When Kristi Idnurm showed up for work on a recent Sunday morning, she found a note waiting for her.
When Idnurm is not heading the animal rescue charity Kristi’s Kats, Inc., she works at Pet Valu in Georgetown, Delaware, where three ripped pages of notebook paper were taped to the front door.
She saw she needed to head out to the store’s rear as she quickly glanced at what the message read.
There she found several boxes and crates covered in blankets, waiting. Inside were 22 cats and kittens.
“It was quite the surprise to realize that there were cats left outside the store,” Idnurm told The Dodo.
Quite unlike other stories of animals being abandoned, these cats were obviously very well cared for. They were all litter box trained, and healthy.
The note — which was left, along with the cats, sometime in the night between Saturday, January 5, and early on Sunday, January 6 — contained some explanation.
“I have been rescuing cats for as long as I can remember,” the note read, “however this year has completely broke me. Out back is all the babies I can’t find homes for and I have run out of time.”
The cats were clearly part of a larger, heartbreaking story. The note asked for understanding: “Please understand and read this before you judge.”
This person, who had devoted so much time to rescuing cats in need, had recently suffered sudden family tragedies. His or her son was in a car accident and needed a lot of care. An aunt became ill and died of liver cancer. The anonymous cat caretaker spent all of his or her savings to give the aunt a burial.
The individual then received a notice evicting them from their residence. The final two weeks before moving out were spent looking for the homes of the cats rather than packing.
Along with the cats in the boxes and crates, the person left the last $30 he or she had. “I lost everything,” the note said.
Idnurm had to scramble to find places for the cats to go. After several desperate texts to volunteers with Kristi’s Kats, she managed to coordinate fosters for all the cats.
“My volunteers came in force to wash carriers, fill litter boxes, make lists and answer questions,” Idnurm said.
Others went to Coastal Cat Rescue in Bethany, Delaware, while others went to Town Cats of Ocean City in Maryland. And as they waited to be adopted, other cats went to coworkers’ houses.
While leaving animals behind is never a good choice, maybe the collective effort that led to these kitties’ success might offer some comfort to the person who so badly abandoned them.
Idnurm remarked, “It was a communal effort to make sure they were secure.
