Have you ever had to give up one of your kitties? - Page 2

After reading all the responses from 2009, I would say finding homes for rescues (which many TCS'ers do - Bless you all! ) is a much different thing than rehoming. Thankfully I've never had to rehome. I've only had 2 cats and they're in my signature. My dad tried to surrender Ashlie (r.b. family cat from the 1980s ) to a shelter years ago but it didn't happen. (The reason being a doctor told my mom I was allergic to cats.) In our extended family history going back to the 1970s, 3 cats total (out of approx. 25, it's hard to keep track) needed to be rehomed. Ashlie wasn't 1 of the 3.

There are very valid reasons for re-homing animals. I live in a military community so pets do have to be re-homed due to deployments, relocating(overseas), and other issues.

There are also allergies, if Bobby my 7 year old had a bad cat allergy I'd be re-homing mine. Notice I said severe, it would mainly depend on what he reaction was. Not everyone can deal with cat allergies, especially when it is their child that is allergic. Also financial, if can afford food but not vet care(and I'm talking period, not temporarily being short on cash, I've been there) then the cat needs a new home. There are also health issues when the owner is just too sick to take care of their pets or changes in family situation where you won't be able to take care of them properly.

There are bs reasons, my orange tabby doesn't match my new furniture(OK then why did you buy the furniture considering you KNEW you had an orange cat.)

I do have issues with people re-homing pets because they are pregnant, I know there are situations when it requires it, but most of the time there isn't. I have severe issues when it is a planned baby and there is no attempt to work it out the second the stick turns blue they get rid of their pets. I know I would try to make it work but I know some animals don't do babies(and they can be other issues) and there is nothing that could be done. That's how I got my Old English sheep dog Abby, they had 5 kids under 5 and the wife ended up pregnant again so the 4 month old dog had to go, they didn't even try. Even though she was better off with us than she was with them anyways.

I can't say never but I know I'd try hard to not have it happen. There are some times when it is required, in the best interest of the animal or issues that can't be helped. You can't always judge people badly for having to re-home an animal, some people have very valid reasons, some just have BS reasons.

I would re-home over them being PTS but only because I would make sure I found them the best home possible or placed them with a very reputable rescue. I would have to find special homes or rescues for mine anyways due to the leukemia. Mine I know would be ok, but there are some that it just wouldn't work for. I know Maude() wouldn't have been able to be re-homed and Paul's dog Molly() wouldn't have either.

Taryn

I rehomed a cat once. I was young, just married to my first husband and he gave me an ultimatum to get rid of one of the cats. I had 2 cats that didn't get along at all (after 3 years of living together) and I rehomed one of them to my brother. My brother rehomed the cat again without telling me.

The marriage didn't last. The ultimatum should have been my warning about that marriage. If anyone wonders why I strongly oppose anyone rehoming a cat because of a relationship, you now know why.

When I met my current husband, I told him that if he wanted a relationship with me, he had to accept me and my cats. He didn't like cats but was willing to adjust. He's gone as far as staying up all night long nursing orphaned kittens. We just had our 20 year anniversary.

I don't want to judge people who have good sound reasons for giving up their cats. I have never done it because I am too hard headed. Many years ago I was faced with serious money problems. I had three cats to feed and began selling plasma to feed them. It never crossed my mind to give them up. It wasn't their fault. I finally got a job. Knowing I had to care for them first was a great motivator for me to get on my feet again.

Growing up I had to get rid of every pet I had. Except a rabbit I had gotten around 8 or 9 years old. She lived a long and happy life with my mom. Also, I had a cockatiel that accidently got outside and flew away. But, my mom made me get rid of every other pet I had as a child. So, I made a promise to myself that any animal that I get as an adult will never leave my care unless I couldn't afford to care for them the way they need to be cared for.

I was going to rehome Precious. That is because I took her in since it was so cold and she had followed me home. When I brought her into my house I had every intention of finding her owners, and if not, finding her a great forever home. However, I got attached to her the night I found her, and shortly after she captured my boyfriend's heart as well. Precious and I are very bonded to each other. She wants to be with me EVERY second. Whenever I am up in my room she sticks to me like glue, she sleeps with me, if I am not upstairs she will usually sit at the top of the stairs (or at the bottom) and meow at the top of her lungs non-stop until I go up there to be with her. I couldn't bear the thought of how devistated she would be if I gave her to someone (not to mention how devistated I would be). She wouldn't understand why her Meowmy that she loves so much don't want her, and I wouldn't be able to handle the thought of her with someone else, no matter how good of a home it would be. Same thing with my other two, but I feel like Precious is bonded to me more than Mittens and Monster are. I would never get rid of them willingly, but if the situation arose where I had no choice, I don't think they (Mittens and Monster) would take it as bad as Precious would.

I haven't had to rehome any pets I bought/adopted, but I have had friends who had to rehome the pets and I tried to help them find homes. Even though they weren't my own pets I still miss them!

