The Final Kitty Solution

May 27, 2005 8:34 AM

So I am trying to get rid of some kittens. My cat became pregnant soon after she came to my home. These are black long-hair kittens in Nashville TN. I have tried the kitty adoption centers and everyone I know but had no luck. Now these kittens are a week away from going to the Humane Society. Do any of you know any novel ways to dispurse the kitties so that I can avoid sending them to the kitty concentration camps?

On a side note: Black kittens are apparently the most difficult to get rid of because of superstitions. This is what the kitty adoption people say. Just thought this was an interesting bit of trivia to add to things.

posted by aburd to Pets & Animals (27 answers total)

I prefer black cats myself - how about asking a grocery if you can set up a card table outside on the weekend & offer them up for adoption (like Girl Scout cookies)?
posted by Pressed Rat at 8:44 AM on May 27, 2005

First, get the cat fixed so you don't need to think about this again.

Second, post cutesy pictures on a blog and make sure Nashville people read it -- maybe see if folk like Brittney Gilbert would post a "Save the Kitties" link to it.
posted by pracowity at 8:44 AM on May 27, 2005

Have you tried posting a 'free kittens' notice at pet stores and vet offices? In Nashville, there's a 'cat shop' in Green Hills (near the mall) that posts such notices, and we found a nice home for an old cat with behavior problems (that our new baby was terribly allergic to) by posting a sign at the Berry Hill Animal Hospital.
posted by nixxon at 8:52 AM on May 27, 2005

My cat became pregnant soon after she came to my home.

You make it sound like she got pregnant by proximity to your furniture. You got a cat, neglected to neuter her, let her run about outside / around male cats, all the while knowing that you can't or don't want to care for kittens. This is very irresponsible of you. You owe it to them to try for more than a week.

Try craigslist: http://nashville.craigslist.org/

As pracowity said, advertise with pictures.
posted by ori at 8:54 AM on May 27, 2005

If nothing else, give them to a no-kill shelter rather than the humane society.
posted by undertone at 8:56 AM on May 27, 2005

Take the cutest pix you can of them, make fliers with the pix (forget blogs), and post everywhere you can. And you do owe them more than a week. It takes time. I once found homes for four "teenage" cats by advertising them as "Jumbo Kittens."
posted by words1 at 9:00 AM on May 27, 2005

Best answer: Um, yeah, I hate to say it, but if you just dicked around and didn't get the mother cat spayed, you owe the kittens more than a week. Here is a link to Middle Tennessee shelters.

Good luck.
posted by Medieval Maven at 9:16 AM on May 27, 2005

Adoption centers you tried wouldn't take them cause they're black? That's racism!

All joking aside, were they full up with cats or was it because they didn't want to do the extra work to make sure the people getting the kittens weren't going to devil sacrifice them?
posted by agregoli at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2005

Are they weaned and old enough to go out on their own? Petfinder is a good place to start -- good pictures and cute, personable descriptions are a must. It's kitten season, so differentiate!

Not to go all soapboxy, but please, please charge some kind of adoption fee. Even if it's $25. Free is bad. It sounds like you care, and that you're trying to do right by these kittens, so know that just passing them off to someone who wants a free pet might not be your most conscionable course of action.
posted by kittyb at 9:34 AM on May 27, 2005

Response by poster: Just to clear my name a bit, the kittens are now 8 weeks old. So it is well past a week.

And about a week after getting the cat (she was previously a stray around a friend's house) she started showing signs of being pregnant.

5 cats is just too much cat for one person.
posted by aburd at 9:41 AM on May 27, 2005

You could have gotten a kitty abortion and avoided this, but since you didn't, please give them more than a week. Check out the resources for Tennessee here. There are low-cost spay/neuter programs if money is the issue.
posted by crapulent at 9:46 AM on May 27, 2005

I had good luck with craigslist a few years back when I needed to get rid of some kittens after taking in an already pregnant stray. I also had posters stuck in the laundry rooms of the apartment complex I lived in.

My uncle once got rid of a litter of beautiful yellow lab puppies simply by walking around his kid-filled neighborhood with them in a wagon as soon as they were old enough to leave his house. Not sure how well that would work with kittens though.

On a less-friendly note, my best friend's cat was one of 4 that was left in a box on the front steps of our highschool.
posted by chickygrrl at 9:47 AM on May 27, 2005

You have the kittens and you owe it to them to keep them until they're re-homed, however long that takes. I'm surprised they're even ready to leave their mother at 8 weeks - I had to wait until my cat was 12 weeks before I was allowed to have him. And 5 cats is really not that many.

