“Thanks for coming,” Taylor said as she took off her glasses and pushed back from the desk. She had on a black T-shirt with the shelter’s logo on the front and gray jeans.
“Well, I’m not promising to foster the pregnant dog, but you might be able to convince me to take a lower-maintenance one,” I told her. “And I’m glad to see the shelter anyway. I’ve never been here before.”
“I’m pretty proud of it,” Taylor said. “Jeri—the manager—and I have worked hard to make it as comfortable as possible for the animals who’re waiting for homes and a positive experience for potential adopters. Want a quick tour?”
“I’d love one,” I told her.
“Great, because I love giving them.” She smiled at me as she led the way out of her office, closing the door behind her to keep her dogs inside.
I glimpsed Minnie’s tragic expression as the door closed in her face. “I think you just broke her heart.”
“She’s dramatic,” Taylor said, rolling her eyes playfully. “But she can’t come into any of the areas where the adoptable pets are. It gets them all worked up.” She led the way back through the lobby to a door on the other side. When she opened it, a loud meow echoed through the room. “That’ll be Oscar. He likes attention.”
I found myself facing a glass wall, through which I could see various cat perches and even an oversized armchair, currently occupied by an orange cat who was watching us intently. Taylor opened a glass door and let us into the cat enclosure. I counted about ten cats inside, all different sizes and colors.
“Do they all get along?” I asked.
“Right now, they do,” Taylor told me. “When we have someone who doesn’t like to hang out with the group, we have a couple of individual enclosures we can set up in the lobby so they can be the only cat in their space.”
“How long have these guys been here?” I asked as the orange cat walked over to rub himself against my legs. I bent to pet him, and he immediately started purring.
“That’s Oscar. He’s only been here since last week, and I don’t imagine he’ll stay long, for obvious reasons.” Taylor gave him an affectionate look as he pressed his head against my hand for a more vigorous chin rub. “Some of them have been here a few months or longer. And I’ve got five cats quarantined in back who just arrived from Georgia.”
“Georgia?” I asked. That seemed like an awfully long way for cats to travel to a shelter.
“There are a lot of overcrowded shelters in the South,” Taylor told me. “So I arrange to have adoptable animals transported here whenever we have space. It’s a win-win, because it frees up some much-needed space in overworked shelters, while it keeps my kennels full. Without our transport program, I would sometimes have more people looking to adopt than I do adoptable pets.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
Taylor let us out of the cat enclosure and led the way into the next room, where a row of smaller cages had been lined up against the wall. “This is where our small animals stay. Right now, we have a pair of guinea pigs, but we also get a lot of rabbits and sometimes hamsters and mice too.”
“Aw, look at them.” I peered into the first cage, where a pair of black-and-white guinea pigs sat munching on hay.
“Their names are Cookie and Cupcake.”
“Cute.” I followed her through another door, which led into a long, narrow hallway that immediately filled with a combination of barking, whines, and the clang of paws against the metal bars at the front of the kennels.
“Give them a second, and they’ll settle down,” Taylor said. “It’s almost time for Alleya to come through for their afternoon walk, so they’re excited.”
“Aw, this one looks so sad,” I said as I caught sight of a small dog with big ears looking up at me from the first kennel.
“That’s Lola. Her owner gave her up a few weeks ago because her new boyfriend is allergic to dogs.”
“Oh shit,” I said. “That’s terrible.”
“It is, but we’ll find her a new home soon. The girl I want to introduce you to is at the end of the hall.” Taylor motioned for me to follow.
“Doesn’t Lola need a foster home?” I asked as we walked. “She’s small and seems quiet. I could see having her around for a few weeks.”
“She could benefit from a foster home,” Taylor said. “But she’s also extremely adoptable for the reasons you said—plus she’s adorable—so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to place her quickly, especially since she’s the first face potential adopters see when they come through the door.”
“It sure worked on me,” I said.
“These two came in last Wednesday,” Taylor told me. “Their owner passed away unexpectedly. Her sister is stopping by tomorrow to pick up Dexter, the male dog, but she didn’t feel comfortable taking both, especially since Violet’s about to give birth.”
“Yeah, that part is what’s giving me pause too,” I said.
“Believe me, if I had anyone else I could send her home with, I would.” Taylor stopped in front of the last kennel in the room. A brown dog with a wide face and a round, stocky body stared up at us. There was a white stripe running down her face, ending just above her nose.
