Plea for Assistance from new member

Friends, I am puting this out as a last resort. My name is Valeri. I have 10 cats, 8 of which are recues from around my neighborhood. They vary in age from 2 months to 12 years. One is blind. One is nursing. Can anyone help me with cat food or cat litter temporarily? I need enough to cover 10 cats for three weeks. I live in Binghamton, New York.

Due to my fiancee's illness, 2 ER visits and loss of hisj ob, my family has to subsist on roughly $30 for the rest of the month. I have paid all of the bills this month out of my disability benefits. I contacted both local food pantries and my local Humane Society but neither can help. The HS offered to “re-home” our cats, and reduce our pet population. I cannot do this. It would be like giving away my kids.

I am ready to stand in the middle of a grocery store and beg for help. I wouldn't ask, except I have run out of options. I hope the kindness of strangers still exists.

Is it possible to purchase the supplies using your Amazon account, and have them shipped to my home instead of yours? Please consider doing this act of charity? 

In the mean time, my cats are eating kitty friendly human food: rice, chicken, soup and stew. We are using dirt from the yard in the litterboxes.

Any assistance anyone can offer is greatly appreciated, and your karma would earn some bonus points. May the Goddess Bast bless you. Hugs. -Valeri

MOD NOTE:

To all members, a reminder that it is YOUR responsibility to check out these solicitors to the best of your ability. Ask for references, phone numbers, call around the area and find out if this is a legitimate cause or a scam. Thecatsite.com does not stand behind any solicitation of funds for any reason that appear in the forums unless explicitly authorized. Be very careful before you send any money: no matter how effective the plea is, check it out first before opening your wallet.

Please note that this is a generic note added after all pleas for money.

Ok, I am not asking for money. I am trying to ask people if they can afford to donate any catfood or catlitter. I am an author and poet who is disabled. I have spent all of my disability income this month paying bills because Rob lost his job washing trucks and we are trying to get him Social Security Disability or Social Services help, but nothing has come through, yet, other than (Thank God) foodstamps, which we are using for the cats, not for ourselves.

I am a real person. This is not a scam or some sort of trick against anyone. I have

Alfalfa

Charm (blind)

Peepers

Peaches

Obsidian

Roly-Poly Puddin' Pie

Annie Rose

Lulu Belle (nursing)

BlackJack

HawkEye

MacKenzie

and Teddy Bear.

Everyone but TeddyBear and Alfalfa are rescues from our neighborhood. We need help if someone would be kind enough to take this seriously. Again, not asking for money. Any donation of catfood or catlitter would help tremendously. I can post pictures of our clowder if you don't believe me.

Have you checked with local animal shelters?  In our area, two or three of them have community food banks where people can get emergency supplies for their pets.  Call around and see if any local shelters can help you with food temporarily.  

The Humane Society Website has great resources for pet assistance with food, vet care, and other animal assistance. I linked all the ones from New York below, but go to the website if you have any trouble. There are several places listed for Pet Food and Supplies pantries. Click the links because several of them (like Ascension's) have multiple locations, so one may be close to you. Hope this helps, Good luck!

 

New York

ALL 4 PETS: Limited to Western New York (veterinary care assistance)

The Animal Lovers League: Glen Cove (temporary foster program)

Ascension’s Pet Food Pantry: Buffalo (pet food pantry) 

Baxter Pet Pantry: Nassau and Suffolk Counties (pet food and supplies)

Beyond Breed’s Ruff Riders: pet food and supplies for underserved neighborhoods in Brooklyn and New York City

Black Dog, Second Chance Rescue Food Pantry for Pets: Buffalo 
37 Chandler St.

