Getting Desperate

I hate to sound like I'm begging, but I'll be blunt - I'm dirt poor right now. We have soon to be 7 people and 5 (4 cats, one dog) animals in our house, with currently only one part time income to support us. We're living off food stamps and housing assistance, and it's not enough.

For added fun, we have a flea infestation - I have tried every home remedy I can - most of them recommend ingredients I don't have access to (no car). Salt doesn't work, vinegar and water just makes my cats mad and the dog run in fear, bathing with various shampoos and soaps/washing clothes and bedding regularly doesn't do a thing, vacuuming daily... it helps for a couple of hours.

A friend of mine was generous enough to buy some Hartz flea medication for my cats, but was only able to buy three, so I had to split a dose between two cats. As you can tell, it didn't work.

I've checked prices on various meds - they're all way out of my range right now, and none of the local vets will take any payment options.

So I'm asking for help - If you can, if you're willing, I can't tell you how grateful I would be if some of you could send even one dose of flea medication. All I can do in return is promise that I'll repay you the money as soon as I'm able.

I know this all sounds dramatic, but unfortunately it's only the truth. We can't get a full night's sleep from the itching, and I can't imagine the torture this must be on the animals.


If you're able/willing to help me out, please send me a message and I can give you my address. Thanks so much.

You're lucky the hartz didn't kill your cats.

Do you have a long term vet who you normally use? If you do there is a cheaper way to treat all of the cats - rescues and shelters do this. They use a large dog tube of Advantage and split it down to the proper doses per weight per cat. BUT you cannot do this if you do not know your cats weight and I suggest you don't even remotely try doing it without vet guidance. Hence I will not give you the doses to do so. Your vet will be able to figure out what dosage the dog needs or if it needs it's own tube. Per tube cost is around $10-12.

Talk to your vet. Don't attempt it on your own.

As soon as you have the money to do so, all animals will need to be treated for tapeworms.

Is there any particular reason why you're the only one out of seven who can work?

If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to own 5 animals, considering their food costs aren't covered under food stamps? I'm asking because that's a pretty hefty financial burden considering the information you've given us, and flea/vet/anything that isnt food and litter can be a large part of that burden (i.e. my food and litter are about $200 per year, and one vet visit cost me $150).

^rad, family members probably lost their jobs. The pets would have been acquired when they were financially better off - it's happening to a lot of people.

But, by gosh if I was Abstract I would be mad to be the one to have to shoulder all of that on my own. With the holiday season around the corner, surely someone else can find some sort of job soon (hopefully).

Originally Posted by rad65

If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to own 5 animals, considering their food costs aren't covered under food stamps? I'm asking because that's a pretty hefty financial burden considering the information you've given us, and flea/vet/anything that isnt food and litter can be a large part of that burden (i.e. my food and litter are about $200 per year, and one vet visit cost me $150).

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How can you begin to make this assumption, without knowing what happened?
I am sorry, but I have been in the OP shoes, and this kind of assumption just made me very mad. I became unemployed when I already had my pets - WHAT was I supposed to do? Give them up to be put down at the shelter? NO WAY - they are my kids, and I will go to the end of the World and back for them. I will give them food before I have food in my plate.
Before making this kind of assumption, THINK. The country is in an awful situation, and millions of people lost jobs. She is keeping her family together. You do not know if she chose this situation.

Originally Posted by Carolina

How can you begin to make this assumption, without knowing what happened?

I am sorry, but I have been in the OP shoes, and this kind of assumption just made me very mad. I became unemployed when I already had my pets - WHAT was I supposed to do? Give them up to be put down at the shelter? NO WAY - they are my kids, and I will go to the end of the World and back for them. I will give them food before I have food in my plate.
Before making this kind of assumption, THINK. The country is in an awful situation, and millions of people lost jobs. She is keeping her family together. You do not know if she chose this situation.

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I agree, very blunt, I have six cats and always been ok money wise but just recently have been so broke its unbelievable, Harvey needs the vets tomorrow and luckily I can pay our vets in instalments. With the current economy things are tough and flea medication is a very little thing to ask for, if I could help I would but I am in a very similar situation and my hubby is working so many hours at the minute, I hardly see him. I hope someone can help you.xx

why did you choose to own 5 animals
My cats are a litter - a mother and her three kittens (now grown). I've already given away the other 2 of the litter, as well as the father. The dog belongs to my mother. And like Carolina says, I am just not willing to give them to a shelter to be put down.

