Our society does all types of rescues, some are simple “Come and pick up a sick cat in my Yard that just showed up” to Please come help me get a kitten out of the taillight on my car”. Most rescues are routine. A few this year were not. We received a call from the Local sheriff’s Department that a man had passed away that had several cats in his house that needed rescuing. We departed for the house and found 3 cats to rescue, but noticed that there were signs that other cats could also be there… The house’s owner was a Hoarder of things and one could not move from room to room without climbing over very high piles of things, making it very difficult to find the other cats. A serious problem to overcome was that the house was going to be closed up after The Sheriff’s office was finished and no keys were found for the house. With no known relatives available to help us we decided to search as long as possible and leave plenty of dry food for any possible remaining cats before the door was locked. After searching on the internet we found a possible relative in northern MD who turned out to be a Nephew. He put us in contact with his mother, the deceased man’s Sister. She gave us permission to replace the lock on the house and try to rescue the remaining cats. That’s when the work really started, since this two-story house was dangerous to navigate. Also, neighbors told us he probably had 30 or so cats so we did not know what to expect and started trapping outside also. After 10 more days of trapping and removing 10 cats from inside the house and 3 from the outside, we were finally finished with the collection. Of course, that’s just the 1st phase of the rescue. We had to get them vetted, checking to be sure they were spayed or neutered, many were not. So, we had to get them altered and have their vaccines up to date and finally get them healthy and friendly for adoption. Being diligent and questioning the norm was key to this rescue. It would have been easy to take the 3 cats we were asked to remove and leave. However, having a caring and questioning mind helped us seek out the possibility of other cats being there. Saving 10 more lives. Of course, donated money made all of this possible. Volunteer groups like ours can only work as long as generous animal lovers like you help make it possible with Your Heartfelt Donations.