This is an article created from tweets that I made back in November of 2024. The situation of street cats in my city has given me a lot of heartbreak since moving here. It’s hard to sit down and focus on the suffering of these animals that I love so much, knowing that I am barely able to help.
If you’d like to hear the story, here it goes:
I was shocked when I saw you today, after not having seen you for days. You have become so small and frail. The whole day I’ve been thinking about you. Running all options through my head – is there any way I can help you?
Money is the first problem. I’m not in a stable situation, I have only little to spare. I can’t afford 500 euros for a vet bill to have you checked, treated, vaccinated, de-wormed, possibly operated (I suspect the ear is being eaten away by cancer.)
Second, I can’t take you in just like this, because I have two cats whose health I must prioritize. So a vet visit would be required.
I wish I had stuff I could sell to make a quick buck, then I would try and organize help for you.
But just a year ago, I gave away hundreds of euros worth of belongings – including cat food, litter boxes, carriers and scratch posts that I could not bring on my – then temporarily homeless – adventure as I was forced to move out of my home after my parents’ deaths.
I would take on “emergency commissions”, but I have little experience doing commissions and no reach. That said, a fundraiser is also out of the question.
If I were able to split a vet bill with others, I would get you to a vet, get you checked up and bring you with me. I would happily pay for your food as you would spend your last moments here. Because no matter what, at this point, you are sick and dying.
It’s cold and rainy, I don’t know where you usually hang around. With this weather and your current state, I give you days at best. My heart hurts for you.
There is so much I would be able to do and accomplish, if I had the money.
Thoughts run wild in my head. Can I start a nonprofit organization? A cat cafe with street cats? Can I save up for a home with land, and build a shelter there?
I’m still a long way from speaking this language properly, so that’s definitely an obstacle too. But man. Do I feel a need to help.
You are not just in my thoughts – you are in my heart. Just like the many others. Just like your litters, although I don’t know where you gave birth.
How I wish I could make you feel loved just once in your short life.
How I wish money wasn’t required for that.
Final Thoughts
As I said, these tweets were from November last year. I haven’t seen her since.
Living here in Bulgaria is kind of turning me into some sort of activist for street animals. I feel like I have no choice but to do something. I can’t look at all of this suffering and move on with my life. Even though living my own life is hard enough as it is.
This why I decided to try and turn inspiremari.nl into way for you to help me help street cats. All I’m asking is that you register for an account – I ask for very little information, it’s mostly required to avoid spam and bots – and interact with my website. You can just visit and browse daily, or place comments under my blog posts. In turn, you will receive Golden PawCoins, a virtual currency that can be exchanged for virtual adoptables called StarKittens.
At the time of writing, four StarKittens are available, as well as a couple of cat accessories. You can exchange your Golden PawCoins for these adoptables and accessories. They will be proudly displayed on your profile. And that helps me out a ton!
Because if my website can grow, I can potentially monetize it. And if I can monetize it, I can generate an income to help street cats.
For this cat, it’s too late. But there are still many more that need our help.
Update February 2026:
I decided to remove the member system and instead opened up a Guestbook. I do not yet have enough reach to operate inspiremari.nl as a community, so it didn’t outweigh the amount of work I had to invest in keeping the plugins working together for only a handful of people actively participating. My goal is still to be able to do more for the street cats. I still have a cat come by every day or every couple of days, and I feed her what I can. She will not go hungry under my watch, but there are more street cats. Many more. Endlessly more… meanwhile, I am not financially doing well, so I’m only taking care of a couple of cats for now. I’m still working hard on growing inspiremari.nl, growing as an artist, and hopefully one day I’ll make enough money to live (I’m unfortunately required to live off of savings at the moment) and when I have more money, I will help more cats. Every visit to my website, every interaction, message in my Guestbook, perhaps a purchase via my Ko-fi shop, it all helps. Thank you for your support!
