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A British woman has said that the cost of caring for her six pet cats caused her to resolve to starve herself.
Yasemn Kaptan, 46, claims that she only has one meal each week that consists of salad and barbecued veggies like peppers and onions.
Yasemn from Tottenham in north London, UK, claimed she had shed five stone over the past year and drinks mint tea for breakfast, lunch, and supper to fight off hunger.
Yasemn said: ‘I don’t have any money to spare – but I can’t let the cats go.
‘They have grown up with us. I have had them since they were little babies.
‘I paid a lot of money to have them, they are at the end of their life. it really isn’t fair to let them go.
‘If I eat it has to be something soft like yoghurt or vegetables. I cry every other day, I am trying to be happy with myself but I am down and tired.
‘Some weeks I am not eating properly at all and I just have fluids to keep me going.’
Yasemn claimed to have been forced to resign from her position last year after receiving an osteoporosis diagnosis. She had acquired the cats when she worked as a personal shopper and could ‘comfortably’ afford them.
Due to her osteoporosis, she receives a £400 monthly disability benefit, which she uses to pay her rent and other expenses.
Yasemn also receives a £69 weekly stay-at-home caregiver stipend to help her care for her multiple sclerosis-suffering spouse Erdinc Hassain, 46. She claimed that of the £60 she spends on the animals.
‘When I get my carer’s allowance it goes on cat litter, cat food, biscuits and special milk, it takes up all my money. I can only just about pay my phone bill,’ she said.
‘My partner is worried about me but I have got used to it by now. I will be okay, things will get better.
‘There is nothing I can do, I will not get rid of my cats. I have had them for 17 years, they are my little babies they keep me going.’
