Where have all the cats gone? Adopter in need of an adoptee!

January 16, 2021 11:11 AM

My parents are looking to adopt a cat, ideally yesterday. Their much loved and extremely senior cat passed a month ago, and there's a huge cat-shaped hole in their hearts. My mom has never ever not had at at least one cat her entire life. They are really good, loving cat owners! But they cannot find a cat! Looking for ideas or avenues to chase down.

Their ideal "new" cat would be a friendly, middle aged rescue, a cat who just needs a nice, quiet indoor home with two senior humans spoiling them rotten. They really dont want to take on a special needs cat right now however, after dealing with the health issues of their recently passed, they need a break. Cats need regular medical treatment, thats fine, and if something comes up with new cat they will deal with it. But they just dont want to sign up for the challenges from day one.

Most likely due to covid, there are simply no cats. The local shelters and rescues get dozens of applications the first day new cats are posted, to the point where some aren't even advertising any more, they're just working through their weeks long wait list. My parents are slowly getting on all the wait lists, but this is nutty. They have gotten email auto-responders to their queries saying that they are not even taking any more applications until February for example.

My parents come from a time where all you had to do was meander around the neighbourhood looking for "free kittens" signs and bam, you had a new cat. Or even random cats meandering into your life and choosing you. Having to be on a wait list, send in long applications asking tons of personal questions, pass phone interviews, house checks (or covid-inspired virtual "send us a video of your house!" requests, which my parents are not technically savvy enough to do), and jump through all these hoops to get a "stray cat" is something they are having a very hard time accepting.

There might also be some age-discrimination at play; a new kitten is very likely to outlive my parents at this point. This isn't a problem - both myself and my brother have our own houses full of our own furrkids and would take on their cat as one of our own as needed, no problem. But they also don't want the exuberance and challenges of a kitten at this point in their lives anyway.

I've got a master list of all the rescues in a 4 hour radius (within Canada, we obviously cant cross the border), we're checking them daily, and my parents are applying and following up with phone calls for the ones they're interested in. Is there anything else we can do? I'm having a very hard time keeping them from "buying" a cat from a less-reputable pet store / kitten mill at this point, which is something I (and really them) do not agree with, but they really, really miss having a cat in their lives. Against my better judgement I've also scoured kijiji and facebook marketplace, but there's not much there anyway (except people trying to sell fancy purebred kittens)

Related - my parents are also not really open to the idea of fostering - most available foster situations today (there are not many given the above) have medical concerns, and they really dont want to risk getting attached to a cat and then having to give it back.

My current thought is spring is a couple months away, there has to be an uptick in availability soon. But waiting that long is breaking my mom's heart at this point.

Mefites - do you have any other ideas? How can I help fill the cat-shaped hole in their home and hearts in these covid times?

posted by cgg to Pets & Animals (15 answers total)

Call their vet and let the office know that they are looking for an adult cat. Sometimes families have to surrender cats when an owner dies or ends up needing to move to residential care. If the vet could keep their info on file it might be a huge relief to a family that needs to find a home for a cat they can’t care for.
posted by corey flood at 11:26 AM on January 16, 2021 [13 favorites]

Are there any Facebook groups for farmers in your geographic area? Farmers often have more cats than they know what to do with. Maybe your parents can post a request in the group.
posted by JD Sockinger at 11:26 AM on January 16, 2021

Wow, I just checked the Vancouver Craigslist, and you are right. Lots of cats wanted, some lost cats, one posting of some kittens (very fluffy), and one person who saw a cat outside and was listing it in case someone wanted to drive over and pick it up (could be someone's cat who is just outside, not sure why they think it's a stray).

Here are some ideas:

1) Go ahead a volunteer for a cat rescue in a non-fostering capacity. The one near me has people screening applications, helping raise funds, answering inquiries, facilitating foster training, and, the coolest (I think), helping with TNR (trap/neuter/release). The TNR team does find the occasional stray that's happy to be with humans. You need to be careful with kittens from a known colony, though -- they are sometimes inbred and have weird and incredibly complicated health issues.

2) This is going to sound weird and a little vulturey, but I'm thinking outside the box: look for people who already have cats but can't keep them. People moving into retirement communities, for example. Maybe post at, call, or look on a physical bulletin board at a local senior center.

3) Again outside the box - I might contact some behaviorists and/or vets. There may be cats currently living in situations that are difficult for them because of aggressive dogs (I ended up with a cat that way -- she basically moved in with me because she didn't want to be at her place anymore). Vets end up helping people who find cats, or get called because people don't know where else to turn.

