From former lurker RL:
I’m a long-time lurker at Balloon Juice. I was first drawn in by the writings of Sarah Tall and Proud and have grown to love the site’s contributors over the years. I start every day perusing a few blogs and BJ is one of them.
My parter (business and life) has a Go Fund Me for her cat rescue operations. We have had more than a dozen stray cats walk up on our property in the last 3 years. We have kept a few, adopted some out, and trap-and-released some. We live on a dead end street that is sort of rural, but right against a very urban area, so apparently people use it as a cat dumping area. We try to keep up.
Then Romeo – one of our trap and release cats that stuck around – got into a some kind of scuffle and required surgery for his ear. That sort of pushed us over the edge cat fund-wise.
I’ll tell you a very quick, Readers Digest version of where we are. When Covid struck, my partner was employed as a waitress at a high-end restaurant and I was touring as a drummer in bands and filling other time with a construction crew. We were lucky enough to buy a small house in Stone Mountain, GA just before Covid hit. I am immune compromised, Crohn’s Disease. We realized we had to reassess quickly, as neither of our employment situations was safe. So we both left our jobs and started a company that specializes in “outdoor improvement.” I build fences and decks, pressure wash and do various outdoor things; my partner gardens and does things such as hardscaping. Also, my partner found part time contactless employment filling orders for a print shop. Through this and help from awesome Joe Biden, we kept our house.
(BTW – as an aside, I have lots of fun stories from touring. I’ve played for Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, John Sinclair, and lots of bands you probably have not heard of, lol. Glad to trade stories for funds!)
So – A friend convinced my partner to set up a Go Fund Me. I’m helping spread the word and I thought of the BJ community…
There’s a picture of Romeo over at the GoFundMe:
HELP ME SURVIVE KITTEN SEASON!
I never set out to work in cat rescue. But I live near an industrial area where cats are dumped a lot, and they just started walking up to the house. At last count, there have been 15 and I have gotten them all fixed.
Some have been feral, and I have trapped, neutered and released them (TNR). I have socialized some and gotten them adopted into loving homes. I’ve personally housed as many as I can, both inside and out. I can either fix the adults or else be swarmed with kittens, many of whom will be in rough shape.
Each year brings a fresh wave of tomcats, all duking it out to be king of kitten season. The mamas with fragile kittens are right behind them. I am committed to spaying or neutering every cat that comes to my yard (or that I help someone trap in their yard) so that the feral population can be controlled instead of euthanized in shelters (they are all full) or suffering life on the streets.
There are vet bills. TNR spay/neuter surgery fees currently range from $30-$50, depending on where there are available appointments. Recently, retired community tomcat Romeo was attacked by a feral tom and had to have his head stitched up ($580, before suture removal). I also keep up with yearly vaccination and registration.
Rescue Bleg: Cat TNR Volunteers in Georgia Need Funding AssistancePost + Comments (31)