The three cats we have now were all owner give-ups of one sort or another. Jackson and Rosie were adopted from a local rescue group and Fluffy was a foster initially, but I think she's all ours now.

Aly ---
Working in a shelter is very difficult work and so emotionally draining, but I know what you mean about staying strong and going back. My first foster was a kitten found tied to the doorknob of the shelter on a Monday morning (no telling how long she'd been there, she wasn't there when Sunday's volunteer went to feed and check on the animals at noon and we didn't get to the shelter till around 9AM). I can still remember the puppies with their collars embedded in their necks (the pup grew, the collar didn't), litters of kittens with distemper, litters of puppies with parvo, the Mama cats with their litter dumped in a pillow case, the owner whose dog jumped out of the back of his truck and was injured so he brought it to us to put to sleep rather than take it to his vet (that's what he pays taxes for!!)...

It has to be much easier in a no-kill shelter; my experience comes from working in a shelter that worked in conjunction with local animal control, but it's still difficult. I know vet techs who were amazed to hear how many vaccinations I'd give in an average "shot" day. After a while, you can pick up the pups or just look at the dogs and "know" how much strongid to give them.

Honey, it'll never get easy, but you'll get stronger. Remember the Serenity Prayer...