Today I finally had to give up and turn the heater on. Tonight we're supposed to get down to 34 degrees. I closed up the little greenhouse and I'm hoping the plants in there will be alright. I didn't get them transplanted in time and now I'm afraid I'll have to look after them all in the basement again over winter.
I've gone back to research the low income spay and neuter clinics (again). We do qualify by the income guidelines, but it's still expensive. There's one that has mobile clinics with limited availability. I could make a dozen trips to various places (mostly down in the cities 3 hours away) with a few cats at a time and it would cost me $770 (plus travel expenses) to get every kitten, both barn cats, and Sage fixed and microchipped. There's another one that used to do mobile clinics but now only offers them down in the cities (again, 3 hours away). They're a bit more expensive but have a lot more open space to schedule more at once. They'd cost me $1,040 (plus travel expenses) to get the same ones spayed/neutered and microchipped. If I went with our regular local vet the same services for the same animals would cost me $1,750.02 plus tax. This does not include any vaccinations.
I need to have a fundraiser to get enough to get them all spayed and neutered. Anyone want to donate toward getting ten cats spayed and neutered? The longer it takes, the more likely we are to have even more to have to deal with. I wish our community had a free clinic for spay and neuter surgeries. I think if people could get their pets fixed without the financial burden we'd have a lot less overpopulation. I've found a vast majority of people do want their pets fixed, but can't afford it, or can't take a day off work to drive hours to get to one of the clinics they could afford - which fill up so fast up north of the cities that it's almost laughable that they won't schedule more up here than one every couple of months. And even those are an hour away. Can you imagine if even half the vet clinics picked one Sunday a month to do free or reduced cost spay and neuters... how many people would happily line up? And honestly, as someone who pays for vaccinations and routine care as well, I'd be proud to support a clinic that I knew was helping to decrease the overpopulation problem by offering such a service. How very frustrating that those who could be helping choose to put their profits above what could be a great community outreach.
Perhaps I should put more time into getting all the clothing listed for sale so I could advertise all sales going toward the spay/neuter fund... I've got so much to do and I feel like I'm always picking the wrong thing to focus on. Priorities need to be straightened up. Maybe I should just put the seed collection away in it's horrible jumble of boxes, and sort them later.
I hate how everything always seems to boil down to money. Why can't we barter for veterinary services? I'd gladly trade some laying hens, some breeding rabbits, some clothing, a crocheted baby blanket, a bucket of black walnuts, some houseplant cuttings, some beefsteak tomato seeds, some handmade jewelry, or whatever else I have on hand for the services I need. Any takers?
In the meantime I am continuing to offer the kittens for adoption to approved homes with a refundable spay/neuter deposit. If I can move them into new homes and still be assured they'll get fixed when they're old enough (local veterinary clinics will only spay/neuter at 6 months and will not do any younger), then that sounds like my best alternative right now.
I'm also really considering selling out of almost all of the rabbits. Even more than I originally had planned to sell off. Like maybe just keeping 8-10 rabbits total. It sure would cut the food bill and make barn chores over winter a lot less time consuming.
If you're looking for a rabbit - check out both the rabbits (for sale) page and the breeders page, see if anyone looks interesting. Make an offer - at this point, with the exception of a few rabbits that I won't sell - a decent offer would likely be accepted.
Like I often say - the best way to make money on a homestead is to cut your expenses. My animal feed expenses are closing in on our mortgage and car payment budget - I need to downsize.