The Daily Kit Project, Day 1
Life has taken a massively bad turn for me. If I were the only one affected, I wouldn't really care much. However, I have these three cats, and they deserve a place to live.
What am I talking about? Let me explain...
Through a series of events, most of which have nothing to do with my own choices (though I will admit to my choices being a contributing factor in the eventual outcome), my finances have been hit to the point where even though I’m earning twice the federal minimum wage in the “gross income” column, my actual net income is somewhere below the poverty line. The accounting mechanics of that are not the subject of this post, however, and I won’t bore you with those details.
I had finally managed to secure some extra money (thanks mom!) that wouldn’t be much but would, at the very least, help, as well as gotten the promise of a roommate/possible-future-life-partner for early April, when I got the notice about 10 days before the end of February that I had to pay off an entire $1.7k (Yes, that’s thousand) past due bill to my apartment complex or be out by the end of the month. There was no way I was going to be able to come up with that money, so I’ve spent the last two weeks frantically securing a place to go and a place to put my stuff and a place for my cats.
Yes, I'm homeless. I'm currently "couch surfing," and nearly all my earthly belongings are in a storage unit.
Thanks to “cat shelters” being fundamentally different beasts from “human shelters,” if I take my cats to a facility that would be able to house and shelter them, they’d be sold or put to sleep before I could get a new apartment and retrieve them.
Why “put to sleep”?
Let’s start with the Great Fat Cat Ronnie:
Ronnie is missing an ear and is very overweight. She’s also very sensitive to her specific environment. When I got her from the shelter, they were worried about her eating because she was refusing to eat most of the food they offered and was getting rail thin, and wasn’t especially personable. “Well,” thought I, “This looks like a good cat that needs lovin’!” When Ronnie passed the Munchkin Test (would she tolerate my daughter), I took her home and proceeded to do the Cat Lovin’ thing that Cat Lovers do. My daughter only visits me on the weekends, so what happened really slowly for me was blatantly obvious to her, Ronnie was getting FAT. In other words, her physical health was fine it was her mental health that was causing her weight loss at the shelter. Why?
She was a returned rescue. That’s right, The Great White Pudge had been rescued once, then returned to the shelter she’d been rescued from. That does things to a cat, none of them good.
Between the three cats, she’s reacting the best to the sudden change, but she’s still damn clingy and insists on sitting in my lap whenever possible to reassure herself that I’m not going anywhere.
Then there’s the Street Queen Murphy:
This poor kitty I picked up off the street, literally, back in Nov. 2016. She was so close to death her digestive system was starting to shut down. It took two weeks before she could eat anything without throwing it back up, and a few months before she could reliably use the litter without creating a mess everywhere. She acts tough, but she’s got neuroses and mental issues like crazy (heh). She has problems taking care of herself (she somehow doesn’t know how to sharpen her claws, which at one point led to an infected ingrown claw that I had to break off with a pair of pliers to get out of her pad) and will literally caterwaul if she wakes up and doesn’t see a familiar face. She seems anti-social, because she gets nervous if she’s been held for too long, but she only really turns on the purr if you can get her to sit still in your arms for five minutes while rubbing her belly.
Speaking of, she can’t seem to retract her claws. I used to get my hands scratched to all hell because I didn’t know how to disentangle my hand from her death grip on it because she loved the belly skritches so much she didn’t ever want me to stop.
Then there’s the Liquid Ninja Josie:
Back in early 2016 when I got Ronnie, it was a big deal for my daughter, who’s high-functioning autistic and loves animals.
Naturally, my ex-wife had to get a cat, too. 😒 I have no idea if this was intentionally done by her as a means of “one-upping” me as a parent, but I’ve heard this can happen, even subconsciously. Again, neither here nor there.
Josie was the result of the very expensive adoption process. (Seriously, my entire sunk-cost into getting Ronnie was about $200, and that’s including adoption fees, food, cat furniture, toys, litter, etc.) Josie’s adoption fees alone were more than $200. I’m not saying Josie wasn’t worth the money...OK, getting into weeds that are best left for a later post.
