Poor? Pay Up.

You have to be rich to be poor.

That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.

Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html?hpid=topnews

(sort of a continuation of an earlier discussion)

My stray kitten showed up on a cold day in January, and was happy to be inside even though the thermostat was set on 55. As soon as it got warmer he wanted back out, to come and go as he pleased.

Every morning I wondered if I would pull up the shade to see him flattened on the road in front of my apartment complex. In a way I hoped to find him that way -- it would relieve the guilt I felt about not sacrificing food, gas, etc. to have him fixed (Bob Barker syndrome).

Last Monday I pulled up the shade and he wasn't there on the sill, waiting for his handout. I was sad but relieved to be free of my guilt, as he didn't appear Tuesday either. By the end of the week I'd convinced myself he'd found a new home. It had been raining day and night all week; there was flash flooding. I knew he was inside somewhere warm and dry.

Saturday morning at 1 am. I couldn't sleep, and I stuck my head out the front window to look at the gray skies. I looked down to see a soaking wet ball of fur on the doorstep, pressed against the door trying to stay dry.

I opened the door and a soaking wet Jake walked slowly over the threshold. As I tried to cover him with a towel he screamed in pain. He lay down on a throw rug, and gratefully ate the food I put down on the floor; he was so thin. His normally big fluffy tail was hanging, and I picked it up. He howled as I examined the deep wound running the full length of the underside of his tail.

So began my vigil. I hoped he was near death, and at the same time I was checking my online bank balance. But he wouldn't die. I know some would say throw him back out or club him like a baby seal--it's only a cat. But that's not me, and it's not his fault that the only person who'd halfway cared for him happened to be poor.

At 10 am Jake went to the vet. I kicked my own ass all the way there, thinking if I'd sacrificed earlier to have him fixed, maybe just maybe he would have stayed in the house. So when I was given the estimate to put him back together after being hit by a car, I dutifully shelled out the $277 to stitch his tail and set his broken leg. Since the anesthesia was the majority of the price, I pulled out my one credit card (which I'd finally paid off) to add a simultaneous neuter, as well as shots.

So now I've got an 'official' cat that's worth at the very least $450 when all is done. He lives in subsidized housing with someone who scrapes the mold off the bread rather than waste it, who went a whole winter without turning on the heat, who never turns on the lights.

I hope he doesn't mind the living conditions when he comes home today.

Felix was my "stray" he adopted me in much the same way. I found him under a Dumpster as a kitten. Some how he Knew that he was not allowed in the subsidized unit and would hide behind the tub during inspections.
He was perfectly happy eating cheap dry cat food and supplemented his diet with fresh meat in the form of birds and mice. especially mice. he figured out how to open cabinet doors and jumped up/in to catch the mice eating my food. When it was cold he would nudge under the blanket with me and together we would feel like Kings.
He insisted on going out, he hated using a box. He always returned in time for the next meal. At first I was scared as it was downtown, however he knew how to watch for cars and kept away from everyone else. He once woke me just before I burned some noodles.
He not only brought me company, and gave me unconditional love. But also provided incredible luck. by the time he died, I had gone from unemployed and starving. To owning my own apartment complex. He appeared 2 weeks before I got a job. and died 6 months after I owned the building.

I do hope Jake does he same for you.

your post. We are not sure if he's 'ours' or just a visitor...but this weekend he got the flea juice, and I'm thinking vet...
I think people just move away and leave them. Peace to you and to Jake and to the other lovers of the random cats here on this thread. Kind people make the world better.

Mamakitty was abandoned, and had a litter of kittens. The neighbors and I got the kittens out of a garage that Mamakitty had moved them to. Unfortunately, one of the kittens was making too much noise and so the next door neighbor let it out to join her mother. I was so angry. It took me all that summer to get Mamakitty to trust me. Offspring (because we couldn't get near enough to figure out the sex), was totally another matter. She never had a human touch her. We started feeding them this past winter, I could not see them starve, when a little dry food was all that they required. Then I had made a ham, which had a lot of fat on it (it was a cheap ham, and the bone would be used in soup). I started to give some of the ham to the "girls" and I was finally able to touch Offspring. She had great manners for being unused to humans. She would take the ham fat very gently from my hand. They put on so much fat during the winter, that when we had the really cold spell, they were able to survive.

