Adopting on Craig's List

Hi Everyone,

I am relatively new to the forum (second post!). My partner and I are looking to adopt a kitten. We have determined after some research, that we really can't afford to pay $600 for a pedigree kitten from a breeder.

A friend suggested that we post on advert on Craiglist, which I did, but I'm worried about the kinds of responses we'll get. We're looking for a nice person who really cares about the kittens, no somebody whose cat mysteriously showed up at the front door massively pregnant after roaming the streets for 3 months and the owner is now desperate to get rid of these totally unsocialized kittens.

This is the advert I posted:

My partner and I are looking to adopt a kitten in January. We are interested in hearing about litters that will be 7-10 weeks old in the first week of January. Kittens must be suited to fully indoor living. Mother must be available to see. We can offer a really loving, permanent home with lots of toys and attention. We would like a small, friendly, female kitten. We will sign a spay agreement and are willing to pay a deposit to reserve.

We will pay up to $125 adoption fees.

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Do you think it will yield good results? What kinds of things should I be careful of in people who respond? The only reason we don't want to adopt from shelter is that we'd like to at least see the kitten's mother to get some idea of it's future size, temperament etc. And we don't really want to be giving out our home address to some random person through the internet ... how can we be cautious but still find a reputable person?

Oh - and the reason we're waiting until January is we are going on vacation for 8 days at the end of December and think it would be irresponsible to drop our new kitten off at boarding kennel for 8 days within 4 weeks of adopting it.

Dont put the amount you are willing to pay, people get greedy and lie for money,

The shelter I volunteer at, has had mom cats and kittens together, so it may be worth checking around your local shelters anyway. also try petfinder.com, they have a section for regular people to advertise their pets, which you may find helpful.

If an owner really cared about their cat they would have got it spayed and not let it get pregnant when there are so many unwanted kittens and cats already, I know accidents can happen sometimes a cat will come into heat earlier than expected before it gets spayed and natures calling to it to find a mate will result it in escaping, hopefully you will find an owner who really cares and their cat getting pregnant was an accident, I would be wary of any one who says they met for their cat to get pregnant because generally these people are just after money.

The money you are offering for a kitten is high, you should make sure that the kitten come with vet checks, to prove it has no know diseases, the kitten will be to young to spay, so I would reduce the amount you are paying and save some money for the spaying and shots that you will have to pay for.

I hope that helps a bit.

a good example of why its worth checking the shelters: http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149124 this user on the cat site has been looking after a mom cat and her two kittens, which means there are shelters out there that could help you

All three of my cats are from a shelter and I'm quite pleased with them. Meeting the momcat is no guarantee of temperament - each cat has his/her own personality and temperament. I'm a believer in the "nurture" theory.

At my age, I've had a LOT of cats and ALL of them were acquired from shelters, friends or rescued from the streets. Two of my best cats, ever, were street-corner pickups.

Check out the shelter(s) in your area.

Often, shelters will have foster homes where mom cats and kittens live so they can all become socialized. In these situations, the foster parent(s) know a lot about the kittens and mother and they are available for you to see. Plus, these people really care about the cats. Check out Petfinder.com in your area. You will find so many

CL is a tough call. I can see someone trying to take advantage because of the high price you listed. I got Daphne off of CL for $15US. They don't usually ask for more than that unless the kitten has had all shots and has been spayed. We don't want to reward those who do not fix their cats by paying a high adoption fee. If they made $125 from each kitten, many would never fix their cat and just make money from whatever kittens survived.

Let us know how the search goes Of course, we want to see photos when you get your little one(s) home. Welcome!

Thanks for the advice everyone! I updated my listing to say "moderate adoption fee" and am hoping no one will take advantage ...

The shelters in our area leave *a lot* to be desired. They're not really sanitary places that I would be confident adopting a disease free cat from.

