Mucho Dinero

7th Street Sick Kitty - Missing

All was quiet this morning.  At each of my locations, the usual suspects were waiting for me - an average of three cats - most have just that, but some have five or six, and some have one.   There are spots where I've been feeding the same cats day in and day out, never missing a beat, and then there are some where I haven't seen the little one in a long while, a short while, or since yesterday.  You wonder what has happened to the ones you haven't seen in a long while.  You know they are homeless, you know this or that one was very sick the last time you saw them, you know that the most likely scenario was not a good one - so you say a little prayer for them, and hope to see them again.   Take my mother's cat, that she had let out for five minutes before a coyote attacked and killed her.  She was the mom of four beautiful kittens, three of them died shortly after birth, and the other lived, being named Katie, and went on to a good home.  Poor Penny.  She didn't deserve to die like that.  My mother was sick over it.  This is why I don't believe in letting animals outdoors, and the fact that I feed over 30 strays each day - people who have either kicked out the cat because being unneutered or unsprayed, are spraying their house, or they move and leave the animals there, and now you have a city full of homeless animals.  And I try to care for them all.  But I can't protect them. 

Pennsylvania & 4th - Winter

Someone asked me how much food I go through per day.  It still amazes me how I've been able to do this on my own, with occasional help from some very kind people who occasionally donate, and for that I am so grateful, but on average, I go through 16-18 pounds per day of dry food - that's $10 per bag, which with taxes, is close to $80 or $90 (I was never a math major), and wet food, which is like gold to them - well - a box of canned food is at least $15 for 24 cans?  I go through 25 5-oz. cans per day.  That's a lot of food.  And that's a lot of money each week I am spending out of my own pocket, in a one income household.  I am still amazed at how I've been able to keep afloat - and I wonder and worry how long I will be able to do it. 

These cats depend on me, its their one and only meal of the day before the other cats hiding in the shadows push in, or the raccoons and opossums sniff their way to the food - they are so hungry each morning - there is not one fat cat on my route. 

I am thankful for the weather, and that they haven't needed the shelters that I am trying to provide, and that they will need to survive the freezing cold temps we will for sure experience very soon. 

On a brighter note, I was able to place a tote shelter on the porch of the abandoned house just around the corner on Garson and Chamberlain, and called for the kitties that I could see waiting on the porch of the house where the owner hates me and removes my bowls each and every day.  They came running, which made me happy.  I've been distraught wondering how I was going to shelter these three cats that I feed on a regular basis, Casey, Lucy, and this grey kitty, and hopefully - if I am quiet enough and the neighbors don't see me at that time in the morning, this new spot will their new home, for a while.  Until the next cat hater comes along and tells me to stop feeding there.  Ah, the small things that make our day, eh? 

I have tomorrow off from work, thank God - my spirit needs renewing.

Have a great weekend. 

"Hate is not the first enemy of love.  Fear is.

It destroys your ability to trust."