I have had pets that I fostered, either for a rescue group or strays that I rescued in order to find homes for, that I wish I could have adopted myself...

After I lost my two senior dogs I was trying to find a dog to adopt and I fostered a few dogs with rescues. What they do is if they have a dog that matches what you tell them you're looking for, they have you foster a dog for a while to see if they might be a match. The dogs I fostered ended up not being a good match for me though so I did not end up adopting.

I forgot to say if I ever re-homed Attitude and Nuts I would demand that they be kept together and not separated.

I know I am prolly going to face this eventually unless I find a job. They live with Paul and when he goes(he's going to be 67 next month) I'm not going to be able to keep them unless I live on my own. My dad is deathly allergic to cats so I can't have them with me as long as I live with my parents(I'm 31 so I'm not a child, just very unemployed.)

Taryn

I could never rehome any of mine. I'd do everything I could to keep them. If they had to go, I'm going with them.

yeah i've had to give up two of mine =[ one was Izzy, due to the fact that 2 of my girls were outdoor/indoor and she wasn't so it wasn't fair.

I had to rehome a kitty two years ago. We adopted him shortly after I moved to Fl (from NY) and he was a sweetheart. All black, and a little fluff ball. We named him Loki. Sadly, our roommate then decided that if he scratched things at all, he had to go. (leather furniture, bah!) Well, I tried soft paws, and they just would not stayed on. I surrounded him with scratching posts of various types. He still climbed the back of the couch, and the roommate said declaw or he has to go. I REFUSE to declaw, it is horrendous, so he went to live with my fiances mom. Sadly, he snuck out the door one day and hasn't been seen. I'm hoping a neighbor took him in, he was a sweetheart. I refuse to ever have to do anything like that again. My current kittens stay locked in my room most of the time, and when I have a house of my own, I don't want furniture that isn't kitty safe.

I currently have to rehome six cats and I feel heartbroken.  My husband has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and the cats pose a further danger to his health as his immune system is severely compromised.  I feel horribly guilty but really have no choice. I have to find homes for them before he comes home from the hospital.

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. , and many vibes that his treatment goes well! To me, this is a completely understandable reason to need to rehome. I know it hurts, but I hope you find good homes where you can keep tabs on them.

 

I had to find new homes for 5 cats and a bunny when I moved from Guam back to the states for two reasons. First, it cost $500 to ship each one back and I didn't have an extra $3000 laying around, and also I was "temporarily" going to be living with my mother and she was extremely allergic to cats. But, I did find them all good homes with co-workers and friends and still get updates on a few of them.

 

Last year we lost our house due to foreclosure and had to move from a 1500 sq ft home to a 800 sq ft home (MIL's old house...she built a new one a few years before that). At the time we had 4 dogs and 10 cats. Now all but 1 were indoor/outdoor so when we moved we made all but 5 cats strictly outdoor. The rest still came and went as they pleased but we just couldn't have 10 cats in that small house all the time. We moved in March and the summer sent pretty smooth and they didn't mind. We set up shelters for them outside (and they had the barn and storage areas they could go into) and they were feed well in the morning and the night...they just weren't allowed inside. It worked until winter came. Now, if it is really cold, they are allowed to come in during the evening and eat and warm up. But we still try to put them out before we go to bed. I feel terrible about it but honestly, for us, we just can't have that many cats in a house that we don't own. I don't know if you would consider that rehoming since they are still here and still get food, water and vet care. But it's what we had to do unfortunately.

 

When I first got married, I was pregnant and my mother told me that I couldn't take Peanut Butter (PB, my orange tiger baby) with me....she believed that a cat would "steal the baby's breath" and she was adamant that PB couldn't not live with us. I was heartbroken, but she had promised me that when the baby was older, she'd let me bring him home then.

 

I found out about a week later that she gave PB to a friend. And I threw the worse fit imagineable....to the point where they started to be concerned about the baby. She ended up having to bring the cat back to me and he lived with us for years before he went to the Bridge. And he never, ever bothered our DS. PB liked to sleep under his crib and he liked to lay next to me while I was feeding DS, but that was about it. As DS got older, he and Peanut Butter became good buddies, along with Fonzie, our Alaskan Malemute....the three of them were inseparable for many years. Oh, the trouble those three could get into at times!

 

Lily27, I'm so sorry about your husband and your situation with your furkids.

 

 

I recently rehomed Pearl. I can get her back if it does not work out, but she is is sooo happy with my daughter, I did not have the heart to take her when I was no longer staying there full time. She hangs out with the baby, snuggling her little feet, comes when Mary calls her, and no longer has litterbox issues. She is like a different cat. She even lays around in the LR where she can be seen. She greets me like an old friend, has shown no interest in leaving where she is, an only indoor cat. There is another cat that has chosen to live on the porch, but she goes in during bad weather, and they get along just fine. It is an all around amazing situation.