I'd also try adopting a kitten that's a bit older than seven weeks, perhaps try at least nine. Kittens are small and cute when they're younger, but when you adopt at seven weeks, they're not always weaned and are much more suceptible to unwanted habits (such as suckling until they're much older). They also learn how to interact with other cats from their mom and siblings when they're young...the kitten at that age has a better chance of being socially inadequate in the cat sense. If try looking for a bit older range of kittens (only a couple weeks budged up?), you'll have a much better chance of avoiding a host of problems that come with young kittens.

When you find your kitten, though, make sure to post pictures! We all want to see her!

I got Enzo and Stuart from the farm for free. Both are awesome kitties and are the most lovey cats you could ask for. Leya we got from animal control. It feels really good to adopt a cat from there because they do kill the animals after a few weeks There are a lot of good cats out there for free. Look in your local paper, people are always looking to get rid of kittens.

As for the well socialized. Enzo was never touched until the day I took him home at four months old. He adjusted VERY well and gives hugs and kisses every day. They don't need to be socialized in my opinion as long as they are young.

Shelters are a great place too because they let you pet the cats and really get to know them. The shelter her has kittens constantly! They are so pretty too! I've found MANY siamese kittens there.......it's so hard not to take one home, the adoption fee there is only $25, so you know how hard it is not to take one home.

Originally Posted by katl8e

Meeting the momcat is no guarantee of temperament - each cat has his/her own personality and temperament.

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I absolutely agree with this. Having seen feral cats born and rescued most of those, even cats in the same litter can very greatly in size (my 7 pound Scarlett's brother is 18 pounds), and littermates can have extremely different temperaments. And while nurture plays a big role, I have cats that range from totally shy to totally in your face friendly and they have all been raised the same way.

Be cautious of responses to public postings on Craigslist. You could get anyone trying to dump a kitten on you that looks halfway like a "breed".

Kittens dont need socialization the way puppies do.
You can get a wonderful cat from strays, farms (barn cats), the streets, shelters or breeders.
All 3 of my cats were rescues and my room mates cat is from a feral mom but is very sweet.
Kahlua was um rescued from a family that didnt care for her but she is a total sweetie now.
Joey, we found him at 4 weeks old screaming in our yard. Now everytime people are over he is downstairs on their laps.
Chablis was rescued from behind a dumpster at a mall. He is the only one that is slightly cautious but he's grown out of that a bit.

IMO all cats need is love and care and they will show it back.

AND no matter where you get your kitten from, your first thought should be going to the vet and getting her completely looked over to check for any diseases.

Are you at least checking some of the listings on Craigslist? I wouldn't have even posted unless I checked through all the listings first.

Make sure that you ask for evidence of the spayed or neutered cat. Usually a paper of some form from the vet with the cat's name and the vet's signature is ideal. A receipt that lists the vet's name & address, the date of the "fixing" and the name of the cat is good too. Then at least you have some proof.

Careful too with the age thing. When we got Whitey we were told he was 9 months old. A month after getting him I took him to the vet who said that according to his teeth he's 2 years old <-- yes my jaw did do that. He was so malnurished that he looked like a matured kitten. He's nice and plump now.

Originally Posted by capt_jordi

Kittens dont need socialization the way puppies do.

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I have to disagree with this statement. From my time volunteering at the shelter, I've seen frightened, feral kittens that fear humans become lovebugs by having the shelter staff and volunteers spend time with them, earning their confidence and teaching them to trust.

I also agree that seeing the parents of the cat will not necessarily give you an idea of the size of the cat. Bijou and Mika are both from the same parents - he's over 17 lbs. and she's around 8.5 lbs.

Kittens should be with the mother until 10-12 weeks. The mom cat teaches the kittens manners, litter use, cleaning themselves and all the good stuff. If taken from the mother cat too soon, as one poster says, they can become sucklers and try to suckle on clothing or even you.

Any time you bring a new kitty home you should have it vet checked within a day or two. If you already have cats in the home, the new arrival should be isolated from the current cats until it is checked by the vet and given a clean bill of health.

