HELP US KEEP OUR CAT FAMILY TOGETHER!

Please help keep our cats together! Okra, Sprout, Ziggy, Cobbler, and Mango have been together since they were born early in the pandemic. Their companionship was what got my wife, me, and our daughters through the pandemic with our sanity intact.

We have fallen on hard times and are currently between jobs, and are now having to find a new place to live. We need funds to help secure a space where we can keep our cats together while we get back on our feet. We are trying to get enough to cover the cost of a new place and establish utilities there. We are hoping to have enough to cover our basic expenses while we secure work in a new place where our family can be kept whole.

If it were just my wife and me, we would figure something out, but finding someplace where we can keep our colony together is much harder. We would be forever grateful for any support you can offer. We are trying to raise $6000 to cover rental arrears, back utilities, essentials, and money to get us by until we can establish ourselves. I have family that is willing to help us with the move and possibly provide a temporary spot for us while we seek something permanent, but there are costs with that we need to cover, truck rental for the move, gas money, etc.

Our cats are April Fools kittens, born April 1st, 2020. We had several colony cats we were caring for and catching, and taking them in for spaying. Our first cat was Okra; he was the only survivor from a litter from a cat we call Mama Kitty. Someone dumped him and his siblings onto the main roadway in a plastic bag; we never could find out who, and we noticed him leaving for work that morning and rescued him. He was our first cat. One of Mama Kitty’s other cats, Sweet Tea (from a litter before Okra), was pregnant before we could get her spayed. Then, the lockdown started, and no shelters were operating. We welcomed her inside, where she had her litter. Those kittens completed our family: Sprout, Ziggy, Cobbler, Mango, Biskit (who passed away last year), and Earl Grey (who left us far too soon). They have been an intrinsic part of our lives ever since, and the idea of having to part with them is not something I think I can handle.

Our cats are family. Okra’s derpy pawing at doorknobs, Sprout’s ridiculous sprawl as she grooms, Ziggy’s dinosaur-like chirping, Cobbler snuggling in my lap, and Mango’s nuzzling sweetness have shepherded us through some of the hardest times in the last 5 years. We are not going to give up on them; they have had a hard enough start, and we do not want to let them down or separate them from each other.

We do intend to bring Nuggy (another kitten from Mama Kitty and aunt to Okra) with us as well. She is mainly an outside cat but is dependent on us for food, water, and scritches. Mama Kitty still comes around occasionally, but she is being cared for by someone else in the neighborhood. There is also a sweet, albeit feral, tomcat named Chonk, who is the only male cat in the area and is likely the father of all our cats. We plan to relocate him as well, as a strictly outside cat. He is around 17 years old, has 1 tooth, three good legs and one not so good, one ragged ear, and one wonky eye. We also want to move him, as an outside-only cat; he also depends on us for food, water, and care.

Any support, whether it’s $1 or simply sharing this fundraiser, makes a real difference. We’re deeply grateful for everyone who’s taken the time to read our story and help us through this incredibly difficult moment.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and paws,

Hunt Godfrey