Finance

All right, I'm in a little bit of a bind here, and every little bit of help helps. My family has recently suffered some financial disasters (lost job, broken brakes and transmission, car crash, etc.) and we're finding it very difficult to take care of my brother's cats. Now, I love the little guys (five of them wouldn't exist if they had just SPAYED the cat last November like I wanted, but I digress), but they're eating us out of house and home (literally). Most of the people in our area (that would make good homes) either already have cats or happen to be dog people. Other members of my family want to just dump the kittens at the local shelter, but our shelter is understaffed, underpaid, and overwhelmed (especially this time of year). I don't want to lose the kittens, but it might be the best option for their health and safety in the long term. 

True, my first impression of the original cat wasn't great (my introduction to the new member of the family was stepping in cat crap on the carpet), and my introduction to the kittens wasn't much better (mother cat gave birth in my room), but over the months and (in mother cat's case) year I've been taking care of them (feeding, cleaning them, cleaning up after them, cleaning the litterbox, cleaning the food dishes, etc.) I've grown to love the fuzzy little furball-hacking-sweater-shredding-poop-machines. (After all, it's not like THEY knew it was my favorite sweater, they were just sharpening their claws, and at least it wasn't the carpet.)

Any help (where to get free food samples, cat food coupons, cheaper food options, etc.) would be appreciated.

If you write to a bunch of cat food companies and ask, some of them will likely send you free samples, especially the smaller or newer companies that want to get people trying their food. I did this a few years ago with food & treat companies and ended up with quite a lot of free stuff. 

You can print coupons from http://www.coupons.com/coupons/pet-care-coupons-102/  and http://www.redplum.com/coupons/pets  and https://www.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=MKRU3JAAR6CCY  - check every week or two for new ones.

I don't know what you're feeding now, or where you live, but Purina dry and Friskies canned are IMO the cheapest not-too-bad-quality foods available in the US. If you're buying something more expensive it probably won't hurt to temporarily switch to that. Bigger bags are cheaper per pound than small ones, and Friskies comes in 13 oz cans which are cheaper per ounce.

If you have a Petsmart near you, they have their house brand called Grreat Choice. I personally have never fed this but quite a few members have with success. I have seen the 5.5 ounce cans as low as .39 cents. My local store has a hard time keeping this stuff in stock regardless of whether it's on sale or not. I think the regular price is .50 cents. As mentioned above, you can find the 13 ounce cans of Friskies at Wal Mart for .98 cents so if they like that, it's a good deal. If there's a particular food they like a lot, you can often save a lot by buying it by the case from sites like chewy.com, wag.com, petfooddirect.com and amazon.com. chewy, wag and PFD offer discount codes on their sites for first time buyers and offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount. I think all are $49 but I'm not positive. Amazon has a subscribe and save program that gives discounts of 5% for one or more items and 15% for 5 or more items in an order. You get free standard shipping on these orders unless you are a prime member then you get free 2 day shipping as long as the items are Prime eligible.

You can also (as mentioned above as well) look for printable coupons and ask friends/coworkers and neighbors for cat food coupons from the inserts in their Sunday newspapers if they don't use them themselves. A post under the wanted section on Craigslist is a good way to tell people you are looking for cat food coupons, too and posting an ad is free and easy.

not sure if you are feeding dry or wet or a combo, but if you have to, Walmart sells 22 ounce cans of Special Kitty wet food for $1. however, i agree with the above that Friskies canned wet food is a better choice. you can use Purina Kitten Chow for dry food. 

also, the second link will lead to Vetco clinics at Petco if you need low-cost vaccinations, deworming, fecal tests, etc. 

You don't say where you live, but many communities have pet food banks.  You could do a google search for pet food banks.  Inquire with rescue groups and feral cat groups to see if they might know of a pet food bank.  If anyone in your household gets meals on wheels, they will often help with pet food.

Newt

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their help with this. I feel it's only fair that my family (minus me) decided to take the kittens to the shelter Monday. They all feel (minus me) that it's possible the kittens will find good homes at the shelter and have decided (once again, minus me) that when we're more financially stable we'll go to the shelter to see if they're still there and adopt them if they are. (Did I mention I'm the only one who doesn't think this is a good idea?) I (really) don't want to give them up, but I have no more say about this than I did when my family (minus me) decided to let the cat have a litter before she got spayed. (I quoted facts and statistics until I was blue in the face, and I recounted the Tragedy of the Commons. No one listens to me.)

I want to type up the names and personality traits of the kittens.

Ra--the biggest of the litter he tends to bully and throw his weight around--but he's a coward. He runs and hides whenever anything new happens, and has to be coaxed out of his hiding place to eat.

Spot--the only other tom besides Ra in the group he's loving, affectionate, gets lonely easy, and loves to have his belly rubbed--but only when the other kittens aren't watching.

Asia--she has the sharpest claws of the bunch, and they came in before any other kitten's. She tends to be aloof and regal, but likes to sneak into people's beds at night.

Slipper--likes to romp and roughhouse with the boys and Mom, but also likes being cuddled. Unlike Spot, she doesn't care if the other kittens see.

Princess--the runt of the litter, energetic when she's playing and likes to cuddle against people when she's sleeping. Whenever someone points a Smartphone in her direction, she'll pose for a picture.

Tallyollyopia said:

 
I want to type up the names and personality traits of the kittens.

Ra--the biggest of the litter he tends to bully and throw his weight around--but he's a coward. He runs and hides whenever anything new happens, and has to be coaxed out of his hiding place to eat.

Spot--the only other tom besides Ra in the group he's loving, affectionate, gets lonely easy, and loves to have his belly rubbed--but only when the other kittens aren't watching.

Asia--she has the sharpest claws of the bunch, and they came in before any other kitten's. She tends to be aloof and regal, but likes to sneak into people's beds at night.

Slipper--likes to romp and roughhouse with the boys and Mom, but also likes being cuddled. Unlike Spot, she doesn't care if the other kittens see.

Princess--the runt of the litter, energetic when she's playing and likes to cuddle against people when she's sleeping. Whenever someone points a Smartphone in her direction, she'll pose for a picture.

Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you've done a wonderful job in socializing these babies. Well done! This will help them find homes tremendously. A sweet face only goes so far if someone is looking for a cat that will cuddle and interact with them out of it's own free will. My poor Henry was in the shelter for 8 long years mostly because of a lack of socialization.

I love the names you chose! It can't be easy letting a kitten that you raised go to another home but sometimes, it's the way it's supposed to be. You did a great job with them and of course, a big kudos to you for insisting that momma cat be spayed.

Sending vibes out that all of the kittens find wonderful, loving forever homes quickly!   

Okay, my brother that brought the original cat home decided to move out and take two of the kittens (Slipper and Asia) with him, leaving us with three. (After having six, three just seems so much easier to look after.)

Are any of these cats spayed or neutered?  If not you will soon have more cats than you know what to do with.  I hope the best for all of the cats.

ShadowsRescue said:

 
Are any of these cats spayed or neutered?  If not you will soon have more cats than you know what to do with.  I hope the best for all of the cats.

Click to expand...

Working on getting them spayed and neutered as we speak. By the way, where would you go for a low cost cat-carrier? My brother absconded with mine (my nearest relative with cats lives half a country away from me), and the clinic won't allow me to bring them in a temporary carrier (they're made of corrugated cardboard). 

Garage sales are great places to find carriers for cheap.  Craigslist....my vet loans carriers to people to bring their pets in.