ghost cat wrote to us with a problem, hoping we could offer advice on how to re-home her 4 bonded cats that she desperately does not want to give up. With your help, we hope to be able to do one better than that, because rehoming the cats would solve one problem but would most likely create another emergency, which you will understand if you continue reading.
ghost cat did not write asking for money, but if we can come up with $2,500 together, that will get ghost cat on her feet and allow her to keep her family together.
If you want to help, you can use any of the site donation options – look for the *red balloon in the sidebar – and john will send ghost cat a cashiers check.
From ghost cat:
I’m in a very difficult position in my life at the moment and need advice about possibly rehoming my four cats. They are my prescribed emotional support animals, and they also play a major role in my therapy for major depressive disorder and complex PTSD from long-term child abuse.
I need to find a new place to live for the reasons listed below, and my current financial situation is very poor, and I’m worried that I can’t give my cats the care they need. As much as I don’t want to, I may need to give up my cats.
I’m asking for advice because it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be able to find a new home locally that would take my whole family of four bonded cats.
After not being able to pay my rent in full for a few months, I got a notice to vacate my apartment, effective November 30, and then I got a summons to a trial. (The eviction moratoriums don’t protect people who have a month-to-month lease.) This was a huge blow at one of the worst possible times.
Fortunately I was able to get an attorney from NM Legal Aid for the trial, and the case was dismissed.
I still need to move, but I do not owe back rent. I’m facing the usual costs of moving—two month’s rent, damage deposit, transfer of utilities and Internet, etc.—and of course, in the category of when it rains it pours, I also need to replace my laptop, which has a bulging battery that has cracked my trackpad.
One property management company has accepted my application, and they’re OK with the cats (with increased rent and damage deposit).
I’m beyond stressed about finances. Regardless of how much I depend on my cats for my emotional well-being, I can’t see when that will improve. Right now, if one of them needed veterinary care beyond required vaccinations, I couldn’t afford it.
Thank you for any advice you guys could give me at this time.
More about ghost cat and the kitties:
I adopted two cats, Oliver and Nozomi, each around 9 months to a year old, from our municipal shelter in September 2019. A few months later I started fostering two 8-week-old bonded kittens who needed some help with human socialization, also part of my therapy.
In New Mexico, community spread of COVID was confirmed and the animal shelters shut down around the time I needed to decide whether to formally adopt these kittens. I work from home as a freelance medical editor and copy editor and was doing OK financially.
By that time, all four cats were fully bonded and acting like true siblings, so I adopted the two kittens. They are Lyra and Pantalaimon. My experiment in building a harmonious cat family succeeded beyond my expectations.
All four usually sleep together in a cuddle puddle on the bed or next to me on the sofa loveseat where I usually sit to work. They all groom each other, and they groom me, which I find quite flattering. I love them all and will have a very difficult time coping if I have to give them up, but I feel obligated to put their needs ahead of mine at the moment.
I never imagined the pandemic was going to be this awful and drag on for so long, and I really underestimated how much it would affect my mental health, which has fallen off a cliff, along with my ability to make a living.
Thankfully, freelance work is picking back up, and ghost cat will be able to afford rent and care for the kitties, if she can just get over this bump in the road.
If you want to help, you can use any of the site donation options – look for the red balloon in the sidebar. john will send ghost cat a cashiers check.
*I see a red balloon, but Gin & Tonic sees a black balloon. Gotta love a million device/browser combinations.
‘ghost cat’ and Her Kitties Could Use Our HelpPost + Comments (114)