Good luck. Interesting and encouraging problem.

I don't know if you're in Vancouver yourself, but have you already found Tiny Kittens? They rescue a lot of cats in the Vancouver area -- some are former ferals -- and apparently they have shipped cats before; I imagine they don't need to ship cats right now, though.
posted by amtho at 11:31 AM on January 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

One more idea: I think car junkyards accumulate boucoups de chats. Might be an unorthodox avenue to try. Most of the ones I've met are very feral, but there might be a sweet friendly one that the staff would love to find a more comfy home.

(Also, if you make friends with them, make sure they're connected to a TNR program.)
posted by amtho at 11:33 AM on January 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Our Nextdoor community has people looking to rehome cats, for some of the reasons amtho listed above. The person who had them is moving to assisted living, or, sadly, job loss has made it difficult to pay for food, litter, and vet care. Maybe this is an avenue for your parents to explore.
posted by XtineHutch at 11:40 AM on January 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Oddly, I went through this exact thing with my parents last month. Their cat passed last year and they were wanting a cat, preferably a rescue from an animal shelter. However, local animal shelters required long adoption applications asking a lot of personal information that my parents were not comfortable giving, and yes, a bit of the ageism thing going on. Also, they'd be and have been the absolute best pet owners throughout their lives. At this point though, they had all but given up.

My family and I live in another state from my parents. We had the opportunity to go visit over Christmas and I was planning on going to as many shelters as I could and adopting a cat on their behalf so they wouldn't have to deal with the process or the age aspect (pretty much everyone in my family - siblings, aunts, etc. are happy to take in any pets that any other family member is unable to care for).

However, before we made it to their state for the holidays a friend in my state posted on Facebook that they had a kitten up for adoption. We pounced (heehee) on the opportunity and got the kitten and took it with us and surprised my parents with a kitten for Christmas.

I get that this was just a big fat piece of cute kitteny luck dropped in our laps. Had this not happened, what I was set to do (and I'm not sure if you or anyone is in close proximity to your parents):

1. Adopt a cat on behalf of my parents. I was set to do the adoption process on my own. Of course they would come to pick out a cat and find the one they wanted, but it was going to be done all in my own name, and I was going to be the one divulging all my personal information. If you (or someone you know) are in close proximity to your parents, you could be the one setting up the home visit, etc. However, this doesn't address the problem that there just aren't cats to adopt!

2. Get the word out! Seriously, post all over your social media that you're looking for a cat for your parents. You'd be surprised what's actually available - not through breeders or rescues or the humane society. Friends and acquaintances might have the perfect opportunity, know of a co-worker who needs to rehome a cat, etc. Talk to the vet, see if there's anything available and ask if they could get the word out - or if there's a bulletin board in their office you could put a little ad up.

3. Be patient. Which is hard to do when there's a kitty sized hole in your heart.

4. Be flexible. My parents went into the search wanting to find a mid-aged cat, but the way it worked out was they got an 8 week old kitten that they adore and are having so much fun with! (they couldn't remember the last time they had a kitten. It's had to have been 30+ years. All the cats after that kitten were rescues).

Good luck! Get the word out!
posted by Sassyfras at 11:46 AM on January 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

A few thoughts:

Cats need regular medical treatment, thats fine, and if something comes up with new cat they will deal with it. But they just dont want to sign up for the challenges from day one.
Would a once or twice daily insulin shot be too much? I found a cat a few years ago that was thought to be diabetic and from that experience learned that diabetic cats are highly undesirable: Owners surrender older cats when they become diabetic, no one wants to adopt them because they have this daily need that makes them more high-maintenance than the average cat and are typically middle age cats. There are a few specific rescue and adoption groups for these cats. (I can point you to them if you can't find them.)

master list of all the rescues
Do these include mom-and-pop rescues or rescues tied to TNR groups? I found that the mainstream rescues will often only accept the most adoptable cats while less desirable cats (not as cute, older, a little skittish, still recovering from street injuries) can't find anyone to take them. Sometimes TNR groups or people who feed cat colonies will find cats who are more tame, either naturally or probably because they are dumped pets.

in a 4 hour radius
Perhaps expand that radius? Some groups will arrange for transport. Maybe you can't cross the border but maybe a rescue group could somehow. Given the stark difference in the social services and economic support in Canada versus the US, there are probably a lot more dumped pets in the US right now. I'm in NYC and my Instagram feed is filled with pet cats dumped onto the street who need homes. It looks like you're in Vancouver and not the East Coast, but I imagine the situation might be similar in Seattle.

