On a Sunday, PAWS received four bottle feeders with pneumonia. That can prove to be a hard one and it did. All of them where doing really well despite their colds. They were eating, crying and even playing with each other a bit. One of them, Lenny, was really weak. I had to force feed him, and unlike the others, he would not cry for me when it was feeding time. I worked with all of them for days. They were fed every three hours on the dot and they all had to receive fluids during their feeding.

On the following Wednesday morning, I decided that I needed to let Lenny go. That was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I had minimal sleep from being up with these kittens for the last few nights, so that did not help my emotional status. I could not stop crying, and at times I couldn't even breathe. Two hours after I let Lenny go, Timmy and Sammy both began to crash hard. They were mouth breathing and they couldn't hold their heads up. I lost three kittens in a matter of 5 hours.

Jimmy made it. The only kitten out of a litter of four who survived pneumonia. He is a true success story. Jimmy went on to grow up and be the craziest kitten I have ever fostered. He went home with a wonderful family who really understood what a miracle he was and who continues to send pictures of him.

Even though we can't save them all, it really matters to the ones we do save. They are the ones that make the heartache worth it. In 2002, 1330 animals were placed into foster care and were successfully adopted. We saved 1330 lives. That is why we do what we do despite the pain of letting them go to the rainbow bridge and the pain we feel when we let them go to their new homes.