37 cents

Perhaps you're thinking:  "Wow.  A $4000 surgery for two cats.  That's $2000 per cat.  Think of how many other cats/dogs/people that money could help."

You're right.  $2000 is a lot of money.  If you want to think of it in purely economical terms,  assuming a cat lives 15 years (average age of a house cat is 14-20 years) that's $133 per year or about 37 cents a day.  Interestingly, the oldest cat ever recorded was Creme Puff, who lived to 38 years old.  

As a small group with limited resources, we've had to make some very hard decisions about what cats to save and what cats to let go.  Sometimes, a humane death is a better choice than a lifetime of suffering.  

It is never an easy choice for any of us. 

But sometimes, cats come to us that are full of vitality, charm, and stubbornness.  They demand to be saved.  Iris and May are such cats.  Their presence in this world is worth way more than 37 cents per day.  

When Ruth, the woman who found Iris, picked her up from the park that day, Ruth put Iris in a carrier and biked her immediately to our local vet.  Iris was so sick that Ruth was sure the tiny kitten would be dead by the time she got to the vet.

Upon being told by the vet that this tiny kitten was blind in one eye, Ruth called her Iris hoping that her beautiful name would give back some of what her hard start in life had taken away.

Yesterday, we had 120 visitors to this blog.  Due to the generosity of these visitors, yesterday we collected $345 towards our goal!

Thank you to all of you who know that love is worth so much more than 37 cents a day.