I spent a summer working in a vets where maybe once a week there'd be kittens/puppies/miscellaneous animals left at the door and I know we always had a list of (mostly elderly, living alone) people that we could call to look after the animals until a new home was found. Though sometimes these people would end up keeping the animals themselves. I'm not suggesting abandoning them of course, but you could call your local vet(s) and see if they have anything like that or if they could even suggest other ways to re-home the kittens.
posted by eatcherry at 10:41 AM on May 27, 2005

Let's all lynch aburd for considering giving the cats to the Humane Society! ARGHHHHHHHH!

You're evil and shall be punished! ARGHHHHHH!

No, really, I swear, we're all going to punish you. Argh.

You don't OWE the cats anything. However, considering that you're a good person and you've found a lot of options here, new avenues to try and find these cats homes, I have a feeling you will give it a little more time.

Seriously, sometimes people ask for advice here and every single person feels the need to guilt them along with their answers.
posted by incessant at 11:23 AM on May 27, 2005

(The week, aburd, was reference to the fact that the Humane Society will euthanize in about a week if they are not adopted.)
The mother may have been pregnant when you got her, but by all means, get her fixed now.
Good luck with your kitties. The suggestion on looking for pet programs for seniors is a very good one.
posted by whatzit at 12:19 PM on May 27, 2005

Response by poster: She has an appointment to be fixed now. To be honest, I didn't know that kitty abortions were an option. Apparently you can get the cat fixed and that will lead to the kittens being aborted during the early stages of pregnancy.

I really do appreciate the help. I am now on a waiting list for a No Kill shelter and a Low Kill shelter (they only put them down when they are too diseased to live comfortably). Kitten picture taking will also commence this evening.
posted by aburd at 12:49 PM on May 27, 2005

Ask your vet for advice. Vets often know of people that want another cat, and they know which owners are good pet owners, and which are bad. You might also try the organization Friends of Homeless Animals, which is a no kill shelter.
posted by unreason at 12:50 PM on May 27, 2005

Incidentally, the vet should find them easy to place; healthy kittens are always in high demand.
posted by unreason at 12:52 PM on May 27, 2005

Aburd, I posted this thread to my work site [SELF-LINK!] Nashville is Talking. I'll make it a link on the Itty-Bitty Blog on my personal site as well.

Good luck! (I'm allergic like crazy or I'd take two.)
posted by brittney at 12:58 PM on May 27, 2005

Also, if you do post on craigslist, I suggest asking for a price as opposed to giving them for free. Many testing sites/labs scoop up animals this way, and attaching a small price can avoid this. Food luck!
posted by Zosia Blue at 2:22 PM on May 27, 2005

If you could hold on to the kittens until close to 12 weeks old they will be much more well behaved later in life. Between 8 and 12 weeks mama cat is teaching the kittens social skills, e.g. it's not OK to bite, it's OK to play but not to rough. They will also not exhibit excessive suckling and clinging behavior.
posted by Ferrari328 at 2:46 PM on May 27, 2005

Food luck!

Hopefully not.
posted by kindall at 5:29 PM on May 27, 2005

I'm not sure I understand the question. Why not take the kittens to the Humane Society? I don't know how things are where you live, but at the Humane Society at which I volunteer, kittens are adopted very quickly. We turn people away every week, because we can't keep them "in stock."

This "kitty concentration camp" image is utterly alien to my experience.
posted by SPrintF at 8:43 PM on May 27, 2005

I happen to love black cats, too. They're my 1st choice because I also like the 'underdog'.

Years ago I adopted a pregnant cat - she had 6 male kittens. I placed a newspaper ad for "Free Kittens". Not one response the entire week!

So the next week I tried another ad - "Happy, Healthy Kittens, 1st Shots, $5" That time they all went to good homes within 2 days.

$25 is too much to pay for a cat, isn't it?
posted by LadyBonita at 12:54 AM on May 28, 2005

LadyBonita,
Considering that if you adopt a cat from a shelter, spayed and with all shots you will most likely pay in the $90 range so 25$ for a kitten isn't to much at all.
posted by Ferrari328 at 6:42 AM on May 28, 2005

Since you are in Tennessee, I hear Senator Frist can use some more cats.
posted by realcountrymusic at 6:45 AM on May 28, 2005

Food luck!

Oops.
posted by Zosia Blue at 10:39 AM on May 28, 2005