Lost Kitty! Need Help With Funding!

[Anime Chick]

As those of you here may know, I struggle with financial stuff and already have to kitties of my own, Atsuko and Saru who is now about 6 or 7 months. These two are basically my ESAs. For those who do not know what that means, they are Emotional Support Animals.

But recently a woman handed me a kitty who she said she thought may be lost. I did notice myself that the girl seemed particularly skinny. Not over the top but where you could tell she was a bit thin. In fact, shes so small and so thin I assumed at first glance that shes a kitten!

Shes such a sweet, loving little girl and I feel bad every time I have to push her away so I can exit the room I have her in since shes in constant demand of attention, but of course I don't know if shes sick or not, so I can't just let my kitties near her!

The full story to this is on the link here.

Regardless, I don't have the money for her right now but also don't wanna just dump her off at a shelter or a foster family where she has no real chance of at least finding her original family first! I'm sure many of us, if not all of us would be distraught if we lost our kitty and someone else adopted them before we could get them back...

I wanna give her that chance but with the way my folks are, unless they know shes not sick and that I can actually afford to look after her they aren't gonna let me keep her here.

I would love if she got a nice home once I had time to actually look for her family and I have no clue if her foster folks would even TRY to look. They could tell me one thing and do another, or she could just end up stuck in the system until shes put down.

I'm guessing the ladder is what would happen since she seems to have Hip Dysplacia from what I can tell. I know most people adopting a kitty won't wanna adopt one they know is gonna cost them extra for medication... they'd want one healthy so they have less financial stuff to worry about.

So if you can spare anything to help out, it would be great. I need the money to get her looked at and make sure shes not sick, as well as look into her hip issues and for food and litter for the extra cat. This is something I feel I need to do but I can't without help.

I'd be devastated if it were me in this situation and one of my furbabies. So I wanna give Yukiko and her pet parents a fighting chance before I look into helping her get adopted by anyone and put into the fostering system or a shelter. So please... if you can... it would be great if you'd give a little to help me give her a fighting chance at getting home.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Thank you for trying to help this little one. Do be aware that there are many different shelter that have a wide variety of services available to help the animals in their care. You may, with some searching, be able to find one that could assist her far better than you are able to do. And there may be rescues that can do the same. Google can usually help you find and look into them. Not saying NOT to do as you are, but make sure you know ALL of the options...and if you find the perfect place for her, why...take whatever money you have gotten and donate it to them! That would be a win-win for everyone!

 

[Anime Chick]

Thank you for trying to help this little one. Do be aware that there are many different shelter that have a wide variety of services available to help the animals in their care. You may, with some searching, be able to find one that could assist her far better than you are able to do. And there may be rescues that can do the same. Google can usually help you find and look into them. Not saying NOT to do as you are, but make sure you know ALL of the options...and if you find the perfect place for her, why...take whatever money you have gotten and donate it to them! That would be a win-win for everyone!

Thank you, tho the goal isn't to find her a new home, I'm trying to find her actual family before I bring her to a shelter. Thats the whole point. I have no intent on being the one to find her forever home if I can't find her family. I know better than that, the whole objective of this is to see if I can find the people she belongs to BEFORE she gets put up for adoption.

 

[Anime Chick]

Thank you to the person who donated 25 dollars! Only 75 left to go before the funding page will start to also become visible in the funding pages actively!

 

[betsygee]

Note that this reminder is posted in all threads asking for donations and is not directed at any specific person.

From the Mods:
To all members, a reminder that it is YOUR responsibility to check out these solicitors to the best of your ability. Ask for references, phone numbers, call around the area and find out if this is a legitimate cause or a scam. Thecatsite.com does not stand behind any solicitation of funds for any reason that appear in the forums unless explicitly authorized. Be very careful before you send any money: no matter how effective the plea is, check it out first before opening your wallet. For more information, see Pleas for Money.

 

[kashmir64]

Put up flyers saying you found a kitten. But make sure not to put any features on the flyer and make anyone who calls describe the kitten. You can also look on Facebook for a lost and found page (in your area) to see if anyone is looking for her. Call all local shelters and pounds to see if anyone has reported her as lost. You could also look on Craigslist (your area) under lost and found.
If all these come up negative, it's a good chance that she's a stray.
If this happens, I would find a no-kill/ low-kill shelter for her. This way she can get spayed, vaccinated and any other medical help she needs. Also, any new owner will be vetted so you know she'll go to a good home.

