Volunteer gives her time -- and heart -- to cats at Sacramento shelter

Sabine Jakob volunteers a few hours a week at the city of Sacramento animal shelter, where she cares for the cats before they are adopted or, more likely, euthanized.

A transplant from Germany who married a local attorney, Jakob, 45, has lived in Sacramento for four years. She recently sat down to talk about her commitment to cats, as well as her take on her newly adopted city.

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A cat named Rodney: He made his home on our balcony. He was a really nice guy. He hadn't shown up for five days, so I went to the animal shelter and found him and adopted him.

Emotional attachment: I have a son in Cologne who will be 24. It's almost like having a baby again. They really depend on us, cats not as much as dogs.

Rodney didn't make it: He got run over. I was a wreck for two weeks. I couldn't stop crying. I found him in the neighbor's garbage can.

Spring has sprung: We will be swamped when kitten season starts in two or three weeks.

What Bob Barker says: We trapped five cats on our balcony and got them spayed or neutered. Now when they come by for food, I can relax because I know they are not producing any more kittens.

Her real job: A telephone recruiter for 30 hours a week for BloodSource.

Coming to America: I was traveling in Laos. (Her future husband) was traveling with his friend. We met at the airport in the baggage claim area. I asked them where are you going? Can I just join you? Because it's more fun.

One up on Germany: I definitely like the (Sacramento) weather.

But oh that bread: It's solid as a rock. I miss it. But there is a big Russian community in West Sacramento and there is a place that makes good German bread.

Labels galore: I cannot relate that people here are really brand conscious. In Germany, we don't care that much about Coach purses and Luis Vuitton suitcases and all that stuff.

Gunslingers: In Cologne, I've never seen a gun. Nobody has a gun. But here, everybody has a gun. You just have to have it for self-defense.

American prudishness: You have shorts really short. You have to see everyone's pierced belly buttons and tattoos. On the other hand, you don't have any naked scenes on TV. In Germany, you can go topless in the public swimming pool and people don't think anything of it.

OK, we have to ask: I don't shave. It's just natural. I just think it's a waste of time. I have better things to do.

American love handles: When I was first here, I couldn't believe it. People here, they drive most of the time. That's part of it.

Counter-car culture: My mom is 78. She never got a driver's license, so she bikes to the grocery store.

An oddball over here: Everybody looks at me, "You just biked to the grocery store?" Of course, why drive? It's such a waste.

No membership required: My co-workers talk about going to the gym and doing some workouts, but I never go there. I would hate it.

Low-density living: You still have a lot of room compared to where I grew up in Cologne, where it's very dense. That's part of why people don't drive there – there's no parking.

Sacramento nightlifeless: People will hate me for this, but I think Sacramento is still a cow town. I took the train once from Berkeley, and I came back at 8:30 p.m.. Except for homeless people, there was no one around the train station. In Cologne, that's where the life is.

Vinyl lives: I love records. I love Frank Zappa. Back then, he told us how weird American society can be.

How-to everywhere: They like instructions here. Even on shopping carts, there's a sign how to put your baby in a shopping cart.

For extra cash: We sell at flea markets a lot. We go to storage auctions when people don't pay their rent.

Adoption for life: It's a lifelong commitment when you adopt an animal. I don't think a lot of people see it that way.

The long, long shadow: In 2006 for the soccer World Cup, it was the first time that Germans displayed German flags. Like here, every American who wants to put up a flag can do this and say I'm proud to be American. Only certain types of people – skinheads – say I'm proud to be German. Only here I got this idea of saying I'm proud to be German. It took me to move here.

About the writer:

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