Is there any particular reason why you're the only one out of seven who can work?
My boyfriend is actually the one working, I lost my job. We both live with my mother, and my sister and her kids just left her husband to come live with us. My mother is retirement age (meaning very few people willing to hire her) and without a car, jobs we can get to are hard to come by. We're still looking, though.

Clearly asking for help was a bad idea, so please just disregard my post.

Originally Posted by Abstract

Clearly asking for help was a bad idea, so please just disregard my post.

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No, it wasn't. But it's sort of better to get the flea topicals from your vet. This way if anything goes wrong you're covered and can claim damages (vet bills) from the manufacturer. That way you don't have to make the choice of trying to find money to cover vet costs or euthanizing a pet for lack of funds if there's a complication.


I hope you can find something soon, your sister, too.

Got to agree with CArolina and Ruthyb. I've been there--lost my job when I had four cats and I went to bed hungry many nights so my cats could eat and have clean litter. I couldn't/wouldn't bail out on them. Life happens. Sometimes it gets rough.
This brings to mind something I've heard about here in Indianapolis. Struggling families have the option of going to food pantries to help feed their families. Has anyone heard of a pet food pantry? It's something I heard about a couple years ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. I'm going to have to look it up to refresh my memory...

Originally Posted by Bellaandme

Has anyone heard of a pet food pantry? It's something I heard about a couple years ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. I'm going to have to look it up to refresh my memory...

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There are some in various areas. I would like to start one in this town and could easily get a benefactor to donate a lot of food. But organizing with no help is near impossible.

Abstract what area are you in?

A lot of places do have pet care assistance programs...

The Pet Care Assistance Program (PCAP) provides for the needs of companion animals. The following items are collected through your tax deductible* donations and distributed to pets in need around the county:

Pet Food (Please see Food For Furry Friends for donation information)

Spay / Neuter assistance and transport

Fencing and Pens

Pet Food Dishes

Dog Houses (new and used, all sizes)

Flea and tick control

Gift Bags

If you need assistance, please click here for an application.

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This is the type of program in my area. If you let me know your area (PM if you're more comfortable) I can help find the closest to you. I suggest this because when we had fleas it took several treatments [read months]...even though the topical flea treatment was working, it took us longer to get the fleas out of the house (carpet, furniture etc.). You will probably need ongoing treatment and this will prevent you from relying on the one time help here.

For the house, talk to your vet about a flea bomb...they make natural ones that aren't so dangerous. You will probably have to remove your animals and people from the home for 12-16 hours and then clean afterwards but it does a lot for the flea eggs.

And if you have a vet your pets see regularly maybe you could talk to them. I'd hope they would help you out, even with just a payment plan.

Originally Posted by rad65

If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to own 5 animals, considering their food costs aren't covered under food stamps? I'm asking because that's a pretty hefty financial burden considering the information you've given us, and flea/vet/anything that isnt food and litter can be a large part of that burden (i.e. my food and litter are about $200 per year, and one vet visit cost me $150).

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"there but for the grace of God, go I" right?? Just something to remember from the ivory tower.

National organizations that provide financial assistance to pet owners in need
Please keep in mind that each organization is independent and has their own set of rules and guidelines. Therefore you will have to investigate each one separately to determine if you qualify for assistance:

IMOM Inc.: IMOM.org
Help-A-Pet: help-a-pet.org
The Pet Fund: thepetfund.com
Good Sam Fund: goodsamfund.org
United Animal Nations LifeLine Fund: uan.org
Angels for Animals: angels4animals.org
Brown Dog Foundation: browndogfoundation.org/home
Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance Program: fveap.org
Feline Outreach: felineoutreach.org
Cats In Crisis: catsincrisis.org
The Perseus Foundation (cancer-specific): PerseusFoundation.org
Canine Cancer Awareness: caninecancerawareness.org
Cody's Club (radiation treatments): codysclub.bravehost.com/
Diabetic Pets Fund: petdiabetes.net/fund/
The Mosby Foundation: themosbyfoundation.org
Magic Bullet Fund (cancer-specific): themagicbulletfund.org
The Binky Foundation: binkyfoundation.org
God's Creatures Ministry Veterinary Charity: http://www.all-creatures.org/gcm/help-cf.html
Jake Brady Memorial Fund: http://www.myjakebrady.com/memorial_fund.shtml
GiveForward (set up a personal fundraising page): http://www.giveforward.org/

Missouri
Humane Society of Southeast Missouri – Camp Girardeau (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.semopets.org

Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) – Christian, Dallas, Greene, Lawrence, Polk and Webster Counties (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.snap123.org

