Jess too made some excellent points and had some wonderful options/ideas to pass along. I for one can vouge for the time, effort, lack of sleep and the MONEY that rescue volunteers shell out on any given day just to try and help *one* fuzzy, much less 10 or 20 like some of the volunteers I know around here. All of the money for food, litter, meds, toys, everything, for Rattles and Siam come out of my pocket as if they were my own kittens (which, as of this next week... they are ). *IF* the rescue has "extra" money, then I might get reimbursed a little bit, but that is not a common thing as every bit of money tends to go into getting these animals up to par. $40 for a kitten is CHEAP from a rescue...especially when you consider that fee covers *everything* including alteration and that just the alteration its self costs more than that . That average price for a kitten here is $75, an adult cat, $55.

I have to totally agree with Jess, look into your local rescues first. Yes, a lot of rescues have adoption applications that they require to be filled out and some (like the one I volunteer with) require a home visit. I know that some people are opposed to that because they feel that it is not for anyone else to decide if *I* can take care of a cat or not... but I assure you, that's not why we do it.
These animals were abused, neglected and/or abandonded once before and it is our "mission" to try our best to ensure that does not happen to them again.
But yes, we *will* deny an applicant if they do not meet the *minimum* monitary requirement for adaquate care or if they live in a pig pen... or, if they already have two dozen pets AND live in a pig pen AND are broke. It's those kinds of people who we end up rescuing animals from in the first place.