I need advice on finding Kitten homes!!!

Ok so if anyone here has been reading up on my Sophie's accident, you know we are in financial ruin right now.

We took in Lily two weeks before she gave birth to four kittens.

The kittens are now 13 weeks old.

One male went to my little brother, which is an awesome healthy happy home for him.

I now have two females and a male. I'm keeping the male, but I can't keep the two females and BOTH individuals I have had lined up to take a kitten since Lily was pregnant, have backed out in the past week. (week 12 when I said the kittens would be ready)

I don't know what to do.

The litter cost alone is killing us. As much as I scoop, try scooping after four cats in one box everyday. Feeding them isn't cheap either and they haven't had any of their first shots.

I need to find good homes for them.

Lily's appointment to be spayed and receive all her shots is Friday. We are keeping her, obviously.

Where could I go for resources to adopt out these kittens and feel safe in doing so??? I certainly am not going to just post an ad "free kittens".

Please give me advice!!!
And if you're in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and want a kitten, do let me know!!!!!!!! I would trust anyone from this board over my own family when it comes to cats.

Can you contact your local shelter and explain the situation and see if they have any one that can foster the kittens?

Try calling your local rescues and see if they can do a courtesy posting on petfinder.com.
This is what I did, I got lucky though and the rescue I called was having a pet adoption day at Pet Smart that next week, so they took the kittens and gave them their shots, and all adopters, of course, had to be approved by the rescue, maybe you will get lucky too...?

Try calling your local rescues and see if they can do a courtesy posting on petfinder.com.

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I agree. I have also used Craigslist, and while I know some may not agree with it, it did work out pretty well for me. I just carefully screen anyone interested (asking them to fill out an extensive application and provide references).

What happens when you call your local rescue and they insist they "have no room"...

What the heck am I supposed to do? aRGH!!! I am under way too much stress right now.

Go on petfinder.com and put in a search under cats and your local zip codes. This will bring up the list of rescues adopting in your area.

Call as many as you need to see what help they can offer. Sometimes, if you can still offer to be the foster parent, that gives them more leeway in the help they can provide.

If your handy with a camera and printer you could make flyers up and place them around town. I know photos get peoples attention a lot faster than a plain ad. You could also list them on a bulletin board at the local vets office.

You can also put them on Petfinder classifieds....however, screen carefully no matter where you list them! What about contacting local vets to see if they know of anyone who wants a kitten?

This may sound a little over-protective, but I carefully screen so Craigslist is definitely a no-go.

I live in Woonsocket, RI and they have this program called the Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary that helps cats and kittens....they are so overflowing with kittens right now that the director of the program told me she can't do anything to help me because she, herself, is fostering several kittens that probably won't find homes.


Soooo, I talked it over with DH and obviously we'll keep the kittens if we can't find good homes.

We're taking out pet insurance on them and their mom after the over 3 grand we've put into our other two cats in the past month.

Mom is getting spayed Friday.

Here's my question after all that blabbering I just did:

I can't afford to keep feeding them Nutro complete care.

I just can't. They eat Friskies wet twice a day and go through a complete bowl of free-fed Nutro per day. (a nutro 4 pound bag in my area costs 11.99).

Petsmart is the only resource of a petstore I have in this area, there isn't even a Petco (although I'm not fond of them anyway).

Would it kill them to eat something cheaper and could you pretty please recommend a brand, kitten, all stages, whatever...that is dry and cheap cheap cheap....

(also , we don't have a costco)

Would I be the anti-christ to feed them purina kitten chow?????

You know I don't want to...but we are so broke that *WE ARE NOT EATING* right now due to Sophie's surgery and all these kittens and the litter/food we go through.

I know I heard someone recommend Purina Naturals which Walmart has, but is that an all stage food???? Would it be ok for the kittens to eat?? They're fat healthy 13 week olds...We're just dying financially and it's KILLING OUR RELATIONSHIP.

I fed my kittens Purina Kitten Chow....

For 16 years we had a Husky that was allergic to something in almost every food on the market. We finally found one expensive brand that she could tolerate and became resigned to have to buy it for her for the rest of her life. A vet recommended a product much cheaper that sold at a local pet store in our area. I don't remember the name, but it was in a black and white bag that almost gave it a "generic" look. Our husky ate it for most of her 16 years and was very healthy!

Have you asked a vet for options?

For the time being, do what you can to feed them - even if its a little poorer quality food. And continue to look for homes for them. I'm sure you will find good homes soon to reduce your expenses.

And maybe charge an adoption fee of $20-25 to help with expenses. Do you both work outside the home? If not, then can you find a temporary PT job to help with expenses?

We both have full-time incomes, the problem isn't that...the problem is living expenses versus how much we actually bring in.

I highly doubt an adoption fee is going to work out, I can't GIVE these kittens away, no one is going to pay for them, I can see their offended faces now.

Purina kitten chow *IS* aimed for kittens right?
So it wouldn't be too awful right????


(lol can you TELL how guilty I feel?!?)

We feed our cats pro plan, which is made by Purina. And Tubee ate the kitten food while he was growing up, so in my opinion it is fine. I think Pro Plan cost the same as regular purina.

Manda

If you've got a Wal Mart, look into Maxximum(their brand) kitten food. It is the same as Purina ONE, basically, just cheaper. I think it's like $10 for 6? lbs here. That might be a little higher than you want to go, though.

It's not the Purina Kitten chow isn't healthy for them, it's that the ingredients are gross. It is the equivalent of feeding McDonalds every day. But, if it's the difference between feeding them at all, go for it.