I wrote:

I think calling PAWS and finding out what they do in those cases is
a great idea.

Well, I looked at the PAWS website, and it turns out that they only
serve people in San Francisco proper. This guy lives in Oakland, which
is close to San Francisco, but apparently outside of PAWS's service
area. So I called him to ask him to explain exactly what PAWS did for
him. I got a little suspicious, thinking that he was lying to me. But
he wasn't, they did recommend some low-cost vets he could go to. But
they didn't give him any other services, and they won't be, because he
doesn't live in SF.

So now the question is, what will happen to Lambchop if he becomes too
sick to take care of her? I don't think there is an organization over
here to step in and help in his case. As he said to me, "if they have
$100 in San Francisco for AIDS services, they have ten cents in Oakland."

San Francisco has a huge gay community and they are very well organized
and funded for AIDS services. Oakland is largely black and much poorer.
Also, AIDS has been a problem in the gay community for much longer, so
they've had much more time to set things up. These days, the black
community is in much greater danger from AIDS, but they don't have as
much infrastructure in place to deal with it. They also don't have the
financial or political resources to get all the services they need.
(Too bad we can't depend on our *government* to provide these services
equally to everyone who needs them - what a novel idea!)

I would really like for this guy to adopt Lambchop - he wants a cat,
she needs a home, and Roxy and Smudge need this apartment to be a
"Lambchop-free space". fret, fret, fret What to do??

Joyce