Also, take her to a vet or shelter and have her scanned for a chip. Most will do this for free.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I did go back and share your funding page.

 

[Anime Chick]

Put up flyers saying you found a kitten. But make sure not to put any features on the flyer and make anyone who calls describe the kitten. You can also look on Facebook for a lost and found page (in your area) to see if anyone is looking for her. Call all local shelters and pounds to see if anyone has reported her as lost. You could also look on Craigslist (your area) under lost and found.
If all these come up negative, it's a good chance that she's a stray.
If this happens, I would find a no-kill/ low-kill shelter for her. This way she can get spayed, vaccinated and any other medical help she needs. Also, any new owner will be vetted so you know she'll go to a good home.

Also, take her to a vet or shelter and have her scanned for a chip. Most will do this for free.

Thanks for the advice. Shes not a kitten tho, from what I can tell now that I've looked at her closer. I assumed she was because shes smaller than my other two and really scrawny. But I think its because shes underfed.

I would make physical flyers but my printer is out of ink and I can't really afford to buy more. Tho I did take some pictures of her with my tablet and plan to walk around asking if anyone is missing the kitty.

Theres a place down the way from me who claims she used to walk around there from time to time so I'm gonna ask the manager at the complex on Monday to see if they know if anyone living out there owns the kitty. They should know after all.

I plan to call some shelters on Monday since nothing is open right now. Or see if PetSense can make some calls around for me since they work with foster caregivers for animals. I figure they may be in contact with some shelters.

I did look on Craigslist and even tried some 'Lost Pet' sites too. I thought I found her owner there but she said its not her kitty, so I've got more work to do. But I have two options if I can't find her owners. I only figured she had one because shes so friendly--like... overly so--but I do know a woman who said if I can't find a place for her, she has a buddy who works at a no-kill shelter.

She said let her know and she'd get in contact with her if all else fails. I'll look into contacting the woman who looked after my kitten before I got him tho first to see if she can foster her.

 

[Anime Chick]

I did go back and share your funding page.

Thank you very much, I greatly appreciate it~!

 

[kashmir64]

If you find she lives close by, do you really want to give her back to people that let her get into that condition?

 

[inkysmom]

Kashmir64 has a very good point. In case she got out and is thin because she's been lost for a while, the public library will let you print out a certain number of free pages daily, ten maybe? And give you an hour on the internet free daily. You could make the flyers there, or make them at home and print them at the library.
Posting on Facebook, Craigslist, Instagram, Snapchat, are all free and will get word out.

 

[Anime Chick]

If you find she lives close by, do you really want to give her back to people that let her get into that condition?

I did think of that... I don't like to judge unless its been seen theres blatant abuse going on normally tho.

Shes not so thin you can see her ribs and/or spine at least, I know that much. She just seemed a bit underweight, which if shes an inside-outside cat which I think she is... and just happened to wander too far off from her home, I causing her to become a bit thin, I don't feel its right to blame the owner. Any more than I can if she was an inside cat and escaped and they weren't able to catch her. If she was blatantly starved inside someones home, or whatever then I could consider it more seriously.

They always tell you not to judge the situation when it comes to lost animals because you don't know how long the animal has been missing for or why it happened. With no actual evidence to prove that its their fault shes a bit underweight, it makes it hard to place blame as them being bad pet parents.

Its not like I found her in their yard and she was underweight...

I've sent in reports before on abused animals that were blatantly being abused, so I'm not against it if its justified against the pet parent themselves.

 

[Anime Chick]

Kashmir64 has a very good point. In case she got out and is thin because she's been lost for a while, the public library will let you print out a certain number of free pages daily, ten maybe? And give you an hour on the internet free daily. You could make the flyers there, or make them at home and print them at the library.
Posting on Facebook, Craigslist, Instagram, Snapchat, are all free and will get word out.

I honestly don't even know where they library around my area is but I'll check. Not all libraries will let you print out stuff for free, even in limited amounts. I lived a place once where every sheet you used cost 10 cents a paper. I have no clue what they may charge if they will, here.

I do have plans--after I make some other important calls I have to make tomorrow--to walk down to the complex tho and ask the manager as I said before. But I also planned to walk downtown if I still have the energy--since I have to walk everywhere and the cold air makes it hard to breathe--and while I'm down there I'll see if the library is within the downtown area or not.

If it is, I'll see if they let me. Tho my mom is really REALLY pushing the aspect of stuffing her into someone else's care. So I'll have to see about that lady who does foster-work first before I do that anyway. Which, shes one of the calls I need to make.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Keep us posted. I very much want to see this little girl settled somewhere safe. She's a little beauty, isn't she?

