The no-kill shelter I work at gets plenty of those calls too, though I can't give a specific figure. We don't have a receptionist, so whoever is nearest answers the phone or the answering machine picks up. Every time a call begins "Can you take a cat...", it depresses me no end.

The shelter is kept very low-key with very little publicity, which I think keeps those calls down some, though we still get way more than we can take in. And we do find cats in carriers on the porch from time to time.

One time I took a call from someone calling from Detroit (some 50 miles away) saying "her friend" was moving THAT DAY and couldn't have her cat at the new place, and if we didn't take it she would "have to" just turn it loose on the street... and stray cats in that neighborhood got picked up to be used as bait for fighting dogs.

I gave her the standard responses. I told her we were full, I couldn't make intake decisions and that person wasn't available on the spot, and she was way beyond our usual intake area (which provides WAY more than enough cats to keep us full -- and it turned out she had no transportation to bring the cat out here even if we said yes). I asked why she was waiting until the last minute to try and place the cat ("too busy"). I suggested she ask friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, local vets, everyone she knew if they could take the cat even for a while or if they knew of shelters closer to them ("no time").

After getting blown off no matter what I said... I finally asked "Would you please tell her, if she's really going to just get rid of the cat, would she PLEASE at least take it to the Michigan Humane Society shelter in Detroit so it can at least be put down humanely?"

Somehow I don't think that one wound up at the MHS, and that is the kind of thing that really breaks my heart in being involved in rescue.

Pat