Precious is a very friendly and loving 3.5 year old unspayed female cat "belonging" to my neighbors. She is basically left outside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. She had her first litter of kittens as soon as she was old enough to reproduce. Precious is a very small adult cat, likely a result of having kittens so young; her growth has been stunted. This makes it even more dangerous for her to become pregnant. Since April 2008 alone, Precious has given birth to four litters of kittens. Each litter was left outside, even in below freezing temperatures. Precious lives in the city near busy streets where careless drivers speed down the road. Last summer, one of Precious' kittens was struck and killed. Despite seeing the kitten lying in the street, Precious' owners did nothing to remove the kitten from the middle of the road. I picked the kitten up, and it was upon seeing its face that I decided to take in all of the remaining kittens to ensure they did not meet an untimely death. I have taken in every litter since then, vetted them and found them homes with the help of a local rescue.

Pictured below are some of Precious' kittens who I have rescued. Please help me prevent the suffering of their future siblings.

Despite giving Precious' owners plenty of information about the local low-cost spay and neuter clinic, they always have an excuse for why they cannot take her in. "I have to wait until I get a a second job." "We lent our cat carrier to someone." The "owners" are a single mother and her two young children. They do not have a lot of money, but I know they could have had her spayed a long time ago had they saved up. The low-cost clinic even offers further discounts to those who can show proof of needing financial assistance. This family is of the opinion, "It's just a cat, she's supposed to be outside. It's not big deal if she has kittens."

I cannot continue to foster Precious' kittens. I am a very poor college student living at home now, where I am not allowed to bring any more cats into my family's house. We have five rescued cats and one large dog who does not like kittens. We have no space to isolate kittens, meaning we'd be putting our pets' health and the safety of the kittens at risk. In addition, the rescue group I worked with has no money left to assist in the medical care of the kittens.

If Precious is not spayed, she will continue to have kittens who will have no place to go. They will either be killed in the road, attacked by a stray dog, freeze to death, starve, or be lucky enough to survive to adulthood, only to reproduce more homesless and unwanted cats. Precious's body has also been through a lot in her short life time. If she is not spayed, she is in danger of dying due to a pregnancy-related complication. She is also at an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. If she contracts cancer, she will likely die a slow, painful, lonely death, since her owners will likely not know she is ill.