 

[inkysmom]

It's true she could be a young active cat who's on the thin side naturally and then being lost and not finding enough to eat could have made her become too thin. Or a medical condition could be causing her to be too thin, like overactive thyroid or a broken tooth that makes eating painful.
My two remaining cats have always been on the thin side, they've always been super active and high energy and ran and played and jumped around tons and just never gained weight. So now Lovey's 14 and whenever he's had any medical issues he's lost weight and become too thin. He had an intestinal blockage a year and a half ago, he always loves to eat hair, lint, plastic/fuzzy things that he shouldn't. My dog chewed up a toy and left the stuffing out and Lovey ate the stuffing before I got home to clean it up. I took him to the vet ER and the x rays didn't show anything so they sent him home even though he'd vomited at least six times in a few hours and wouldn't eat. Then I found the stuffing in a hidden vomit pile under a table (sorry to be gross) and he was worse overnight so I brought him back the next day and they did an ultrasound and found the blockage. By then he was so weak and dehydrated they admitted him and gave him IV fluids to stabilize him before they deemed him strong enough for surgery. By the time he was stable enough and they started the surgery the blockage was almost passed on its own so they closed him back up and let it pass. He was home the next night but the three days of not eating made him lose a pound or two. On a thin cat that sets him over the edge into looking terrible. Then for the next few weeks it took a while for his appetite to return (he's always been picky and not a great eater his whole life) so he didn't regain all the weight. They were talking about testing him for ibd. I started putting out three cans a day plus a cup of dry food for the two of them and he eventually gained back most of the weight.

Now with the cancer, the chemotherapy made him nauseous and the stress of going to the vet all the time gave him an upper respiratory infection. When cats can't smell the food they don't eat. After that finally cleared up, several hospital admissions and a few weeks later and me stopping the chemo, he got diarrhea for two weeks (that's fun on a long haired cat!). Constant washing, cutting the fur on his whole back end, brushing and putting puppy poop pads everywhere since if I lock him up or don't let him on my bed with me he refuses to eat at all. Despite all that and 9 or 10 doses of medications a day for his appetite, pain relief (if he doesn't get that one he poops or pees on my futon!), two antinausea meds, antidiarrhea med, steroid, he's down about 2 pounds now (was 2.5 pounds but he's gained back 1/2-3/4 of a pound). Not to mention the 5 days of wearing a cone and raw red skin along his back end from him overgrooming and literally washing it till it was raw. He hates cones and the last time he had to wear one he deliberately peed on the futon in front of me to tell me to take it off.
But he looks like a starvation case; I'm always afraid when I take him to the vet they're going to take him away from me and say I'm starving him, except that they've had him in the hospital several times now and see themselves that he won't eat much. I literally have two or three cans of food out all the time, go through a large bag of Temptations treats every few days (he'll eat those), a plate of dry food, kitten chow(more calories) and am going through canned food like crazy. For the first time my other cat is getting chunky eating all the food his brother won't eat. I bring my dog to appointments for Lovey partly because the dog has separation anxiety and I never know how long the appointments will be and because the dog and Lovey are bonded and seem to like being in the room waiting together, and partly so they can see that my dog is muscular but about five pounds overweight (underactive thyroid), so they don't think I starve my animals.

I've had other cats that when they're sick get very thin. My old horse almost died a year ago and she looked like a starvation case from Cushing's disease. Once I moved her to a better place and the medication started working, she finally started eating and gained all the weight back and looks fine now. She eats more food than racehorses and much larger horses but she needs it for her metabolism.

The point of this longwinded speech was it's not always the owners' fault a pet is thin; sometimes the pet doesn't have a great appetite or has medical issues or is very active and they do everything they can. And if a pet escapes and was already on the thin side going without food for a few days or weeks can push them into being too thin very easily. But there are also people who shouldn't have pets that don't care about them and are abusive and starve them and worse hurt them.
So if anyone tries to claim her, I'd be careful about giving her back to them. If your resources are so limited, you might just want to give her to a no kill shelter or rescue. They can still return her to her original owner if they try to claim her and they can be careful screening out possible abuse and neglect. Plus they can check her out medically for health problems to see why she's thin which it doesn't sound like you have the means to do right now. She might need that as she could have worms or something that needs immediate treatment.
I worked with someone who meant well but had a cat with a mouth full of infected teeth who got very thin because it hurt the poor thing to eat. The cat literally walked around meowing and crying all day because it was hungry and in pain. The person had no money and even when I looked up and gave them options for financial aid in the state for vet care did nothing for the cat, but then found money for a trip to visit family. I wanted to report the person to authorities but would have lost my job if I did. The cat eventually got treatment.