Frankie's Friends: New York City (veterinary care assistance including cancer)

Hudson Valley Pet Food Pantry: (pet food bank)

Lollypop Farm, The Humane Society of Greater Rochester: Fairport (emergency pet food assistance, spay/neuter assistance, and information on other community programs for veterinary assistance)

Rochester Hope for Pets: Rochester (veterinary care assistance)

NY SAVE, Inc.: veterinary care assistance

Operation Pets: The Spay/Neuter Clinic of Western New York (low-cost spay/neuter)

Pet Food Pantry Auburn: (pet food)

The Shamrock Animal Fund: Syracuse/Central New York (veterinary care assistance).

Wow. Thank you, Paiger8. That is a huge amount of resources, I don't have a vehicle, so what I will do is go through one at a time and see if anyone from their foodbanks can come down to Binghamton. You are sincerely kind. I appreciate all of the effort you went through to find and post this for us. I appreciate it.

I have already decided to become a donor of cat food to our local food pantry when things get better for us. I can't think of a better way to pay back everyone than to pay it forward.

Hugs.

Valeri

What kind of food do your cats normally eat?

Can you create an amazon wishlist or a registry of some sort? That might make it simple for people to donate as well.

Yes, NewYork, that's a great idea.

Update-

The kindness and generosity on this site is overwhelming. You all make my heart so happy. I have been offered food, and glady accepted. We are still in need of cat litter. I was also thinking of creating an Amazon wish list, but have no idea (once I make one) of how to direct you to the list. Would I just copy/paste/post the url right here?

Any kind of cat litter would be appreciated. We usually use scoopable. They usually don't recommend scoopables for kittens because it gets stuck in their little toes and when they clean their toes by licking they ingest this stuff and turns into a very hard concrete-like substance in thir tummys. Roly-Poly is big enough now where scoopable shouldn't be a problem.

I do want to reassure you all that our financial situation is temporary. Rob is medically unable to work, and going through the bureaucratic paperwork is the longest part, In the meanwhile, he should be getting taxes back at some point, and that will get him over the hump.

I will also get my disability benefit as of Feb.1st, at which point we will be able afford things again. The last two months have been hell. I admit it.

I do want to make it clear that our concern is for the cats. Should this be a permanent problem, (which we do not forsee) we would look in to re-homing these guys so thay can get proper care.

Hugs to all. -V

I think you can just post a link to it? our local shelter uses amazon wishlists like this

Thank you so much for your time and help. Here is a link, but I am not sure external links are allowed to be posted here? -V

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/LZ3RW97XQWBF/ref=cm_wl_list_o_2&tag=&tag=thecatsite?

Works perfectly! You have some cat litter heading your way. Should get there by Tuesday.

I can't thank you guys enough for your kindness and generosity. I'm crying. You're wonderful. God bless you so much. I'm so grateful. Thank you. You have no idea how much this helps us. LOVE and HUGS

NewYork1303 said:

 
Works perfectly! You have some cat litter heading your way. Should get there by Tuesday.

Click to expand...

I would like to send some litter , but can you give me some pointers on the wishlist?  Do I order right from the link that Valerie posted?  Thanks so much!

raysmyheart said:

 
I would like to send some litter , but can you give me some pointers on the wishlist?  Do I order right from the link that Valerie posted?  Thanks so much!

Click to expand...

Yes. If you go to the link select the litter, add to cart, then proceed to checkout. Make sure that Val's address is selected and go through the buying process as normal.

Thank you, @NewYork1303  , this is what I was wondering about.  I appreciate this info and will try it now.  

I love you all. Thank you so much. Words really can't express my gratitude. I just can't believe how nice you all are. Thank you, everyone. I'm not usually a cry-er, but you guys have had me misting up on and off all day. Just the relief of knowing that help is coming is a huge comfort.

Hugs

Thank YOU for all that you do for your kitties!  They are just beautiful!  I love Roli-Poly Puddin' Pie! 

valkyri Hi. I was just reading through your thread. I can surely understand your worry in regards to your kitties. They are family and we love them. Just wanted you to know I just want to your wishlist and ordered cat litter for you. I wanted to also order the cat food you had selected but amazon would not allow the food, only the cat litter. Hope it will help you some. You have beautiful kitties and I wanted to help!