I'll try to keep this short since I tend to write long, rambling posts. But for those of you who help ferals and strays, while still taking care of your own cats, I'm curious how you do it.
The short version of my situation is this - I have 11 of my own cats and one rabbit. They all live inside my house and they all get routine vet care, along with any vet care needed when they are sick. I'll pay whatever I have to to keep these kitties all healthy. But 11 cats is my max. 10 was supposed to be my max, yet we ended up with 11. I refuse to end up on Animal Hoarders, so I have to know my limits and when I can't properly care for another animal.
But with that being said, I'm also currently taking care of a stray cat that I trapped at a hotel about a month or so ago. He's living outside in a large dog crate until I get him neutered. I've already spent a bit of money on him because he was looking pretty sickly and beat up when I first trapped him. Ideally, I'm going to find this guy a home, but I haven't been successful with that yet. I'll probably end up bringing him inside once he is neutered and hopefully stops spraying, but then if I can't find him a home, I'll have 12 cats. Which will put me 2 cats over what I said my max is.
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago ANOTHER stray cat showed up in our backyard. From talking to the neighbors, this guy has been roaming the neighborhood for a few years now. No one likes him and wants him around. Our next door neighbor told us that everyone tries to scare him away because they don't want to deal with him. Its seriously one of the saddest things ever. The day he showed up in our yard we pet him. Thats all we did - we just pet him. And he hasn't left our yard since (other than occasionally wandering away for an hour or so.) The fact that all it took was petting him to make him stay in our yard was heartbreaking to us. It just seems like all he ever wanted was love, and he never got that. I know cats will stick around once you start feeding him. But we didn't even feed him to make him stick around. All we did was show him that our yard was safe for him and he seems to really know that. So now of course, we're feeding him. He follows my husband around every single day as he waters the yard and garden. He's literally glued to my husband's side and when he hears our back door opening he runs to it from whenever he is at the moment. When he first showed up he seemed beat up and rough looking, but healthy. My husband and I agreed that we would feed him, attempt to find someone to give him a home (which is hard when we can't even find the first stray a home), and we'd get him neutered. But as I said in a previous post about the other cat. The city requires that a cat have a rabies shot for at least 3 weeks before getting neutered at their low cost clinic (which is only for strays and house pets - not ferals). So our plan was to get the shot and get him neutered and that was all. As much as we want to, we just can't afford the medical care of a 13th cat. We want to provide him with a safe haven (our yard) but we simply can't afford the vet care of one more cat. We've reached a point where we really can't take care of another one without it negatively affecting our lives and the lives of our other cats.
This wasn't a huge dilemma at first. Ideally, we would have loved to take him in for a full checkup, but he seemed healthy, so we agreed - nothing more than food and a safe haven and eventual low cost neutering. However, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. As of 3 days ago I've noticed his third eye lid is showing a bit and he seems to be having a little trouble breathing. My gut instinct is that its a simple URI, but obviously I could be completely wrong. Whatever it is though, its getting worse, not better, and I really think he needs a vet or antibiotics (both preferably).
So I guess my question is, what do you do when you just can't take care of them anymore? I can't kick this guy out of our yard. Its apparently the only yard he's actually safe and secure in in the entire neighborhood. But money is limited and I can't compromise the health and well being of my other cats that I've already dedicated myself to.
The shelters here are completely useless when it comes to help. I learned that when I called around looking for help with the other stray cat that I have. There's no low cost vet clinic that I have been able to find- other than a vaccine clinic and a spay/neuter clinic.
So my plan for right now is to put Lysine in his water outside and hope that it helps, and attempt to find an inexpensive solution to getting him health care.
I hate that I have to limit the number of animals that I can care for, but I just have to at this point. Please don't think I am a bad person for that. If I was rich, I'd buy a huge house and open up my own rescue, but thats just not possible.
I know that a vet visit is what he needs, but its also what I can't afford. Is there a way to get antibiotics for a cat somewhere? Online maybe? I know that isn't an ideal solution, but it seems like it would be better than just watching him get sicker each day. I'm still searching around for a low cost option or a vet that will take payments (I do have Carecredit, but we have that budgeted into the care of our other cats - I currently have a pretty high balance that I'm trying to pay off each month, so based on what goes onto that card for my other cats, I can't realistically put more money onto it for a stray cat.)
Please, please don't lecture me about how a vet is the only option. I know this. My cats get the best vet care I can find. But everyone has to know when to say "no" to more animals because its just not affordable anymore, and I've reached that point. I just didn't plan on having a sick cat show up in my backyard, and then make my yard his home. But when every neighbor does whatever they can to kick this guy out of their yard, I can't turn him away. I know and understand that I can't afford to take care of him, but I also see no reason why my backyard can't be a safe zone for him.
