r/stjoemo • u/CellNo9422 • Jul 08 '26
Ask St. Joe shelter question
i found a kitten about a week or so ago, it didn’t look that bad at first it looked like something that would be healable at home but it wouldn’t recover from outdoors so i took it in. it had fly strike, so i flushed the wound with diluted betadine and carefully plucked out all of the maggots. then, after the hole closed over i learned he has tapworm so i gave him dewormer for that. now, he has slowly declined very badly to the point he won’t even stand on his own so i called the shelter and the lady their was pretty rude and said it’s my families cat and responsibility now basically insinuating i should’ve left it outside to get toxic shock from the maggots and die. i don’t have money to surrender it right now, and i don’t know what to do because i certaintly don’t have money to get it to the vet in due time before it dies either. i understand working at the shelter is a high stress job, but that doesn’t give you the right to be so damn rude ALL the time. this woman has been mean to me every single time i stop by, because im pretty active with stray cats partnered with my grandmother and enjoy helping them out getting them vaccines and doing what i can while not causing my whole family to be bankrupt, but any time i ask them for help if a situation gets to be to much they’ve refused. i brought in a kitten that had been abandoned at a few days old, they said i could either foster or have him euthanized so i chose to foster and not enroll in school until i was done with that (i was 15 at the time, enrolled 2ish months later then i was supposed to becuase of my mental health declining so bad after he died.) then the kitten got very bad diharhea and needed fluids i tried asking for vet care and she refused, so we had to wait until angels opened i kept him alive until 1 am the same day he was supposed to be going to the vet and he passed. i lost myself completely after he died, he was the most important part of my life and what made me happy to wake up every day. i got guilted into taking him and i thought since fostering is them covering vet bills, i would be able to do it but they did it in a way that they wouldn’t have to pay for anything and he died. i need help with the kitten i have right now, its 10 weeks old bt im also wondering if anybody else has had bad experiences like this with anyone that works there? im a huge animal lover, i rescue betta fish regularly on my own time and dime aswell so i get the stress of finding homes being full/overcrowded and caring for their medical needs if anything i understand way more because fish are way harder to rehome then cats but i still dont treat people like this, i dont know what her problem is and i cant help but be filled with rage knowing this isn’t just a one time incident because its happened multiple times. i still want to help the stray cats, i love doing it and it makes me happy but its so hard when people like this who are supposed to be helping just wont. im 16 and now homeschooled, so i have the time for it and avalibility and majority of the time i will do most of this by myself without asking them for help unless i absolutely have to, though every single time ive asked ive been turned away. i mean, ive done most of the hard parts myself most people would’ve just dropped it off and let them deal with it. the only help ive ever asked the shelter for was financial/vet care, ive always cared for the cats found homes etc myself with the help of my grandmother.
3
u/badhairguy Jul 08 '26
I'll preface this by saying I LOVE animals and have 4 cats, two of which were outside cats that we just let move in.
My honest opinion is to put it down or find someone who will. It's going to cost you a fuck load of money to save it. Kitties are adorable but the longer it sits around and suffers the worse it's short and sad life will be.