Long story short, my stepfather decided I couldn't live at his house anymore. My grandparents offered to give me a place to live. Not really knowing what else to do, I agreed. Their house is very close to my job and my mother so location-wise, it's great. They're both also very nice people and only make me pay $200 a month to stay here. I don't have to pay any other bills or for food, so I consider myself very lucky on that part. The only issue is...their house is..fairly disgusting. I was able to use most of my savings to pay for new carpet to be installed in the room I am staying in (with my grandparents agreement, of course) because they own 10+ animals and I have fairly bad allergies. I put allergy filters on the vents and have kind of made it my own personal bubble..which is great. I just never want to leave.

Don't get me wrong, I love animals and I used to live with my grandparents when I was younger and they had even more than they do now. Though, over the years they haven't kept up with all of the animals and the "mess" they can create. When I lived here before, they had a cat that pissed all over everything. Walls, carpet, stuff, clothes, you name it. My mother and I felt bad because the cat started peeing because I brought my cat over. Her and I tried to clean up after it, but my grandmother wouldn't believe it was her cat who was doing it. So even after we gave away one of our cats and got a friend to keep the other, the cat wouldn't stop peeing. It's stained the walls and the carpets and half the house has a distinct "cat pee" smell. Eventually, my grandmother finally believed it was her cat and it had to be put down. She finally started cleaning up the house. She replaced a few of the carpets and got hardwood installed in the living room. Then she got another cat. (She has two others, but they're normal..) This cat is worse than the last. Unknown to my mother and I, (until now) this cat seems to have inflammatory bowel disease. One of my mothers dogs was diagnosed with that, but it cleared up quickly with hypoallergenic food and a steroid. This poor cat, Maggie, has had this problem for 2 years now and it's not clearing up. She is only 4 years old and barely weighs 4 pounds. (She is nothing but skin and bones; she looks starving.) Having constant diarrhea, she leaves poop everywhere around the house and her legs are always covered in dried fecal matter. It's disgusting. The cat is given a steroid, but my grandmother refuses to try the hypo-food, or to pay for different procedures so the vet can make a more specific diagnosis. The carpet in my grandmothers room is covered in poop stains and maggie almost always misses the litter box, because she can't make it. She lets the cat jump onto the stove and lay on the furniture, etc The other day, the cat even managed to shit all over the stove. My grandmother loves this cat, but without giving her the special food or getting other treatment Maggie is destroying all the work my grandparents put into trying to make their house more presentable. My mother and I both feel like Maggie's quality of life is not good because she is begging for food 24/7 and is constantly pooping herself. We've tried to convince my grandmother to either put her down or pay for more treatments, but she just gets mad. The house constantly smells like cat poop and the guys who moved my furniture over almost threw up..

I just don't want to use any furniture downstairs, or even eat what my grandmother cooks because I don't know if she realized how gross everything is when a shit covered cat keeps sitting on everything. I'd like to move out on my own, but even though I work 40+ hours a week and clean houses on the side I still can't afford the rent in this area. The cheapest apartment is almost $800 a month. I wouldn't be able to afford my bills or food. I just don't know how to tell my grandmother that myself, and the rest of my family thinks her house is disgusting and smells awful... I'm trying to just save my money as best I can to try and move out by the end of the year, but I'm worried about her and my grandfathers health. Because of my grandfathers asthma, they shouldn't have animals in the first place.

Sorry the post is so lengthy. :(

Is it possible for you to find a roommate to share the rent of an apartment with? Your living situation sounds awful : It's not good for you, your grandparents or the animals to live in that filth, and honestly the condition of Maggie and just the house in general sounds like animal abuse. I'm sure you've already mentioned the health concerns to them, it sounds like they're just rather...used to it to an extreme level? Like I know a lot of people who have pets or smoke a lot inside get used to the smell even though it's not pleasant to other people. I guess I would try to talk to them again very calmly about how you worry about their and the animals' health, and see if you could possibly help rehome some of them or something. The cats shouldn't have to be put down because your grandparents don't want to try different methods.

And I doubt you would want to do this, but as a last resort you could threaten to call animal control or something like that.

That's animal abuse. Your best bet is to call the SPCA or the police to take her cat away to be properly treated.

You probably should call animal control or look up your local cat welfare shelter. Many of the no-kill shelters will voluntarily take and treat sick cats for free.

As for your grandparents and their home...I hate to say it, but do you think there might be something wrong with them? Most people could not stand to live in a place like that. Cat feces and urine can cause disease and it's not good for you or them. I think Rorschach is right. Try calming talking to them, whilst possibly finding a roommate. If that doesn't work, the family might need to intervene to get them help.

honestly, if your grandparents can't handle that many animals, they shouldn't have them. i'd hate to recommend contacting the ASPCA or something about it, though, but those are very unhealthy conditions not only for the people living in the house but the animals as well. if you can't get them to see reason, that may be the only solution. on another note, makes a fine point; are they, perchance, hoarders, or suffering from some mental illness that prevents them from caring? and as for the cat that's shitting everywhere, if they can't/won't try to help it, it should be put down, or relocated if the problem is less severe than it sounds. but from the sound of it, it's going to starve if it isn't treated properly. try telling her that.

another method, perhaps, of effectively communicating with her might be figuring out her MBTI personality type and using logic that appeals to the reasoning of said type. maybe. if you're crafty.