a bed full of cats

Goodness me, what a lot of cats!

I work at an animal shelter and our euthanasia rate for cats is very high, so I've tended to bring them home! Almost all of these had the dreaded black "X" on their cage cards which means they were scheduled to get the needle.

How on earth do you feed them all?

Well, I spend way more on cat, dog & turtle food than I do on my own! As for myself, I eat cheap and keep the thermostat low to save money. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get free pet food through our network of animal rescues....somebody gets more than they can easily store so they portion it out. Last week I got 80 lbs. of dog food from work - we had a massive donation from one of the large grocery chains and there was simply no place to put it. When the economy was better one of the supermarkets donated overripe produce for the tortoises, but now they just mark it down and sell it. But there are some local people with fruit trees and productive vegetable gardens who give me any produce they can't use. I'm at the point at which I really can't take any more in because I simply can't afford to feed them - I have run up my credit cards paying for vet care & food and it has to stop. It's hard though when there are so many homeless animals, but sometimes you just have to turn away. I hate it.

The same thing happened to us, we were foster carers for the cats protection- but we only ended up with 8 !
Good for you -Why don't people understand-neutering=no kittens !

some of them were abandoned at my house - if people know you have pets you're bound to find animals just dumped at your door. One day a truck pulled up to my house, the door opened, the passenger threw a puppy out and sped off.

Goodness, Laura. You are a very compassionate person, to your credit. Strangely enough...my first reaction to the photo was: What a wonderful photo! I love cats...as long as they all get along..it's the more the merrier! Having said that, I have to admit we don't have any cats at the moment...we are striving to keep our aging dog well fed...she can't digest regular "dog food" we feed her what we eat...she loves ravioli! but usually we make her ground beef and rice..or chicken with rice. She's thirteen and aside of her hips being whingey, she's doing pretty good. It's a viscious cycle, in these hard times people can't afford vet services...so there are more waiffs and strays. At least those people found someone who might care for the puppy...instead of leaving it in the middle of nowhere.
Good for you, Laura...please give all those kitties a hug from me!

lovely photo of your beautiful cats...keep up your good work Laura xx

and the vet care is so expensive, there are no vets who are willing to take payments, I suppose because they've been taken advantage of too many times. I'm taking my friend Alison's cat to the vet on Monday, he's jaundiced & not eating, and when she came into work today she was crying. She & her husband have had a rough time financially & they have no money for vet bills, so I'm paying for the visit. I don't have any money either but I can at least put it on Visa and maybe pay it off in the next 20 years or so. I can't let this cat die - Alison has lost 2 dogs in the past year, she had a miscarriage, & a horse stepped on her foot and she's in a lot of pain - so she doesn't need Whiskers to die on her.

that is so kind of you,hope Whiskers will be ok...

Maybe we could all send youa tin of cat food........x

O dear...sad about Whiskers, ...good for you, for helping out. Sounds like there might be an environmental factor at work in her life??

What a brave person you are. I know a lady in France who is just like you. I took two of her cats when I still lived there and I love them to bits. I send her some money on their birthday as a present for their little ex-companions. She currently has 33 and as fast as she homes one she gets two or three more kittens. She is stuck with at least 8 permanent residents who are too old to home, but she loves them to bits.

The local vet' used to give her concessions on neutering and operations, but the practice changed hands and now most of her pension goes on the animals. She also has to contribute to the fees of her Mother's residential home.
She needs an operation for a small hole in her heart, but is scared to leave the cats to someone else's care (even if she could find such a person)

There should be some kind of award set up for people like yourself and Michelle.

Maybe Lulu33 is not far off the mark:if we all gave a dollar or two, there would be a little gesture of goodwill. Has anybody visited the States and come back with spare dollars that are too few to cash? Could amount to something if put together.

Just a thought.

Warm wishes Laura from Felinfan x

Well done to you, Lauram, on helping so many animals !

Those are the lucky ones! What a lovely thing to do for the animals, You have a big heart of gold! I hope some luck comes your way soon you deserve it!!

pray for winning lottery numbers, Helenium, I need them!

Lauram, you are amazing to care for all the cats...and I love your photo of them all snuggled together. Hubby and I keep talking about whether to get another cat again but do worry about the responsibility of cattery fees if we go away, vets bills and just the general food costs. You are sure helping all these cats at great sacrifice to yourself so it makes our indecision insignificant really!

It would be so great for you to win the lottery :)....we can dream!

Pat on the back for you, what a kind person you are. Have you tried asking your local supermarket, if they would put out a basket for shoppers to donate food for the rescued cats. The Tessco near us does this, and a lot of people put the odd tin of cat food in it. O! and Welcome to GoY I'm new Too!

Gorgeous photo Lauram and well done for the work you are doing. They all look happy now with you . I've put this straight onto my favourites with some other ones of your cats lying on their bed (or maybe it was your bed!!) lol