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Bobbing around in a tidal wave of news, all bad, what does the fate of one dog amount to, after all — one ailing, brown-eyed mutt named Bunnie, whose owner can’t keep her?

It means, I’m guessing, the world.

At least, it looks like the world when Margaret Horne arrives to visit Bunnie at Cozy Acres, the SPCA adoption center in northeast Greensboro. The dog, though terminally ill with colon cancer, starts doing tricks. She rolls over, “speaks” in a low whine for a treat, tail wagging, ears perked, never taking her eyes off Horne.

This is where Bunnie, an 8-year-old shepherd mix, lives along with 20 to 30 dogs and cats waiting to be adopted. But it isn’t home. Home is with Horne, a retired schoolteacher whose primary job these days is to take care of her grandson, a 2-year-old with serious health problems of his own.

Caring for an ailing dog got to be too much for Horne. So was the idea of having her put down, or sending her to the pound for the same result.

“Bunnie has been such a good dog,” says Horne, 59. “No matter what happens, you know she is going to be faithful. She lifts my spirits. You play with her for awhile, you forget about everything.”

Fortunately for Horne, she adopted the young dog from the SPCA, which eight years later offered to take care of Bunnie when Horne could no longer manage.

But for the roughly 250 pet owners who call the local SPCA center daily, desperate to find homes for animals they can’t keep, the story may not end so well.

Take, for instance, Nina Howell, who called the adoption center Friday looking for a home for her two cats. Howell lost her home, is unemployed, and looking for a job while she stays with her son in Greensboro.

“My cats are really cute. I just wanted someone to take care of them until I can get back on my feet again,” said Howell, a medical assistant who at 53 is having trouble getting hired.

“Nobody wants their pets to go to the pound, knowing that three days later they’re going to be put to sleep. But all people want to adopt is kittens and puppies. It’s just the way the world is. Everything’s falling apart, and people don’t care.”

A reasonable conclusion, until you visit Cozy Acres. Inside the adoption center on a Friday morning, manager Jennifer Welch has just picked up 1,000 pounds or more of pet food donated by two discount department stores. The SPCA not only helps pet owners with food, but also helps defray vet bills.

On the counter in a pet carrier is “Tony,” a frightened tabby cat brought in for tearing someone’s curtains. In a back room, three volunteers are working with a dozen cats and kittens like him — making sure they’re not just fed, but played with.

Out front, the phone keeps ringing.

Faced with more animals coming in but fewer donations, rescue groups are inundated, says Lynette Kay, the nonprofit center’s assistant manager.

“It’s because of the economy,” says Kay, who often must put pets on waiting lists for adoption, even when owners can’t afford to wait. “My worry is, every time I tell someone no, what’s going to happen?”

Though rescue and adoption groups can say no, the Guilford County Animal Shelter has no choice but to take the animals. In the past, fall was the slow season, observes assistant shelter director Dana King, but this fall they just keep coming.

“A lot of people say they’re moving, or they have some family issue,” King says. “When it rains, it pours.”

In that deluge, it’s easy to lose sight of the lifeline that runs between a pet and an owner. It’s what makes Bunnie, who has up to now been tired and off her feed, come to life when Margaret Horne arrives at Cozy Acres, bringing a bag of treats.

At home, waking up isn’t the same. Bunnie would put her nose on the bed, tail wagging. “OK,” Horne would say. “I’m getting up.”

“Without Bunnie there, the house is too quiet. I run the TV, almost all the time.”

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com