 

[Anime Chick]

It's true she could be a young active cat who's on the thin side naturally and then being lost and not finding enough to eat could have made her become too thin. Or a medical condition could be causing her to be too thin, like overactive thyroid or a broken tooth that makes eating painful.
My two remaining cats have always been on the thin side, they've always been super active and high energy and ran and played and jumped around tons and just never gained weight. So now Lovey's 14 and whenever he's had any medical issues he's lost weight and become too thin. He had an intestinal blockage a year and a half ago, he always loves to eat hair, lint, plastic/fuzzy things that he shouldn't. My dog chewed up a toy and left the stuffing out and Lovey ate the stuffing before I got home to clean it up. I took him to the vet ER and the x rays didn't show anything so they sent him home even though he'd vomited at least six times in a few hours and wouldn't eat. Then I found the stuffing in a hidden vomit pile under a table (sorry to be gross) and he was worse overnight so I brought him back the next day and they did an ultrasound and found the blockage. By then he was so weak and dehydrated they admitted him and gave him IV fluids to stabilize him before they deemed him strong enough for surgery. By the time he was stable enough and they started the surgery the blockage was almost passed on its own so they closed him back up and let it pass. He was home the next night but the three days of not eating made him lose a pound or two. On a thin cat that sets him over the edge into looking terrible. Then for the next few weeks it took a while for his appetite to return (he's always been picky and not a great eater his whole life) so he didn't regain all the weight. They were talking about testing him for ibd. I started putting out three cans a day plus a cup of dry food for the two of them and he eventually gained back most of the weight.

Now with the cancer, the chemotherapy made him nauseous and the stress of going to the vet all the time gave him an upper respiratory infection. When cats can't smell the food they don't eat. After that finally cleared up, several hospital admissions and a few weeks later and me stopping the chemo, he got diarrhea for two weeks (that's fun on a long haired cat!). Constant washing, cutting the fur on his whole back end, brushing and putting puppy poop pads everywhere since if I lock him up or don't let him on my bed with me he refuses to eat at all. Despite all that and 9 or 10 doses of medications a day for his appetite, pain relief (if he doesn't get that one he poops or pees on my futon!), two antinausea meds, antidiarrhea med, steroid, he's down about 2 pounds now (was 2.5 pounds but he's gained back 1/2-3/4 of a pound). Not to mention the 5 days of wearing a cone and raw red skin along his back end from him overgrooming and literally washing it till it was raw. He hates cones and the last time he had to wear one he deliberately peed on the futon in front of me to tell me to take it off.
But he looks like a starvation case; I'm always afraid when I take him to the vet they're going to take him away from me and say I'm starving him, except that they've had him in the hospital several times now and see themselves that he won't eat much. I literally have two or three cans of food out all the time, go through a large bag of Temptations treats every few days (he'll eat those), a plate of dry food, kitten chow(more calories) and am going through canned food like crazy. For the first time my other cat is getting chunky eating all the food his brother won't eat. I bring my dog to appointments for Lovey partly because the dog has separation anxiety and I never know how long the appointments will be and because the dog and Lovey are bonded and seem to like being in the room waiting together, and partly so they can see that my dog is muscular but about five pounds overweight (underactive thyroid), so they don't think I starve my animals.

I've had other cats that when they're sick get very thin. My old horse almost died a year ago and she looked like a starvation case from Cushing's disease. Once I moved her to a better place and the medication started working, she finally started eating and gained all the weight back and looks fine now. She eats more food than racehorses and much larger horses but she needs it for her metabolism.

The point of this longwinded speech was it's not always the owners' fault a pet is thin; sometimes the pet doesn't have a great appetite or has medical issues or is very active and they do everything they can. And if a pet escapes and was already on the thin side going without food for a few days or weeks can push them into being too thin very easily. But there are also people who shouldn't have pets that don't care about them and are abusive and starve them and worse hurt them.
So if anyone tries to claim her, I'd be careful about giving her back to them. If your resources are so limited, you might just want to give her to a no kill shelter or rescue. They can still return her to her original owner if they try to claim her and they can be careful screening out possible abuse and neglect. Plus they can check her out medically for health problems to see why she's thin which it doesn't sound like you have the means to do right now. She might need that as she could have worms or something that needs immediate treatment.
I worked with someone who meant well but had a cat with a mouth full of infected teeth who got very thin because it hurt the poor thing to eat. The cat literally walked around meowing and crying all day because it was hungry and in pain. The person had no money and even when I looked up and gave them options for financial aid in the state for vet care did nothing for the cat, but then found money for a trip to visit family. I wanted to report the person to authorities but would have lost my job if I did. The cat eventually got treatment.