Also, if there are enough people in your area who want cats, maybe a local rescue group or shelter can partner with another for large-scale transport either with the US or elsewhere in Canada. This is in the US but see here for an example: https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/17-year-old-pilot-flying-across-state-rescuing-animals-from-shelters/
posted by unannihilated at 11:47 AM on January 16, 2021

Have you tried Petfinder? I find that they’ll often list small, obscure rescues that are hard to find otherwise. There will still be applications but possibly not waiting lists. If your parents’ location matches the one in your profile, it shows lots of cats. It’s possible the profiles are outdated. But worth a shot?
posted by brook horse at 11:49 AM on January 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

I had luck with Petfinder in the exact way brook horse describes -- there was, like, one cat in all of Seattle up for adoption when I was looking (a few years ago! Pre-pandemic even!) and I was able to find a cat just by casting my net a little wider, and with somewhat smaller/more obscure rescues. Somewhat similar to your parents I had some specific requirements (well, my existing cat had some requirements, let's put it that way), and I was able to filter and search as needed.
posted by kalimac at 12:25 PM on January 16, 2021

This is partly seasonal. I was looking for a friendly young adult cat a couple of years ago around this time of year, and found the possibilities very limited. We ended up with a very sweet cat who was suffering from nasty food and flea allergies; the shelter had kept him for a month or two while sorting out his health problems. (He's on the left here and is doing great!)

If your parents can hold out until the season when more kittens start being born, they will find that their options for adult cats increase, too.
posted by yarntheory at 12:46 PM on January 16, 2021

The rescue I got my greyhound from has been getting cats and dogs from a rescue in the middle east. Not in Canada but I imagine there may be similar efforts there, I know there are for dogs.
posted by sepviva at 1:06 PM on January 16, 2021

Seattle person whose friend is looking for cats and therefore gets a lot of updates on cat availability: no, Seattle (at least not north-central Seattle) is not overrun with newly-homeless cats, sorry. It looks like there are always a few cats available per day, but most get adopted within a few days. So it's a reasonably balanced situation -- you can have a cat if you are not picky about which cat and are open to getting a bonded pair?

I would look EAST. Western Washington shelters get their cats from eastern Washington; you are looking for an area with population loss (and therefore a relative rise in #cats). Whenever someone on Nextdoor posts "I am heartbroken; I finally have a house but still cannot find a dog to adopt", people post suggestions of wildly distant dog rescues ("I got my dreamboy from this rescue that imports dogs from New Mexico and Tennessee!")
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:07 PM on January 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

It’s all about location. In the animal shelter game, there are “sending” and “receiving” facilities. This is typically based on local economics and long term animal management policies. I would speculate that the Venn diagram for highest demand for pandemic pets is almost an exact overlay of areas where receiving shelters are located (ie lots of white collar WFH jobs). If you look in places like Arizona, Texas, the south generally, there are a ton of available animals. You may have similar luck with Eastern vs Western WA. Vegas, too.
posted by chuke at 6:02 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

If your parents would like a socialized formerly feral cat, TinyKittens might be able to help.
posted by JanetLand at 6:16 AM on January 17, 2021

I was looking for a cat last spring, and there were basically none to be had in Greater NYC, so I forgot about it until one day, maybe a couple of months later, I saw an ad for a foster volunteer and I signed up. It turned out a dog rescue, which exclusively specialized in a Puerto Rican street dog that weren't available because of the Hurricane, had offered to help out other American rescues, and ended up taking on some cats. My guy was brought up North **all the way from South Carolina,** and, within a week of fostering him, I suddenly started to wonder what he would do without me. He was 2.5 years old at the time, and not crazy needy, but definitely needy and therefore very quickly attached. At the end of the second week, I realized I didn't know what I'd do without him, at which point I confessed to the agency that I was a foster fail, and my lovely cat has been with me ever since.

A few points: They might try fostering within their comfort zone. I've since learned "foster fails" are not that uncommon and, to your other point about background investigations, because I started out as a foster, the additional adoption questions were perfectly reasonable but not even a little bit intrusive, e.g. questions about window screens (safety) rather than income.

Also I suspect the American South has more strays than the North, maybe partly because of the climate, and partly because it's more rural, perhaps? I don't know how easily you could get a cat from the American South to Canada, but I had a neighbor who only fostered Korean dogs! And of course my agency's specialty was Puerto Rican dogs. So would-be pets do travel quite far distances sometimes.
posted by Violet Blue at 6:50 AM on January 17, 2021 [1 favorite]