Overwhelmed

I'm so discouraged about the stray/feral cat population here. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. I recently acquired a Tru-catch trap; the first two nights I baited it I caught two males I'd never seen before. I was hoping to catch the dilute calico, her kittens would have been plenty old enough to manage without her for a few days, and I wanted to catch her before she got pregnant again. This morning I looked out my front window to see her dead on the side of the road. I'm going to the s/n clinic tomorrow with Irenie and family and I try to take a feral - or even two - with me when I go down there, but I couldn't have afforded anyone else with tomorrow's trip anyway. I don't know how I'm ever going to get them all TNR'd. By the time I get around to getting them all fixed, they'll have had more kittens. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't; I don't think I can stand to see another one smashed on the road.

I'm worried about placing Irenie's babies, too. So far all inquiries have either flaked out or haven't met my requirements: no declawing, inside only, other pets in the home spayed or neutered. They're only going to be adorable little kittens for a short time, it's going to get harder to place them as time passes. I've put up flyers all over the place, but since I'm charging an adoption fee, it's hard to compete with the "free kittens" that are already advertised in every place I put a flyer. I don't think $75 is unreasonable for an altered, tested, wormed, healthy kitten (or $120 for a pair of kittens) - having a male cat neutered runs a minimum of $90, not to mention FeLV/FIV testing, worming, etc.

I had to go see my doc this past week, to get new prescriptions. I complained that the prescription Claritin wasn't working so well any more, and when she examined me she discovered I had a sinus infection. So she prescribed antibiotics (that make me dizzy) and a different antihistimine - one of the older antihistiamines that make me so drowsy I walk around in a zombie-like state. I don't know which is worse - having a heavy head from congestion, or having a heavy head from the antihistimine. Add the dizziness from the antibiotics and the dizziness on standing caused by a drop in blood pressure, and I'm really out of it. I ran a whole bunch of errands yesterday, was in and out of the car a dozen times, and each time I had to stand next to the car for a minute or two until the dizziness passed.

I'm tired, sick, discouraged, and now I've got to go scrape a cat off the road. I'd really like a week's vacation from my life. Starting right now.