Feeling guilty?

So last week, I did a good deed that I feel guilty about. There's no way around it, but here goes:

I went to the county building of a neighboring county because I'd heard I could sign up for online continuing ed courses for my teaching certificate for cheap. And I did! But on the way back to the car, the sweetest dog, a basset hound mix, started following me. He was adorable, with few old cuts on his head, so it looked like he'd been stray for at least a week. No tag, but a flea collar. I called a friend who works with rescue organizations, and couldn't get her on the phone, so I called another friend who googled the local shelter (keep in mind I'm not near my house at all). I really wanted to take him home, because he was absolutely adorable and sweet, but I had just spent almost $500 on dog care this week for our two dogs, including one annual exam, medicine for flea allergies, flea medicine, and a weird bump on the face of our 10-year old lab mix dog. We have two large dogs (120 pounds between them), two kids (who together weigh less than one of our dogs) and 1000 square feet house. We really can't have another dog. I thought it over and the financial burden of our aging pooches is only going to get worse in the next few years, and I couldn't put my family through more by adding to the mix.

So I drove him to the animal control shelter nearby, and they admitted him. And I cried on the way home. I knew I couldn't let him stay on the street, since it was projected to snow and be below freezing overnight (the low was actually somewhere around 19 degrees, if I remember correctly). I wanted him to have a home, a family, and a warm place to sleep, but I could only guarantee one of those with the shelter option. Maybe he does have a family who will find him there, or more likely he probably has heartworms from being abandoned for so long and will be euthanized. So I feel really guilty, but I think I would have felt guilty no matter what I had done or not done.

Really, I just hate that there are so many abandoned dogs in this country, and not nearly enough loving families for them.