I agree with the others - check out some shelters. Shelters are not always what they seem - I know the shelter where I volunteer care deeply for their animals, but there are times when the smell is not that nice because as soon as the litter is cleaned some of the cats go right in again. It would be impossible to keep the litter clean constantly. Sometimes it also depends on what litter is used. Our shelter uses whatever is donated and it's not always the best litter. I personally bought a bag of World's Best and asked them to use that only for the kitten room because I don't like baby kittens using clay litter.

I hope you'll find a beautiful cat that needs a warm, loving home and there are sure lots of them out there. AND, like another poster said, we want pictures, pictures and more pictures.

Hi everyone,

We have got quite a few responses to our advert and will be going to look at a few shelters in other areas/litters as well as going to the pet store to buy all of our supplies!

We are SO excited and will definitely post pictures when we get our little bundle.

Originally Posted by crimsonchica

Hi everyone,

We have got quite a few responses to our advert and will be going to look at a few shelters in other areas/litters as well as going to the pet store to buy all of our supplies!

We are SO excited and will definitely post pictures when we get our little bundle.

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Good!!! I'm so happy you're going to a shelter! You will find a great new forever friend!

Well in my opinion I would not post a "wanted" ad - there are plenty of ads there for you to just do a search on the kittens.

And just for your info - its better to adopt kittens 10-12 weeks old - any younger then that you could have social/behavior problems. Too many on Craigslist will let them go under 10 weeks - and its a lot healthier to find a little older kittens for best results.

Or if you want to place an ad - then put in your "age" of the kitten to be 10 weeks to 16 weeks old instead of under 10 weeks old.

I would also suggest checking into local rescue groups (independent from the shelters). They will sometimes take and care for whole litters of kittens and moms in foster homes (like some shelters do) and because they have fewer cats to care for, they could be a little more familiar with their temperments, etc.

One last thing, you might want to consider getting two kittens instead of one. I know it sounds crazy, but with two, they can harass/play-fight each other and NOT you! I have two 7 month old kittens right now and I don't know what I would have done if I only had one, then he would have been trying to bite/swat/pounce on me instead of his brother.

Art

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Well in my opinion I would not post a "wanted" ad - there are plenty of ads there for you to just do a search on the kittens.

And just for your info - its better to adopt kittens 10-12 weeks old - any younger then that you could have social/behavior problems. Too many on Craigslist will let them go under 10 weeks - and its a lot healthier to find a little older kittens for best results.

Or if you want to place an ad - then put in your "age" of the kitten to be 10 weeks to 16 weeks old instead of under 10 weeks old.

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I believe they already posted the ad if I read her responses correctly and we already gave her the 10-12 week old "lecture".

Originally Posted by crimsonchica

Hi everyone,

We have got quite a few responses to our advert and will be going to look at a few shelters in other areas/litters as well as going to the pet store to buy all of our supplies!

We are SO excited and will definitely post pictures when we get our little bundle.

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Ooh I can't wait for pics!

Look on petfinder for rescue groups in your area that have foster homes. That way your cat is coming from a home enviornment and not a shelter environment and the foster parents will probably have a really good idea of the cat's personality. Shelters are a great place to adopt a cat or kitten from. I agree that they are not fun places, the one by me smells awful and it is just depressing. They really do the best that they can though. Usually kittens in shelters are in the same little cage as other kittens so they get some socialization.

My kitten was adopted from a private rescue group. They found her at 4 weeks in the street and bottle fed her and I adopted her at 12 weeks. The foster mom's cat kind of took in my kitten and showed her how to do things and gave her socialization. My older cat was adopted from a vet's office that has a small adoption center that rescues cats from shelters. So it's like a shelter situation with cages but it is cleaner and there are less than 20 cats there.

I would just caution you to stay away from people who have a litter of kittens because they haven't spayed their own cat. It's not that the kittens are less deserving of a home, I just hate 'rewarding' people for not spaying their own cat. Does that make sense? You see a lot of people on craigslist with kittens because of that very situation. Backyard breeders are also someone I would caution you to stay away from, you might see them on CL also. Petfinder.com is the way to go!

I can't wait to see pics! Congrats on bringing a new family member home