If i cant afford spaying my cat?

Question

I am a widow without much money coming in each month, being disabled. i found a lil kitten that someone threw out too young in my neighborhood. she just came to me & it broke my heart that she was alone like me. i had no idea how much spaying would cost, at the moment she needed a warm place to stay & she slept with me. now she has gone into heat which means she is driving me nuts with the howling. i love her too much to surrender her...vets want 200.00 some want more. she was sick when i found her, at deaths door & the vet charged me 138.00. i had to go without that month. are there programs out there that help the poor pet owners?

i reside in the USA, eastern coast.

She is a total house cat never allowed outside nor will she try to go out even when in heat. my area is pretty rural and have went all through the phone books. u have to present proof of address, else i could maybe look outside my area. tried that and one woman said; stay in your own area to look for help we have enough cats to tend with in ours. this was another animal shelter, my area has kill shelters. our animal shelters are a joke, being 49 i dont qualify for senior citizen program, which we dont have here anyways. i've some great suggestions here though.

Answer 1

YES...there most certainly are. Please contact your local chapter of the SPCA and tell them that you've taken in a stray. They will provide you with a spay certificate that entitles your cat to significantly reduced rates for spay services. OR you can contact the Humane Society, prepay her spay fee (usually about $45.00), and have them spay your cat.
If she needs shots look in your local "events" section of the newspaper or ask the SPCA where and when there is a "rabies clinic" in your area. At a rabies clinic you can get all of your cat's necessary shots usually for under $20.00.
You did a wonderful thing in taking in this cat. A lot of people will give you the "well if you got no money you don't need no pet" speech. Ignore it. You've sacrificed your own comfort to see to her medical bills once already. If not for you, she probably wouldn't be alive right now. I'd say that classifies as a good reason for you two to stay together, even if your financial situation is tough! It sounds to me as though it was meant to be. Obviously she needed someone but I bet you kinda needed someone too...maybe just a lil bit?!
Please call the SPCA. They will help you, I promise you that. That's what the SPCA and the Humane Society are there for. Let them help you.
Best of luck to you and your girl. God Bless you both.

Answer 2

Get out the phone book and call the different vet clinics and ask 1. do they know of any non-kill shelters (get the phone numbers) and 2. if they know any place that does low cost neuter/spay. The phone numbers for the non-kill shelters are worth calling to ask the same question--where to connect with low cost neutre/spay. They'll be your best resource.

Call all the vet clinics in the phone book, so you get as wide a sample as possible. Chicago has a $10 per cat charge for low cost, but they only do it 4 days a week. Milwaukee is $25 per cat but only by appointment. The humane society does TNR if you sign up for it, they do it for free, give the shots, microchip and spay/neuter - the cat has to be dropped off before 8am and picked up before 5pm or they euthenize. The cats with the TNR are also ear tipped (the top 1/2" of the left ear is cut off) to indicate that this 'stray' has been spayed/neutered and is in their records as being processed for certain things on a certain date. Supposedly NO housepets are supposed to be included, this is for ferals, but if you don't mind the ear tipping, it is a way to get this done.

Answer 3

Call the shelters in your area. Call the Humane Society in your area. They are the two places who would be able to help you most with low cost places for spay/neuter. All areas have low cost spay/neuter clinics where you can get it done very cheaply. It's much healthier for your cat and will save you potentially a lot of vet bills in the future, a lot of headaches with spraying or the cat going into heat constantly and there are just so many health risks with intact cats. Good luck.

Answer 4

call different vets and ask about rates.. also some places do have programs but we dont even know what city you live in, let alone what country...

I can tell you this if you can afford the internet you can afford to spay the kitten.. I was a widow too... and all my cats are fixed. I ate soup for lots of meals, had NO internet, NO cable, NO cell phone.. I gave up lots.. you can do it too..

you probably get a widows pension ( I got about $300 a month) plus a disabilty pension.. I am sure that is more than I got working part time for minimum wage .. my total income was LESS than people on welfare.. and still ALL my cats were fixed

DO NOT let her outside until you can spay her...

Answer 5

The local no kill shelters should have some wonderful advice in regards to your little one. As for medical, if it is a life or death situation you can go to your humane society ant tell them the situation. if it's severe enough what thet will do is ask you to sign the animal over to them, freeing them of any liability. They will then treat the animal as best they can, and once the animal is healed you will essentially "adopt" the animal back, agreeing to pay a fee every month to cover the medical costs.

My cat Hobo is a long haired Calico, now with one eye. I had a similar situation happen where a shard of glass got in her eye and caused it to pop. At the time I was on disability, as such I had next to no available monies. I called up the humane society and they said bring her in.

They fixed her, tattooed her, microchiped her and removed and closed the eye for 200$. They said I could pay as much as I wanted as often as I wanted for as long as I wanted.

Now keep in mind this only worked because it was a SERIOUS situation. things like teeth cleaning, or fleas will be turned away.

Answer 6

Call Animal Control (the number in the local phone book) and ask if there is a free spay/neuter program. Since you are willing to care for the cat, the county shelter or local non-profits may be able to cover the cost of the spay for you. Good luck, you are doing the right thing in spaying her!

Answer 7

Sometimes there are programs that help senior citizens with their pets. Contact your local Humane Society or shelter and explain your situation to them, and see if they would have such a program. I sure do hope that they do, as it is very important to have her spayed Still, even when you have her spayed keep her inside, and you will never need to worry that harm will come to her. If you have family, maybe they could do this for you as a Christmas gift????? I think that would be a great thing to do. And thanks for giving the little dear a good home, and all the best to you and your baby.

Answer 8

Some vets will take the cat as a ferrow cat and spay it for free...you need to call around. Many do this and then people have them released again...some vets will leave a nick in the ear to mark they have been spayed...however not very affective due to cats being in fights and that is usually the first thing that is torn on them...however we have many vets here that will do this for free...call around and say you have a ferrow cat and would like to have him or her spayed....I did that with two of mine...and also like all has said here, the animal shelters do give you vouchers to help with the cost, ours usually does it on the 1st Saturday of each month...good luck

Answer 9

Oh, Missy....how sweet of you to take this kitten in under your wing. I'm sure that there must be someone that could help. Please check with your local humane society, or the vet even. Too bad that she has gone into heat. Usually after a animal has gone into heat, the fee will be higher. You will have to wait until she is done with this bout of heat, get your information from the humane society or vet and make sure that they know she has already gone into heat, and get her in. She will make a lovely companion for you. You have a Merry Christmas and email me to let me know how things go, ok??

Answer 10

It's great to hear from a responsible pet owner. There are many services that offer medical care and other assistance at low or no cost.

Here is a website that lists state by state programs that offer low cost/no cost spay neuter programs.

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#states

Some other resources you could try are your local humane society, Pets911, Friends of Animals, and SpayUSA.