatever way you can.
If it's financial, great.
I love my check writers, I lovemy Facebook donors We've got
them from all over the place.
If you can physically getinvolved, even better.
But do you know, look for anopportunity to do something to

(38:45):
show the love to those animals,because that's what helps keep
rescues going.
Animals, because that's whathelps keep rescues going.
Otherwise, it's very easy.
For those of us who are doingthis and living this, it really
takes over your whole life,which kind of transitions into
my next piece.
For those people who are eitherinvolved in rescue or thinking
about it is that you think it'sgoing to be like this activity

(39:05):
that I do in my part time.
But when you decide to getdeeply involved in rescue, it
really becomes the primary thingover everything else.
And that can be a good thing ora bad thing.
And I think one of the thingsthat you can do to maintain your
physical and emotional healthand to keep the rescue going is

(39:25):
to learn when to say no and whento put limits on your
activities, because I know forus we've had times, and it was
probably post-COVID.
My husband passed away fromCOVID in 2020.
And after that it was like Idon't know.
We just were a little out ofour minds, I think, to a certain
degree, and my daughter wasreally geared towards we need to
bring our numbers up, we needto help more animals and we need

(39:47):
to look better.
Look like we're growing andshe'd be out at our fence and we
live on a dead end, dirt road,taking animals over the fence at
two in the morning andcompletely overwhelming
ourselves, and so you can't livelike that.
So you have to learn to createsome parameters, and we did.
We literally created someguidelines as to when and what
we can take in so that we cankeep going, because otherwise

(40:09):
you just burn out.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
I think that's so important because I've heard it
from so many people, I've seenit myself, I felt it myself.
I'm sure now is real and it canhappen really quickly in animal
rescue because, no matter howbad this day is and how
overwhelming it is, tomorrowthere's going to be a new one,
and tomorrow there's going to bemore, and they're going to need
fosters and you're going toneed this, and I think
boundaries are so important.

(40:31):
It's very hard for people inanimal rescue.
Because you love animals somuch, you want to help every
single one, but, like you said,if you burn out, then you're not
helping any.
That's right.
So I think one thing is toprepare yourself for that, but I
also think it is to realize whywe need to support animal
rescue workers and shelterworkers, because they are doing
it day in, day out.
They get no break from it.

(40:52):
They are the worst of the worstevery day.
So give them some space,appreciate what they're doing
for your community, help themany way you can.
Like you said, if you can't doit in person, one thing social
media Well, thank you, amy.
I think you've given us somereally great tips, really great
information to hopefully inspiremore people to get involved

(41:15):
with rescue, to help byfostering or volunteering, and
the more the merrier, as we allsay, definitely.
And thank you, amy, for sharingyour story of getting involved
in rescue and what you'velearned, and just thank you in
general for everything you do tohelp save animals on a daily
basis.
Rescue workers are amazing andI appreciate you so much and I

(41:37):
just want to come visit you andpet your donkey because I love
donkeys.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I've just become obsessed.
I've got three Even better yeah.
No, and thank you for doingthis show, and I know you do so
much for animals as well, sothank you for what you do.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
And thank you so much for having me on the show to be
able to share our story.
Thank you, my friend, for beinghere and listening to this
episode of the Story of my Petpodcast.
I hope you were inspired andtouched by this amazing pet
story and I hope you come backto touched by this amazing pet
story and I hope you come backto listen to more episodes soon.
Make sure you don't miss anynew episodes by clicking
subscribe wherever you arelistening to this podcast right
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(42:23):
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Thank you so much for beinghere and much love to you and
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