Central Missouri Humane Society – Columbia (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.cmhspets.org

St. Charles County Humane Services – Cottleville (Spay/Neuter and Heartworm Preventative Assistance)
http://www.scchealth.org/docs/hs/index.html

Spay Neuter Kansas City – Kansas City (Pet Food and Supplies, Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.snkc.net

PAWS Inc. – Raytown (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.paws-inc.org

Northland Pet Pantry – Smithville (Pet Food)
http://pcnaws.com/northlandpetpantry.aspx

Humane Society of Missouri – St. Louis (Assistance with Veterinary Care Including Spay/Neuter)
www.hsmo.org

Operation SPOT – St. Louis (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
http://www.opspot.org

Pound Pals Nooterville – St. Louis (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.poundpals.org

St. Louis Pet Clinic on Grand – St. Louis (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
www.stlpetclinicongrand.com

Stray Rescue of St. Louis – St. Louis (Spay/Neuter Assistance)
http://www.strayrescue.org

Listed at http://www.humanesociety.org/animals....html#Missouri

Abstract - I hope you haven't left.

All kinds of good resources listed here. Another possibility to look into is diatomaceous earth or DE. It MUST BE FOOD GRADE. You can get it on Amazon. It is what is known as a mechanical pesticide and is safe for humans and animals provided you get the food grade. It is a powder... sprinkle it everywhere and sweep or rub it in. You can even put it on the animals. It does take time to work and you have to leave it in place. It dessicates or dries out the adults and the larvae (Not sure about the eggs) in a similar way to boric acid.

I just suggested it to a friend of mine who is in a very bad way financially and a couple kittens she had to rescue brought in fleas....

I know exactly where the OP is in terms of her situation... I'm currently the only one working in my household - my boyfriend lost his job just over a month ago, and my friend is living with us because she just lost her fiance. We have 2 dogs and Stan, our cat. My one dog has epilepsy as well as a host of other issues and is going in for an $900 surgery that we really can't afford on Monday. So far we've been lucky to raise about $300 of it and will live extremely cheaply for a few months, none of the programs that we could find in our area would accept us because I'm working full time, none of us are seniors or women in a shelter setting. There is no way that I could surrender any of my pets to a shelter, Sadie would be euthanized immediately because of all of her issues, Stan too. Fynn is the only one that would be adoptable, but he's the healthy one of the bunch and doesn't cost us much money so there really isn't much point in that.

If we didn't have this surgery coming up I would donate a tube of flea meds, but unfortunately I can't.

I completely agree with the DE though, it's relatively cheap and works great. If you have Borax you can use it too, it's just not as safe as DE, you can't put it on your pets. You can put it down for and leave for a few hours, come home and vacuum everything up really good. You have to do it a couple of times during the flea cycle but it does work if you keep on top of it. You can also wash your cats/dog in Dawn dish soap, it either kills or paralyzes the fleas and then it's easy to rinse them off after.

Do try the Dawn but only the ORIGINAL .. ie the old blue Not concetrated stuff...

DE is found usually at feed stores or garden supply..

Please call the vet and discuss your situation... I too have been there and right now am close to it again...I was able once to just pay as I could ( I mean like 5$ a month) on a vet bill for my dog ... who needed $$ tests

Just a FYI this is rule 5 of the forum
5. Solicitations – TheCatSite.com does not encourage or promote solicitation of money from our members. We will help in every way possible with our knowledge and support, but as many of us have multi-cat households and work with local rescue groups, monetary support is not always possible to causes or people we do not personally know. Members are allowed one posting in the SOS forum for each organization. Repeated postings for the same cause or organization will be deleted.

The needs of rescue workers are great and we recognize this fact. To care for multiple cats, find suitable homes, good vet care, food, etc. is costly. From time to time you will see some posts come up to ask for donations for a cause. It is YOUR responsibility to check out these solicitors to the best of your ability. More often, you will see pleas from individuals asking for money to be sent directly to them to assist with veterinary bills. Some come up with slick websites, others just have heartwrenching stories. In each of these cases, the poster is allowed ONE thread, to be placed in Cats SOS.

In either case, if you feel compelled to donate money ask for references, phone numbers, call around the area and find out if this is a legitimate cause or a scam. For personal pleas, get the veterinarian’s contact information and send money directly to the veterinarian to help with bills for that particular cat. If that information is not available, you have the answer if the plea is legitimate or a scam.

Be very careful before you send any money: no matter how effective the plea is, check it out first before opening your wallet.