Several mornings each week, Carmella Montoya returns home from her night job as a hospice nurse and cooks a big meal for her 17 “children.” “Every day they get a homemade meal,” she said. “Usually chicken, turkey or a roast with vegetables.”

She was referring to 17 small dogs — mostly Chihuahuas and terriers — that roam her home and 2-acre property in Eldorado. Montoya runs a nonprofit animal rescue and sanctuary called Pathways of Healing.

She considers the animals she keeps there as important as family.

As many animal shelters in the region struggle to keep up with rising numbers of abandoned pets, smaller organizations like Montoya’s can help ease the burden of overcrowding by finding foster homes for dogs and helping to rehabilitate strays and find them permanent homes with human companions, often saving them from euthanasia.

Montoya never had children. She is compelled to help dogs, she said, because the work gives her a sense of purpose.

Montoya provides a place in her home for sick and elderly dogs to allow them to age with dignity and comfort. Several of the dogs she cares for are upwards of 15 years old. They require daily medications and, often, attentive care.

The dogs have come from her own neighborhood, throughout Santa Fe and Española, and sometimes as far as Roswell. Some of them were found roaming the streets. Others were surrendered to an animal shelter and had hours to be rescued before they would be euthanized due to lack of space.

Montoya said she always remembers all of their names — of course.

She pointed out Carly, a terrier who was abandoned when her owners lost their home, and Franky, a Yorkie who looked like “a ball of matted fur and cholla spines” when he was found nearby years ago.

Fifteen of the dogs will live with Montoya for the rest of their lives, but two corgi mixes she currently cares for — Yukon and Aspen — are foster puppies who eventually will be adopted out to new homes.

She took the puppies in for rehabilitation several months ago, she said, when they were on a euthanasia list at an animal shelter in Roswell.

She received a call from one of the many animal rescue organizations, large and small, that coordinate their work to save pets in need.

“When she called me with these two, I said yes,” Montoya said of the corgis. “It was the right timing — I just couldn’t see them die.”

Montoya said she started her nonprofit officially about 10 years ago after fostering dogs for similar organizations for years.

The thousands of dollars she receives in donations each year go toward medical care for the dogs. She also provides dog-sitting services and uses the proceeds from the venture to benefit the organization.

The support she receives in her own community is “overwhelming,” she said. But so is the current state of overcrowding at animal shelters across the state.

“I couldn’t do it by myself,” Montoya said, adding she often receives donations from past adopters.

“If one of the dogs is in trouble or has an emergency surgery, the community really comes together to take care of it,” she said. “I picked the right community to do this work.”

Her mother, Christine Montoya, lives in a casita on the property and helps take care of the dogs.

“We wake up with a mop, and we go to bed with a mop,” Christine Montoya said, adding many of the dogs they care for are incontinent. Carpet is out of the question.

Christine Montoya grew up in Santa Fe, as did generations of her and her daughter’s ancestors.

The family always kept dogs as pets when she was growing up, Carmella Montoya said, but they never saw themselves caring for so many dogs until they started fostering.

“We have no kids or grandchildren, no nieces or nephews; these are our children,” she said. “We’re their servants — we’ve dedicated our lives to them.”

Carmella Montoya said she would like to run Pathways of Healing full time, perhaps on a bigger property.

Once each litter of puppies was adopted out, she would think about taking more, she said.

She knows her limits, she added, after stretching herself too thin in the past. When she first started, she took on more than she should have because she couldn’t stand to see any dogs go without help, Montoya acknowledged.

“It’s hard,” she said. “You get compassion fatigue, and when you can’t save them all — it’s really hard.”

The downside of caring for so many sick and elderly dogs is that it is still hard for both women when a dog’s time comes to pass, even if they expect it.

The women have lost three dogs in the past year, one to a brain tumor and the others to organ failure. They have several containers with cremated remains they are planning to scatter near the Pecos River.

Several of Montoya’s dogs once belonged to seniors who died and left behind no plans for them. She said she would like to see that change, with more trusts and other plans for pets written into people’s wills before they die.

“Don’t let your dog just get carted off to a shelter if you die,” she said. “I wish people would treat them like family and really make provisions for them.”