I'm the jerk who adopted cats and now cannot keep them..suggestions?

September 21, 2013 8:50 PM

I adopted two stray kittens just under a year ago. I am mildly allergic and planned to keep them temporarily, but grew quite attached. I am constantly on the road for work take them around from hotel to hotel with me, which is not ideal. On top of that, my permanent living situation is changing and I will be living with someone with severe cat allergies. I need to find a home for these two as soon as possible. I have exhausted my possible friends and family options. I really would like them to be able to stay together, as they are quite good buddies. I don't like the idea of giving them to a shelter, though I am beginning to see it may be the only option here. If it's useful, I am going back and fourth between Scranton, PA and Pittsburgh, PA right now, in case anyone has suggestions that are location specific. Does anyone have advice about facilities or other ways that I might try to find them a home? Tobias and Tzipora and I thank you.
posted by sb3 to Pets & Animals (16 answers total)

Did you adopt them from a rescue organisation or just save them from the streets? If you got them from a rescue group they most likely will be willing to take them back. If you didn't it might be worth contacting a rescue group, who may be able to include them in their "listings" of available pets etc, though with fosters being in high demand, you'd probably have to help them out by continuing to foster the cats in the mean time, but that would give you access to having them listed on Petfinder or similar, and using the rescues contracts and vetting of applicants to make sure they go to a good home. If possible I'd avoid shelters as they are super overcrowded with cats and streams of adult cats coming in all the time and it is very hard for cats past the kitten stage to find homes directly from shelters.
posted by wwax at 9:31 PM on September 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Have you tried a listing on Craigslist?
posted by summerstorm at 9:56 PM on September 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Can you afford to throw money at the problem?

I knew someone who got paid to take in a cat once. He'd wanted a cat but couldn't afford the food and vet bills. His friend was moving and couldn't keep her beloved cat. It worked out well for everyone.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:40 PM on September 21, 2013 [3 favorites]

You can try Bad Yoga Kitty on twitter. She has some sort of network (she has mentioned PA) to rehome cats.

If you do go the shelter route, try to find a no-kill shelter. But yeah, they'll probably be separated.

You may know this already and I'm just driving the guilt stake home, and if so I'm sorry, but if they are no longer kittens, shelters are going to have a harder time finding homes for them.
posted by angrycat at 5:15 AM on September 22, 2013

I recently had to rehome cats. It took me a year to find a place that would not put them on the short list to euthanasia. Ultimately I found rescue organizations and made decent sized donations to them I think as a quid pro quo, but I would have made the donation otherwise so I did not feel put out.

Of the many things I learned along the way, two stand out. One, it is not easy to rehome an animal/cat. Two, if you put it up for adoption on Craig's list or online somehow. charge a $50 fee (or some slightly more than token amount). That prevents the people looking to obtain cats for research or purposes you don't want your cat to serve from getting involved.

Have you tried Petfinder?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:38 AM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Using Craiglist, Facebook, and whatever social media you frequent, you can try to get them adopted as a pair by writing a really great, engaging description that captures their personalities and loveability. We have some Mefites who are super good at this who may chime in to offer to help. (Spending some time to capture an adorable, clear photo helps a whole lot, too)
posted by taz at 5:39 AM on September 22, 2013 [5 favorites]

Don't list your pets on Craigslist, because free pets on Craigslist is a great place to find an animal to abuse/torture/experiment on/have for a while then abandon. Adoptive homes are obviously not vetted like they would be through an animal rescue.
posted by zdravo at 5:40 AM on September 22, 2013 [5 favorites]

You CAN list your pets on Craigslist, just not for free. I don't think that people getting pets from Craigslist to abuse and torture is common at all, and just a little due diligence on your part (meeting the people first, asking to speak to a reference) should give a very reasonable assurance that you're sending them to a decent home.

Also, if it helps, I personally adopted two adult cats together from a shelter, and I love them dearly and spoil them rotten - so it does happen!
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:11 AM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Check out Animal Friends in Pittsburgh. A great No-Kill shelter with multiple locations in Pittsburgh. They will do everything they can to keep your two little fellas together and find a god home for them.
posted by punkrockrat at 9:50 AM on September 22, 2013

Adoptive homes are obviously not vetted like they would be through an animal rescue.

I got my cat from the Humane Society. There was no vetting whatsoever. I had to fill out a questionnaire that basically amounted to "Here are some things to think about before adopting a pet. Have you thought about them?"

Craigslist is viable, but like treehorn+bunny said, you have to attach some cost to them. When I was trying to rehome cat, I felt a bit weird taking money for him and would have been willing to let someone buy a sizeable gift card at Petsmart or wherever and show it to me with the receipt, but I only got one response which was transparently sketchy.
posted by hoyland at 10:52 AM on September 22, 2013

I adopted my eldest cat from craigslist, so it's not totally unreasonable that you could find someone there. However, you would want to interview any potential owners carefully. Cute pictures are definitely a must! There is a PGH local message board called http://www.nevertellmetheodds.org/. You might put up a listing with some cute pics there and see whether anyone is looking to adopt or knows of someone who is looking. Animal Friends is also great if you can't get the cats placed yourself.
posted by amileighs at 11:59 AM on September 22, 2013

Seconding don't list them as "free"! Charge a small sum (like $25) or ask for an equivalent donation to charity. "Free to good home" will attract the animal abusers and sketchy types.

You say you adopted them as strays, so I'm assuming you didn't get them at a shelter. Most shelters will take animals back if their owners can't care for them. (In fact both of the shelters where I got my cats INSISTED that if they needed rehoming, the cats would go to them first.) If there is a no-kill shelter in your area, could you persuade them to take the cats with a donation?

If the low or no-kill shelters/rescues are all full, try listing the cats on Petfinder, with a cute photo and good story. Also, try putting up flyers at the local veterinarians, or even ask at vets' offices for help. My cats' vet allows owners to put up flyers, and they have kittens for adoption in their office.

Finally, yes, people will adopt a pair of adult cats. I did. It may not always be possible (they are better off separated than euthanized!) but it can happen.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

People like kittens, but your cats are litter-trained, have had shots, have x,y, and z other advantages. Put that in your marketing for your kitties. Also, ask the vet if they know of anyone.
posted by theora55 at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2013

Mod note: Folks, the OP is looking for specific ways to rehome the kittens. Either provide specific answers or skip this one, don't just yell about responsibility.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 2:30 PM on September 22, 2013

Since you travel quite a bit, can you leave posters at the hotels you frequent? Or ask the front staff if they know anyone who needs kitties? Also, I think many people are open to adopting two cats, especially pair bonded cats.

Also you're not a jerk, you clearly care about these cats quite a bit.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:12 PM on September 22, 2013

If you use Craigslist, I agree that you have to put a price in the listing. But once a suitable person is there and ready to pay, you don't have to take the money. Just tell them to use it for the kitty's care. I've done this with household items, but not with a cat. Now and then there's someone who feels terrible about paying nothing, so we negotiate down to the least they're willing to pay.
posted by wryly at 3:45 PM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]