I do intend to be careful and while her weight is under, its not on a severe case so my best guess is she just wasn't being fed by people when she escaped. Even the old woman who handed her to me refused to feed her because someone ELSE told her NOT to because 'it would find its own food'.

So if you got a bunch of people with the mind frame this cat can just find its own food and it may be a lost cat that may or may not be used to being outside, could more than likely be why shes a little thin. I mean... you can get an idea of her weight from the video in the link that I added into it. I get enough views in it of her body that you can grasp her weight pretty easy I think. I've also been making sure shes fed here, regardless.

I did call a few places today and am waiting to hear back from them because no one was able to pick up so I left messages giving her description and asking them to please call me back.

If it comes down to it, I'll talk to that woman who suggested the no-kill shelter her friend works for and leave her to them but ask them to please find her home. Tho I will say right now that its VERY unlikely I can even get her into one since the ones I called all said they are full up. Meaning I won't be able to get her into a no-kill shelter at all if the woman's friend's no-kill shelter can't take her and the woman who fostered my kitten can't take her in either.

So where does that leave her then? She'd be shoved in a kill shelter if I can't look after her at that point. I can't force someone to take her anymore than I can force someone from the no-kill shelters to take her in.

One of the biggest issues is that as they stated on the phone... theres just not enough foster families to send the animals to... so no new cats can go in, which means they just get stuffed into kill shelters and another animal has to pay for it... which breaks my heart.

Whatever happens I wanna try to help this sweet girl. She deserves the chance to have a home and be happy, whether its back with her people or in a new one...

 

[Anime Chick]

Keep us posted. I very much want to see this little girl settled somewhere safe. She's a little beauty, isn't she?

She is. Shes very beautiful.
I will indeed let you guys know what happens with her. Right now things are looking pretty rough tho since the no-kill shelters here are full up, but I'm gonna do what I can to see if I can find her people and decide what to do if I can't. Right now it seems like I'm really her only option so I'm really hoping that the GoGetFunding works...

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Lighting a candle for you!

 

[Anime Chick]

UPDATE;

- I spoke with the vet today on how much things would cost to handle getting her checked for any deadly sicknesses, as well as check out her hip issue and get testing done to see if that is hip dysplasia... and it would come out to me needing at least $115.00 so thats not gonna be for a bit if at all...

- I called the woman who fostered Saru before I got him to see if she could take him and she said not only is she full up, but they foster up to around 100 cats at a time. But to call her once a week to see if they have an opening.

- I also spoke to my mail carrier who drives on the street where she was around and asked if she knew who the owner was, hoping she might and from what she says the cat is just an absurdly friendly stray and theres a bunch of strays that live out there. I hope this is the case because it means I will feel less bad about finding her a new home... of course, this also means I get her nowhere quickly either.

- The shelters I contacted are all too full to take her and the only one who WOULD can only do so after helping look for her owners after one week. Otherwise, they can't and the e-mail I tried to send to ask them to do this never went through. Apparently, it was a bad e-mail...


---
So basically I'm still stuck with nowhere to put this cat yet and I'm terrified to inform my folks about this because they are so tweaked on this matter.

For three reasons... tho the main simply being her gender.

Because I already have a female cat my mom is worried that 'another queen won't get along with her'. Shes just got this idea stuck that it can NEVER work and they'd try to kill each other even tho I've had two female cats before who coincided just fine.

The other two tho is financially based because she knows I can't afford the extra food and litter. The last thing being that shes worried she may have a deadly sickness, which was the whole point of checking if she did from the vet which I can't do because I just don't have that kinda money... which was the whole point of the 'gogetfunding' thing which I JUST found out takes out money from you.. not sure if its a 'monthly payment' for active donation pool things or if its they took out a small percentage of what was sent to me... but if its monthly that means I'm gonna be leaking money unless it really kicks up... so I'm kinda in a fix here and with no real outs at the moment.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Dang. I think GoFundMe does a better job of it, actually. Take a look at them. IF you decide to go there, post the link, and I'll make sure it is shared on my social media, both FB and Twitter.