Ok, guys PLEASE tell me NO NO NO!!! I really don't feel like I can handle another one! I know some of you out there are laughing at me stressing about the number 10 BUT I really just don't feel like I can do it!! My heart says "what is one more?" my head says "You can barely handle what you have now!" Who should I listen to???
Here is the story and I will do my best to keep it brief.
When I moved here and met my neighbor from across the street I found out that she is also an animal lover. She had five dogs and around 10 to 12 cats. Whenever she came across a lost or stray cat she would bring it home. She didn't want that many in her house so she put them outside. She has a garage that she keeps about three feet deep in straw. She keeps food and water outside. She does take them to the vet and gets them spayed and nuetered. If she sees that one is sick she will take them also. She originally brought in the old, very young, or sickly ones in during the winter. She is the one that found Leroy in a parking lot and brought him home so he could adopt us. I do thank her for that!! Pretty soon people started dropping off cats here because they knew they would be fed. Between the two of us we have been feeding somewhere around twenty cats! That is how the feral mamma cat came along and we got all her babies.
On to the current situation! My neighbors daughter married a soldier, got pregnant, and he was sent to Iraq. She came home to stay with her mother, went into early labor and delivered a baby that weighed only 1.9 lbs! Believe it or not the baby has done very well and came home after three months. BUT due to the babies low immunity all cats have been thrown out! She still feeds them and offers her garage but I have noticed that their level of care is really decreasing! I don't even know how many there are now. She has one pure bred registered persian that has lived the life of luxury that is now a street cat! One declawed cat has been killed by a car and I really don't know what else has happened. We have been blessed with decent weather so far this winter but that is about to change. I of course will put a box on my porch with a feather pillow and blankets for any that need warmth. I always put out food for anything that wanders along.
Here is the situation...One special little kitty seems to want to stay here. She is as cute as can be. Very friendly and has really taken to my husband. Although he will blame me he really likes her and is starting the talk about letting her in. I too would like to open my door to ALL but I don't feel like I can meet their needs!
I get up at 4:30 am, leave by 6:00am, and don't get home until around 5:15pm. I don't feel like I have time to meet the emotional needs of the cats I have now! I am sleep deprived as it is with grooming, feeding and just trying to spend time with each one as much as I can. My husband is helpful but the kitties just won't let him do a lot of these things. He doesn't spend enough one on one time with them so they are very feral leary of him! Except of course for the daddy's rotten boy Sammy.
Anyway, this little girl is working us. I'm sure she hasn't been to the vet yet for spaying and I have two boys that have to go soon. I hope within the next few weeks. I don't even know if she is already pregnant. God forbid!
Where do you draw the line folks? I know I could somehow manage financially as well as emotionally, but I don't know if the cats can! She is a little spitfire and won't be easy to intergrate. Do I want to go through this again when I really don't have time? Do I just wait and hope that my neighbors daughter will soon be moving away and hope that she starts taking better care of the cats again? Am I putting the cart before the horse because this little girl has never been inside and she may not even want to come in. HELP!!! I just don't know what to do!!! Maybe I will just stay a porch mama to her and pray that she doesn't get hit by a car and that she has been to the vet!
I'm so sorry! I said this would be short but boy I needed to let that out! Any advice from my cat loving PT friends is needed.
Here are some pics of the little lady loving my husband.
Here she is loving the concrete and wanting neck scratches
She looks big in the pics but she is a very small kitty.
HUGE *SIGH*
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