So Josie was adopted into a family that historically was predominantly dog owners.She didn’t appreciate being treated like a dog. The members of the household all wondered why she would scratch and bite. Gee, I wonder.
Anyway, around last Thanksgiving, I found out that they were planning on giving Josie back to the shelter. Having just recently taken in a shelter re-rescue and knowing what that would do to the poor thing, I volunteered to take a third cat.
Around early December, Josie started losing her ability to walk. At first it was just little things like struggling to get up on the shelf I had put her food bowl on, but when I realized she was having health problems was when I found her laying in a puddle of her own urine. The vet wanted to run all sorts of tests, including x-ray and toxicology, but this was around the time my finances were starting to get hammered, so I couldn’t afford it. This was also the seed of my mom’s willingness to help with the money, as she offered to cover some of the costs of the tests, but it would take a few weeks before she could do so.
Before my mom could send the first money, though, Josie’s condition started to improve and she’s now to the point where she can walk around to where she needs to be and use the litter unassisted.
So all three are “issue” cats that are unlikely to be adopted out again, and both Murphy and Josie have health issues that would require lots of TLC and probably appreciable vet bills. They are not good adoption material, and that’s not even considering the fact that all three are “bonded” to my daughter, and she’d be devastated if I had to give them away.
All three of these cats do deserve a loving home, and they’ve finally gotten to the point where they are a loving family of cats. Josie and Ronnie help Murphy stay groomed and Murphy is protective of Josie and will put up with Josie’s kitten-ish behavior.
So yes, in order to keep these three in a good, comfortable, stable home, I need assistance from my fellow cat lovers on the Internet. I’ll be posting an update every day, probably focusing on one of the three cats each day.
I do have a personal Ko-fi account, as well as a Patreon, but those aren’t specific to the cats. If you would like to provide immediate support, you can certainly use one of these:
Patreon
Ko-fi
I am interested in how you would like to support me, though. Let me know in replies and reblogs what service you’d be most comfortable sending money through.
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Meet Petals-4-Paws visitors, Troopurr and Leia! ❤ P4P loves an opportunity to help pet Owners who make the decision to KEEP their pets when faced with some of Life's biggest obstacles. Although not a typical service, P4P knows this has not been a typical year for Rogue Valley residents and we want to help! Troopurr and Leia's family reached out to P4P when they were in a desperate position without a place to live, but with an approved a HUD voucher. Fearing having to surrender them to a shelter while searching for a new home, P4P agreed to board these sweet kitties during the 90-day HUD voucher period to secure a new home. P4P will also be assisting the Owner in getting Leia spayed! The homeless who keep AND care for their pets hold a special place in our Hearts - in Winter of 2014, we, Laura and I, were living in Santa Cruz and homeless. We were told by every family member and friend that we needed to surrender our Billie Jean (dog) and Mojojo (cat), but we just couldn't do that! A friend's invitation is what brought us to #southernoregon . We fought back at Life tooth and nail to survive, to keep our kiddos, started at min wage, worked jobs we hated, squeezed pennies til they screamed! And we made it - Billie Jean lived to be 16yrs old and Mojojo is now 10yrs old. We BELIEVE in the ability to rise above, but when One can't rise above, he/she/they MUST walk thru with determination and hold steadfast to what is TRULY sacred to the Heart. Animals, pets...THEY are precious to Our Hearts! Wishing everyone safe and happy holidays - if you purchase or adopt a pet this holiday season, REMEMBER, it's for Life!🐾❤ #adoptionisforlife #savealife #givelife #adoptionislove #rescuelife #rescuemomma #rescuedogsoforegon #savingdoglives #dogslivesmatter #catsarefamily #dogsarefamily #arescuedogslife #rescuecats #rescuekitties #adoptarescue #fureverhome #fureverfamily #homelesspets #helpstreetcatsdogs #helpothers #helpotherssucceed (at Petals-4-Paws Nursery & Rescue) https://www.instagram.com/p/CI3esOqJtBh/?igshid=1128wcwiakk07
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