I tried to find a place to get them both neutered, but the place for the poor (you had to be on some sort of government assistance) wanted $85 a piece to have them taken care of. I don't have $170 for 2 cats that aren't mine and that could get run over the next day. By some miracle, neither of them have gotten pregnant so far, although there has been a tom sniffing around, lately. We feed them everyday now, not a lot because I'm sure that they are getting birds or mice. And Offspring, will actually walk in front of me in the doorway to be petted. But, as soon as I walk outside, she runs away, and won't get closer than 3 feet. It will be an interesting summer trying to get her to trust me when I'm not in the doorway.

zalinda

Call around to various rescue groups and shelters to see if anyone can come up with a better price for getting them fixed... otherwise, there will be more of them very soon. Rescue groups may be more sympathetic to your situation because they certainly understand pet overpopulation. Call all of the rescue groups and shelters in the phone book.

Also check this link for more help.

I tried to catch two feral female dogs, but couldn't catch them until each got pregnant and gave birth to 10 pups. Suddenly my rescue became 22 dogs instead of 2. I will never be so patient in catching a stray again... I will just rush in and do the job.

The first winter my husband died, I had a stray cat come to us. It was in the low 20's outside. I let him in, fed him, introduced him to the other cats (they were not very accepting) and let him settle in. I took him to the vet, had him fixed and got his shots. He hung around, coming and going as he pleased for about 2 years. One day he finally stopped coming to the door. I do still see him around the neighborhood sometimes. I don't know who is caring for him or where he is staying, but he looks healthy when I see him. So don't feel guilty about his injuries. Neutering him would not have made him stay home.

I suffer from Major Depressive Disorder. Four years ago, I was at my lowest. I thought about suicide every day and I went to sleep every night hoping I wouldn't wake up. At some point, a small stray cat started hanging around our garbage bins. It was hot so we tended to leave the back door open and one day, the cat wandered in. Very nervous and not sure of her welcome but she came in and I put my hand out very slowly so she could smell me, like I was taught. She nuzzled my hand. Blind in one eye, half-deaf and covered in scars but she was so desperate for affection.

She saved me. I had a decent job and a partner but MDD isn't rational, it's not about "you have so much to live for" but somehow, that cat made me improve. Maybe because, unlike my partner, she couldn't take care of herself.

She passed away of FIV three months ago. During the four years we had her, we also had another cat who was literally abandoned on our doorstep as a kitten. He passed away of a massive heart attack at the age of two.

A week ago, we went to the shelter and picked up two new cats. One with hyperthyroidism and one with FIV and they're wonderful.

You and your partner are good and kind souls. I hope the cats continue to heal you.

When Jake was hurt, he came to you. So I don't think the living conditions will matter to him.

He chose you... maybe he thinks you need him. Good luck and happy times to you both.

well, many people DO realize this side of it but don't think through the reverse -- the poorer you are, the fewer opportunities you have to save.

as a simple example, just how well-off do you need to be to take the full $16,500 government gift of tax-deferral each year? certainly someone making $33,000 a year isn't likely to make do without half their income.

There are many people who don't realize that. there are some here on DU. If you check the the thread on this topic in General discussion. One of them said that the poor in the US need to learn how to live off $200 a month like poeple in the Ukraine do. Some really said that.

that you must be poor once in your life, to truly appreciate having money. to feel compassion for others with the same "lack of funds" you once had. I know so many people who are "trust fund babies". people who will divorce their wives/husbands just before grandpa dies. (to keep the money)

for instance I know a family who heard about "Spamalot" and couldn't get tickets to the show here. but landed tickets in Washington D.C.
so they flew (the whole family) to Washington, staid in a Hotel saw the show took in the sights and flew home. Still saying they are "struggling". Access to his trust is unlimited, yet it still "does not count". :eyes:

My SO used to drive an (insured, inspected) clunker, but he drove without a license. Almost every time he went out in the car, he got pulled over, because the cops in the suburbs know that crappy cars are likely to net them fines - for either inspection, insurance or license violations.

He finally got a friend who was a lawyer to go to court with him, and proved to the judge that he was had contacted all the municipalities where he owed money, but was not allowed to pay off some of the fines that were keeping him from re-gaining his license, because the municipalities had no record of the details of offense (mostly parking tickets and driving without a license), wouldn't accept his payment, and yet wouldn't release the hold on his license and continued to fine him for driving without a license. The judge summararily cleared his record, and let him get a new license so he could stop racking up fine after fine of driving without one. But how is the average Joe, without a lawyer buddy, supposed to do this?

When he drove my nicer, newer car, he was never once stopped by the police.

The way the system is set up the disadvantages of not having money are compounded in every arena.

good article. Thanks for the link.