Hello cat addicted community, my name is Josh Loviscek (love-ees-ick, that’s Slovenian for those curious lol), and I am a crazy cat man with 14 indoor cats. Used to be a permanent 13 until I ironically broke that unlucky number by saving a black kitten from the hot streets last summer.
We’ve run into a huge problem. No, I’m not rehoming any of my babies. They function as a pride, and it’s always been interesting to observe their different personalities meshing together as one. I can’t imagine putting any of them through even temporary confusion on where they are, or their siblings or even myself. But before I get into our dilemma, I’ll talk about how I even ended up with 14 cats lol.
My first cat, Zelda, was my first cat I ever owned living on my own, and became a trio with Daenerys and Shiva after she was about 2 because I knew she needed friends. Fast forward to the first year living in my current house (2021), Zelda ends up passing away at almost 7 years old by contracting UTI pretty soon after darting outside while in heat.
I never let her outside before and my cats are trained not to run out (all except 1 because the weirdo potties with my dog then comes back in lol) but I got her addicted to letting her come out on the porch with me and it became an issue where she’d slip out the door super quick and be gone for the night.
I never got her fixed because I wanted to breed her to carry on her generations by keeping a female from each litter to bred bred around 6 or 7 years old, that way Zelda was with me in a way for the rest of my life. But she mated with a homeless cat and it caused her UTI. It still kills me to this day knowing she suffered in the end when she looked up to me… she was my familiar..
A couple months after her passing, some friends offered some kittens to me and I needed a change of atmosphere for Shiva and Daenerys, I could very much tell they were sad over Zelda. So when picking from the 3 kittens I said, “Well if I only pick 1, my cats are adults so may not play with it, and if I take 2, then that leaves the 1 left to wonder what happened to it’s siblings! So that’s it! Theo, Leo, and Cleo!” and just like that. The trio came home with me.
So I live in the heart of Indianapolis, and therefore being a city boy, I have the choice of riding busses everywhere. Sure it takes more time but it saves me money! But the vet clinic hours were the same as my shift and all in my range were closed on the same days I’m off. So it made it pretty difficult to get the kittens fixed in time.
Leo and Cleo ended up having 2 litters before someone introduced me to Hoosier Fix, an amazing clinic that not only fixed and microchipped all of my babies for free, but even introduced me to a sweet lady who gave my babies rides to and from the clinic!
I had intentions of giving them all away but by the time I was supposed to, I had imprinted and fell in love with all of them and didn’t want to put them through that scary state of confusion, even if it is temporary. So now here I am, feeding them 20 lbs a week (large bowl stays out for a quarter of the day then put away) and doing even more daily scooping but I don’t regret any of my babies.
The dilemma is that we are now living in the dark with it due to getting really hot really soon. The first few years living here, the highest my winter electric bill would be was over $800 keeping the heat on 24/7, which honestly didn’t make sense considering it’s just me in a 1 bedroom house, but I would swallow the pill and pay it. This past winter though? I kid you not, my bill was in the thousands with an S all winter long!
After the first ridiculously huge statement, I called AES (my electric company) and explained to them that it didn’t make sense and that my landlord needed to figure out the issue. They disabled the system triggering a disconnection notice on my bills because I explained there’s no way I could pay thousands worth in a month but can pay as much as I can and they were very understanding about it.
So the landlord sends maintenance out to discover the furnace (in my attic btw) has it’s lid popped off so the attic was getting much warmer than the rest of the house. Though it did help my place get warmer, it didn’t help, the next statement was also in the thousands!
So then I started turning the heat off when leaving the house (I kept it on for my babies) and that didn’t help either! Next bill was still in the thousands! So I called AES to discuss my situation again and all they could tell me was I needed to leave my heat on. Which the poor insulation of this house makes it struggle getting past 65 so I set it at 60. Next statement ALSO in the thousands so I cut the breaker to my furnace and stopped using it for the rest of the winter and relied on 1 space heater and it brought my statement down to the $400s. Now I now to use the oven for heat next winter..
Now since I don’t need heat, my most previous statement is around $150 but AES took off the disabled disconnection and my current amount, regardless of how much I’ve been gradually chipping away, triggered a disconnection. Not even a partial payment because the bill is so high. I was to pay $7,772.18 by Friday but there was no way I could and Saturday they cut me off.
If I pay $1000 a month (or more during 5 pay day months), I should be back on on 7ish months. But that is a long time dealing with high temperatures! If it was just me, I’d build character and get myself through it. But it’s my cats and dog I hate to see suffering. The first year I lived here, I used window fans because this house has no ac unit, and that was just blowing around hot air, all my animals were panting. Now I’m relying on 2 solar powered generators solely for high velocity fans and charging my phone.
So I’ve set up a fundraiser to the amount of $7,500. I do not expect that goal to be met whatsoever but anything would help to shave time off of what I’m about to deal with when it gets in the 90s, and I will be absolutely grateful for anything received!
Eventually, I will pay it back to that world through the animal kingdom! In the dance scene, I’m known as Prince Raven, a fashionista that changes colors of my crowns and capes to fit the scene of whatever party/event I’m going to and I’m adored by it! Eventually I grew to writing and singing my own music (though I haven’t publicly put anything out there) but it’s some pretty good music!!
The goal is to become one of the world’s greatest DJs/Producers/Performers as Prince Raven and when I go on on big tours, my themes will revolve around different biomes of the world! From the tundras, to the rainforests, temperate forests, deserts, and of course the oceans and more!
Each one of my shows, even the small ones from the beginning, I plan on donating half of my personal profits to animal organizations all over the world. I want to help get the oceans cleaned, to save endangered species and further end poaching for good, as well as open up more non kill shelters including black cat sanctuaries.
After learning alot about myself over my 20s, I’ve realized that my soul was sent here to become the shepherd of the animal kingdom. I’ve helped so many animals and I will continue to do so in much larger ways through the power of my music! Please help me reach my goal quicker by helping me chip away this crazy electric bill so I can be powered back on and none of my fur babies nor I have to suffer!
Thank you for reading all the way through! Especially thank you to those who help me out! Below is a photo cluster of my 14 beloved babies, my crazy bill, and some of my Prince Raven photos including my logo to my recently opened fashion shop where I customize and sell fashion but only glasses at the moment. And might even pause on that cause I can’t focus if I’m sweating in a humid house lol