If anyone has any advice I would really, really appreciate it. The stress I'm feeling from being at my limit isn't a very good feeling .
The short version of my situation is this - I have 11 of my own cats and one rabbit. They all live inside my house and they all get routine vet care, along with any vet care needed when they are sick. I'll pay whatever I have to to keep these kitties all healthy. But 11 cats is my max. 10 was supposed to be my max, yet we ended up with 11. I refuse to end up on Animal Hoarders, so I have to know my limits and when I can't properly care for another animal.
But with that being said, I'm also currently taking care of a stray cat that I trapped at a hotel about a month or so ago. He's living outside in a large dog crate until I get him neutered. I've already spent a bit of money on him because he was looking pretty sickly and beat up when I first trapped him. Ideally, I'm going to find this guy a home, but I haven't been successful with that yet. I'll probably end up bringing him inside once he is neutered and hopefully stops spraying, but then if I can't find him a home, I'll have 12 cats. Which will put me 2 cats over what I said my max is.
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago ANOTHER stray cat showed up in our backyard. From talking to the neighbors, this guy has been roaming the neighborhood for a few years now. No one likes him and wants him around. Our next door neighbor told us that everyone tries to scare him away because they don't want to deal with him. Its seriously one of the saddest things ever. The day he showed up in our yard we pet him. Thats all we did - we just pet him. And he hasn't left our yard since (other than occasionally wandering away for an hour or so.) The fact that all it took was petting him to make him stay in our yard was heartbreaking to us. It just seems like all he ever wanted was love, and he never got that. I know cats will stick around once you start feeding him. But we didn't even feed him to make him stick around. All we did was show him that our yard was safe for him and he seems to really know that. So now of course, we're feeding him. He follows my husband around every single day as he waters the yard and garden. He's literally glued to my husband's side and when he hears our back door opening he runs to it from whenever he is at the moment. When he first showed up he seemed beat up and rough looking, but healthy. My husband and I agreed that we would feed him, attempt to find someone to give him a home (which is hard when we can't even find the first stray a home), and we'd get him neutered. But as I said in a previous post about the other cat. The city requires that a cat have a rabies shot for at least 3 weeks before getting neutered at their low cost clinic (which is only for strays and house pets - not ferals). So our plan was to get the shot and get him neutered and that was all. As much as we want to, we just can't afford the medical care of a 13th cat. We want to provide him with a safe haven (our yard) but we simply can't afford the vet care of one more cat. We've reached a point where we really can't take care of another one without it negatively affecting our lives and the lives of our other cats.
This wasn't a huge dilemma at first. Ideally, we would have loved to take him in for a full checkup, but he seemed healthy, so we agreed - nothing more than food and a safe haven and eventual low cost neutering. However, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. As of 3 days ago I've noticed his third eye lid is showing a bit and he seems to be having a little trouble breathing. My gut instinct is that its a simple URI, but obviously I could be completely wrong. Whatever it is though, its getting worse, not better, and I really think he needs a vet or antibiotics (both preferably).
So I guess my question is, what do you do when you just can't take care of them anymore? I can't kick this guy out of our yard. Its apparently the only yard he's actually safe and secure in in the entire neighborhood. But money is limited and I can't compromise the health and well being of my other cats that I've already dedicated myself to.
The shelters here are completely useless when it comes to help. I learned that when I called around looking for help with the other stray cat that I have. There's no low cost vet clinic that I have been able to find- other than a vaccine clinic and a spay/neuter clinic.
So my plan for right now is to put Lysine in his water outside and hope that it helps, and attempt to find an inexpensive solution to getting him health care.
I hate that I have to limit the number of animals that I can care for, but I just have to at this point. Please don't think I am a bad person for that. If I was rich, I'd buy a huge house and open up my own rescue, but thats just not possible.
I know that a vet visit is what he needs, but its also what I can't afford. Is there a way to get antibiotics for a cat somewhere? Online maybe? I know that isn't an ideal solution, but it seems like it would be better than just watching him get sicker each day. I'm still searching around for a low cost option or a vet that will take payments (I do have Carecredit, but we have that budgeted into the care of our other cats - I currently have a pretty high balance that I'm trying to pay off each month, so based on what goes onto that card for my other cats, I can't realistically put more money onto it for a stray cat.)
Please, please don't lecture me about how a vet is the only option. I know this. My cats get the best vet care I can find. But everyone has to know when to say "no" to more animals because its just not affordable anymore, and I've reached that point. I just didn't plan on having a sick cat show up in my backyard, and then make my yard his home. But when every neighbor does whatever they can to kick this guy out of their yard, I can't turn him away. I know and understand that I can't afford to take care of him, but I also see no reason why my backyard can't be a safe zone for him.
If anyone has any advice I would really, really appreciate it. The stress I'm feeling from being at my limit isn't a very good feeling .