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You have connections on here just by posting and caring for these kittens. Maybe what you can do is start writing letters to your state and local representatives about getting the laws changed, or ask them for help for funding your shelters so there aren't so many strays and unwanted animals. Ask for a free spay/neuter program. Write a letter every week until someone hears you. I'm sure you have some people in your county that you know that you can get on board to write letters too. Post the information for your local and state representatives and I will write letters just to help. I know you are only one person, but one can become many.
As of last month, the humane society here in Cushing does a low cost spay/neuter for pets. Its based on income. Up to now nobody did. One of the vets has a low cost clinic once in a while. This area has exploded with ferals lately.
I like the paypal idea. I would happily donate what I can. A lot of five dollar contrubutions add up. I've been a part of several fund raising campaigns where the most money came from the donation fund, where if you can't put much in, you can put something. Setting it up with your blog would be great, and linking it with the youtube vids would be great too.
I like the paypal idea. I would happily donate what I can. A lot of five dollar contrubutions add up. I've been a part of several fund raising campaigns where the most money came from the donation fund, where if you can't put much in, you can put something. Setting it up with your blog would be great, and linking it with the youtube vids would be great too.
You know, that's really a good idea. You could almost do a virtual shelter with people providing donations to assist with the spay/neuter. It never hurts to ask. You could even go beyond the current kitties and help spay/neuter other cats as well. I'd donate to something like that. It's more personal than donating to the ASPCA or Humane Society and you can post pictures of them.
I could look into it. I'll have to see if my family would approve of it. They are kind of weary about things like that. Even if I could get my two female kittens spayed, it's hard to guarantee that they would find good homes. I wouldn't want to accept people's money if it wasn't worth it. I'll think about it, I just don't want to alienate people.
I haven't heard back from that lady today about the kittens. But I may take them to her the weekend after next. I'll need help and my parents will be gone this weekend. I plan to stay with my grandparents next week. Getting away for a while should help clear my mind about what to do about the kittens. I appreciate the advice of all of you, but I have a lot of other people telling me to let them be or leave them alone (for a while I had someone telling me to get rid of them). Maybe if I stay with my grandparents next week I'll be able to clear my head a bit. It's hard to know what to do sometimes.
I could be wrong, too, but given that it seems that the OP lives in a pretty rural/remote area, I doubt it is a haven for crush videos, fights, or even laboratories. Those seem to me to be more urban/city problems.
Don't kid yourself... where do you think these despicable people get their free animals to sell to Labs etc? It's the poor rural areas with an excess population of cats and dogs, not the cities where the jobs and money are.
Unfortunately, in this area, probably more than half the kittens and puppies born will live rough lives, if they live very long at all (it's not uncommon for kittens to be done away with. A bullet is also a lot cheaper than $30 per animal to have them euthanized). Spaying and neutering is expensive. Unfortunately, most people find it easier to dump or do away with the mother and her kittens, rather than spay her in the first place. They certainly won't spay the kittens.
Lack of money and income doesn't just affect people. It effects the animals as well.
Trying to control the pet population around here (especially through spaying and neutering) is like trying to knock down the Berlin Wall with a fork. The rescue groups and shelters we do have are making slow progress, but I don't expect to see the pet population anywhere close to being under control any time in the next couple of decades.
Last edited by STLCardsBlues1989; 06-11-2010 at 11:56 PM..
Unfortunately, in this area, probably more than half the kittens and puppies born will live rough lives, if they live very long at all (it's not uncommon for kittens to be done away with. A bullet is also a lot cheaper than $30 per animal to have them euthanized). Spaying and neutering is expensive. Unfortunately, most people find it easier to dump or do away with the mother and her kittens, rather than spay her in the first place. They certainly won't spay the kittens.
Lack of money and income doesn't just affect people. It effects the animals as well.
Trying to control the pet population around here (especially through spaying and neutering) is like trying to knock down the Berlin Wall with a fork. The rescue groups and shelters we do have are making slow progress, but I don't expect to see the pet population anywhere close to being under control any time in the next couple of decades.
You have to start somewhere. Here the Humane society is all about dogs, but dumped two litters of kittens on a friend who still has them. All grown up now. But they FINALLY have started a pet low cost spay/neuter program. I have looked all over the area for months and aside from an occasional clinic you pay 40 to 80 dollars per animal, why my girls and boys are currently seperated.
In areas like yours and mine, too, a lot of idiots think the kitty they don't want will find food or a home or at least it won't be their problem and they dump their cat. Thats where my group came from. So its not *just* not spaying your own animals, its idiots who dump theirs far away and out of mind.
True. I've heard many people say it's better to shoot them than dump them. Not that I could do either, but I know people who have done both.
I think some of the animal treatment around here is ignorance, and some of it is conditioned apathy. A lot of people around here don't have the money or the resources to care. If you have $100 to spay your female cat, or a pay a bill or buy clothes for your kids or whatever, the cat doesn't get top priority. It's unfortunate, but this is a poor area with little help. I do what I can. Others are doing what they can, but it really feels like a losing battle. A lot of these animals are doomed as soon as they are born.
just a little tidbit of what can happen to those "Free" cats.... I would NEVER give away a cat to a stranger, with no vet references. This kind of stuff happens all the time, this is just one example. If I had to chose between having a cat euthanized at a so called "shelter" or having this fate, sadly I would chose being put to sleep humanely. Cat killer gets 8-year sentence
and by the way, I am glad this guy got 8 years, he should probably be locked up for life, as he is a danger to society.
__________________
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
If I took the kittens to the shelter, someone could get them there for $5 each. If they're not adopted in five days, they're euthanized, and pound euthanasia is not usually the most humane way to do it. I couldn't afford to euthanize them myself (it's about $30 per animal).
In an area like this there is really no good answer.
Its because of stories like this I have 5 cats. I have people ask me all the time why I have so many cats, and what do I plan to do with them (we're moving soon).
Well, I didn't plan to have 5 cats, it just happened, they were all abandonded, abused strays. Last week, we had a major thunder storm, all 5 cats curled up on the bed with me, looking for reassurance. How could I turn my back on any of them?
I can't save all the cats in the world, but I save my five!
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