Cat rescue is one of those things, where you start and you’re committed for life. Whether my family is helping at a Friday night adoption event at the Petsmart or on vacation helping socialize feral kittens, we’re always trying to help cats. Ask any regular Lost Dog and Cat volunteer and they’ll tell you how helping animals is a part of their life.

In fact, you can almost find animal lovers anywhere you go. For instance, in Cape May, New Jersey, where we vacation, we always meet other animal lovers. A lot of the vacationers/tourists will bring their dogs and sometimes they will even bring their cats.

Cape May also has a large population of feral cats. There are people and TNR programs, which will trap, neuter and release as many of the feral cats as they can. They will release the mothers back where they came from, and adopt out the young kittens out.

There have been many summers where we have seen the feral cats, kittens and even stray cats. This summer we ran into two stray cats. They were in front of a house on Page Street, and on the steps there was a plate with food for the cats.

My parents began talking to the people at the house, Ron and Shelia, and learned that these cats had been hanging around for the past three weeks. They didn’t know whether they were stray or possibly belonged to the man around the corner, Harry, who has 11 cats. Neither of the cats had collars or identification tags, so it was very possible that they had no home. Shelia and Ron had been trying to get in contact with the man around the corner to find out if they were his. One of the cats was a beautiful calico and the other was a tuxedo torby. They thought the tuxedo cat was Harry’s cat Pokey. They were in love with both of the cats and wanted to take them back to their other home in Pennsylvania.

It was then that my family and I had started discussing that if Shelia and Ron didn’t take the cats home, that maybe we would. The urge to rescue any cats you find must run through your blood after you join a rescue group. It didn’t matter that we were rescuing cats in New Jersey rather than in Virginia. If you love animals and have a chance to change their lives for the better, it’s something you just feel you have to do.

While my mom and I were out and about in the town, we ran into Harry. We asked him if he knew who the two cats were. He told us that they were Cali and Joey and they in fact did have a home around the corner from Page Street. This story is one of the many examples of why cats should always wear collars and ID tags. It was a good thing that we ran into Harry, because the cats could’ve almost had a home in Pennsylvania or Virginia.

Another time while my mom and I were out in the town, we met a lady who owns a photography shop. After discussing a picture she had of a cat, we found out that she is very involved in rescuing cats. She told us that she had trapped a litter of feral kittens and that if we wanted to come by and see them it would be fine. That is just what we did. My family spent at least two hours playing with the feral kittens.

Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation has been a big part of my life for the past five years. I know that cat rescue will always continue to have a part in my life, because my passion is animals and making sure that they find the best home possible.