well, that is easier said than done. tevye is neutered. golde and wendy are spayed. ramona the dog is spayed. penny and kuma are not, and they're old; at this point i would not put them through it even if i had the couple hundred bucks it would cost. and now we have to pay to repair a broken pipe, and that includes busting through drywall and replacing it! we're still paying off the $7500 unexpected expense of the new furnace and air conditioner, and the unexpected expense of recently have had to replace a toilet. and my food stamps just got cut by $10 because social security gave me a $20 raise. not to be rude, but when it comes to telling other people SHOULDs, when you don't know their circumstance you SHOULDN'T.

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@genessa Let me know if I can help you source a free spay/neuter clinic near your home. But I realize transportation may also be an issue.
It's no fun being the human living with an un-neutered pet either. I went through one heat with my Rainey and that was Plenty! (Phew!).

I'm sure you are doing the best you can. And your kitty is ADORABLE BTW. I love a Tuxie.

I totally get where you are coming from - but if I can help you find a clinic? Let me know. Some of my FB cat groups have taught me there are places who will do that for free. Or really low cost.

Did you ever make a call to HUD to see if it's possible they could help you out? They don't ask for repayment until you move. It might be the answer to home repairs you are looking for.

They replaced my furnace - my roof - and did some repair from water damage (we'd had a bad Winter with ice damming) and they put in new windows etc... All at no cost until I move and even then? It's simply repayment of the loan.

The fellow from HUD said they're really underutilized. So maybe you'd have some luck?

Sounds like a terrible start to the day! I've had busted pipes before. It sounded like I had a river int he house! And I'd never heard that kind of sound before?

@RavenCT i have tried EVERYTHING, thanks. i appreciate your offer but i have been working hard on all of it, for years actually. i have an independent living specialist and she helps. we have had grants for various things but MORE things keep happening! we're old and so are the cats (the dog is young). at their ages 15, 16 and 17 i am not going to do anything to my babies that requires any kind of anesthesia, which is hard on the heart. we did what we could when we could do it, which is why more of them are neutered/spayed than otherwise (i've named them all above). the day wendy was conceived, i was on the phone pricing spay and neuter. tevye wasn't a year old yet; penny was two. i heard a noise behind me. it was tev on pen. oops. i hung up the phone! golde was spayed for free but that service was only for ONE cat per family. we chose her. we did others as we could.

tev, although neutered, does try to help pen out. he can't remember what to do, and meanwhile ramona thinks he's hurting her and barks at him! (the two of them, dog and cat, are actually very close.)

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@genessa Oh my goodness that's kind of adorable?

I found my Heath helping out Rainey at 2 am. My Vet got an Earful because I had tried to book the surgery for Rainey but she said it was too soon. (She was wrong btw - they now do them sooner). But we all survived it.
I can well imagine what you go through each time.

I'm glad you have someone who knows services - right now it's pretty darn hard to find them even Knowing them! So good for you having someone who will help with that.

@RavenCT oh it's been a struggle! we have black mold and it's been over a YEAR we spent trying to get funding, first for the air quality test, then for two estimates, and my guy's elder waiver is picky about which company... we still don't have the estimate from the company they favor, which sent assessors this past wednesday. turns out they can take out the stuff with the mold -- ceiling, cabinet floors, bits of wall -- but they can't put the drywall back IN, or rebuild the cabinets. and that was all BEFORE this burst pipe. (the toilet used to overflow regularly and that caused the mold.) it's just one thing after another. i'm supposed to have a homemaker and personal care assistant too, being disabled and old and all, but they can't do that until the mold is gone and meanwhile the ils worker is not allowed to come in the house AND her agency wouldn't even permit her to work this week because of the wind chill! (i'm in minnesota.) even the post office wouldn't send out their mailpersons! oyoyoy. but at least i have my darlings to do cute wonderful things and snuggle and love each other and me.

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