If your shelter is anything like the one where I live (Bahrain) they are constantly looking for animal-loving people to help out. I have a REALLY HARD JOB - I help to socialise the kittens! Basically I just go in and play with em, and handle them so they get used to humans, and are more friendly and more likely to be homed.

I find it helps me to get my "craving" out of my system, as I really SHOULDN'T get any more cats of my own, but at least I feel like I am helping a little bit!

I guess what I am saying is that, until you have a place of your own one day, you can still be involved with animals in a BIG way, and make a BIG difference in their lives - and adopting one isn't the only way to do that!

It's also great to read your posts - you sound like you are going to be a wonderful and responsible pet owner when you are older!