Advice sought: new kitten family...

[phesina]

Thanks, Cataholic. I will see if I can find anything better than the $75. I did call the "Affordable" vet, but the price there is $155.

I finally got to see Debbie today. She said she'd gotten my calls but had been too done in by the heat wave to call me back. She said the kittens and the mother are doing well. The kittens are starting to get around on their own, and they are being careful to keep the door shut.

She is really worried because their other cat, who is quite old, was being beat up by the mom (protecting her babies) and now isn't eating or using the litter box. I said "He needs help. This is serious." I told her to keep them in separate rooms, and she said they're doing that. I then told her to get some tuna fish, Fancy Feast, different wet, juicy, tasty, smelly foods and see if he'll eat some of that, and if he doesn't, let me know. I said this is really serious, and if he doesn't eat, his body could start consuming its own tissue and he could die. (Jessika or anyone else knowledgeable, did I get that right?)

I asked, who is your vet? And she said they don't have one. Can't afford it. (I don't know what the financial situation is or what kinds of things they do afford. Debbie is disabled and I imagine on disability. I don't know anything about the boyfriend Ron's income. They do not live together: she lives with him on weekends but with her mother during the week. The old cat is his, and the mom and kittens are hers.)

I said, let me know if he eats or not, and if he doesn't, I'll find somewhere to get him taken care of, and I'll help with the money. This is the first I knew there was another cat in on all this. She said he IS neutered, at least.

I asked her what their plans were for the kittens when they were old enough to be on their own. She said they were going to find real good homes for them. She knows someone, a woman who is living alone after her boyfriend moved out,who would like a pet, and she's quite sure that woman would be a good adopter. And they know lots of other people. I said, please be careful checking out anyone who says they'd like to adopt one. And tell them to get the kitten spayed or neutered. (Or maybe they can be fixed before being put up for adoption!.. have to check that.)

I told her, DO NOT advertise them on something like Craigslist and how that is prime picking for the kind of dirtbags that want them to do experiments on or to use as bait for training their fighting dogs, and they know how to seem like the kindest, most responsible people you could ever meet when they come to see you about adopting kittens. Debbie was shocked to hear that, and I think I got through to her about it.

Then she told me about someone she knows who has cats that keep having kittens, and when the kittens are old enough to be adopted, she puts a sign out front of her house saying "Free kittens available for good Christian homes." And that these are not feral cats hanging out around her home but her pets that she lets roam free and get pregnant over and over. HOW COME SO MANY PEOPLE SUCK SO MUCH?????

Those cats desperately need to be spayed, but I can't save the world. At least Debbie is trying to do the right thing, and maybe I can help with her cats.