(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . AZnaturegrrrl Needs Help Caring for Her Rescued Cats [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-08 Hello, all. This is a fundraising diary for AZnaturegrrrl, who has been rescuing and caring for cats for many years. Until the pandemic hit, she had a couple of solid gigwork jobs she could do from home and was able to provide for all of them. During the pandemic, her jobs disappeared and she lived on her credit cards, which (as you can imagine) wracked up a tremendous amount of interest. Her paypal address is here: naturegirl61 at icloud dot com There is also a gofundme here: gofund.me/... Plus there are more ways to help listed at the end of this diary! Here’s AZ’s own description of her situation. AZnaturegrrrl: "I live with and support 21 rescued cats and one darling rescued dog. I originally took in 25 cats over nine years, but four of them have died in the last 18 months. I’ve been rescuing cats for almost 40 years, but before living in Texas, I’d never had more than an easily manageable three at a time. Where I live now, there are feral/stray cats/dogs everywhere. People don’t fix their pets but let them roam, pets get displaced by floods but aren’t chipped, guardians die without leaving a plan for their pets, everyone who wants to live with cats or dogs already has several, the shelters are always full, and the weather here is harsh. I came to Texas with three cats and one dog nine years ago and since then I've taken in every cat that came to my door asking for help. At the time, I had steady work and could take care of all of them. I neutered and micro-chipped all of them at my own expense and they all now live safely indoors. Of course, I won't be taking in any other animals unless I'm back on my feet again and can afford to care for them by myself. Before the COVID shutdown, we were doing ok. I didn't have much in the way of savings, but I had two at-home gig jobs and no debt, and we were comfortable. (I have Asperger's, which keeps me from working in an office or a lab so I work online.) But then, in March 2020, both my jobs disappeared overnight and it was 18 months before work started to come back a little. By that time, I was carrying a great deal of credit card debt. Also, one of the companies I worked for changed their business model so there was less work available, and I had to take on a third job to support myself and my rescue friends. The pandemic changed everything. Over the past year and a half, I've cashed out my personal pension and taken out a mortgage on my house to pay off the credit card debt, but I just haven’t been able to get back on my feet. There’s always a vet bill or some part of the house that needs repair, and the mortgage must be paid every month. My life is now entirely about work and caring for the animals, and I live every day on the verge of panic because I’m terrified of not being able to pay my bills and losing my home. In the last fortnight, I’ve started training for a new gig job (my fourth) and it’s going to take weeks for me to become proficient enough to take on a daily piece of work by myself. While I’m learning, I won’t be able to earn much, if anything, from my other gig jobs, and my credit will be maxed out by the time I’ve paid my mid-June estimated taxes. So… (deep breath)… I don’t know what else to do but ask for help. I can't lose my home and wouldn’t be able to live with myself if my rescue friends had to go to an animal shelter or back out on the streets. Right now, keeping them safe is the reason I get up every morning and continue trying to get ahead. I’ve tried to think my way around this every which way because I do not like asking for help or admitting I’ve failed, but I am at the point of having to do both. The Go Fund Me goal is $10,000.00, which is a lot, I know. Here’s what that money would go to: $3,600 would pay the mortgage for July, August and September, after which time I’m hoping to be getting daily work from the new job. $1,000 will pay for electricity for two or three months. The temperatures in Houston have been hitting around 100F for a couple weeks now and I’ve had to use the A/C a few times––I work from home. I only have it on for part of the day and only when it’s unbearable, but this means my bill is about to jump from $60/month to around $300. I had the A/C checked (for free) before using it and they found that refrigerant needs adding––not sure how urgent that is, but the estimate was $300. $4,900 will pay off my Care Credit card, which I use for vet bills. In the last 12 months, I had three serious cat illnesses that very sadly ended in their deaths (one natural, two PTS); two serious cat illnesses that thankfully did not; emergency cat dental surgery; several vet visits for dealing with ear-mite outbreaks; and one dog check-up. My dog-daughter, Daisy, has a developing enlarged heart that needs to be monitored. That’s what ran up the Care Credit card in just 12 months. As of now, I literally have no funds for the next vet bill and I have three cats who need care––two with serious ear-mites and one who has chronic feline rhinitis. I also use that card for my dental care, such as it is. I haven’t been in two years and I know from the pain that I have three teeth that are very close to needing crowns. If I had credit on the Care Credit card, I’d at least have a safety net for dealing with whatever gets beyond a certain pain tolerance threshold. The remainder of the amount will be going to pay for cat sundries and just generally keeping us afloat until I’m earning more than I have been––things like cat litter, paper towels, cleaning supplies and dog food. I know this is a huge ask and I know this is a difficult time of year, with many folks donating to get Dems elected up and down the ticket. I just don’t know what else to do but ask for help. I’m trying to get us into a position where I can sell this place and move somewhere less expensive where I can get back to covering all our costs myself, but with so many animals, I can’t just sell up and move into a rental while I work out where that is. We’ll be so very grateful for any help you can provide.” fromberkeleytocville here again. I'm handling this GoFundMe for AZnaturegrrrl so she can focus on working and taking care of her animals, but any and all donations will go directly to her. I've known AZ for a number of years and have been helping her as I can, but she needs more help than one person can provide. She's basically maintaining a cat shelter all by herself and her need is ongoing at this point. Here are some ways you can help. 1) First and foremost, please republish, share and recc this diary to get more eyes on it. AZ has Fb but I don’t do any social media, so I can’t help in that way. 2) Here is the link to the GoFundMe fundraiser entitled “Help Jackie Care for Her Rescued Cats” gofund.me/… 3) AZ’s PayPal is here: naturegirl61 at icloud dot com 4) Chewy.com gift cards can also be sent to naturegirl61 at icloud dot com 5) AZ’s Amazon wish list is here: www.amazon.com/… 6) If you prefer to donate with a check, please send me a kosmessage and I will give you my mailing address. For various reasons, AZ’s address needs to remain confidential. AZ, her cats and Daisy the dog thank you. 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