Finding new homes

I hope this is a good place to post this. It's the best I could figure. Kind of long, I apologize.

Many of you know that I took in a stray with kittens back in March and have had quite the odyssey getting her and her kittens all vac'd, fixed and adopted.

I still have Loudmouth-- the original stray, and her offspring Ginger to find new homes for. I have tried pretty much everything I can think of for getting them adopted, but I've had no luck. I guess I'm asking for some suggestions on the subject.

Here are the problems: Loudmouth has no history. I know absolutely nothing about her, and when people come to look at her, or call about her, they want to know how old she is and I can only give an estimate. I've had all sorts of questions asked about her that I just can't answer, and the unknowns I think are turning people away.

Ginger has been "adopted" twice. Both times she was returned within 48 hours. The first time, the woman who took her had never had cats before, and even though I told her how Ginger would be for the first few days and that she should be kept "isolated", the woman apparently just took her home and dropped her in the living room. Before she left with Ginger, I asked her about kids and other pets, and she said she didn't have any other pets, but when she brought Ginger back, the woman told me that the kitty wasn't getting along with the dogs. Dogs? Oh yeah, she had 3 little yap dogs and a big dog. Funny how that slipped her mind...So now Ginger does not like dogs at all.

The second time, I told the couple adopting her this story, and they said it wasn't a problem. They only had a 2 year old child and no pets. I told them that she only had limited experience with that age group, and that she might not be the best fit. I told them that they needed to let her get settled into her new environment before meeting the toddler, and they said it would be no problem. Apparently it was a problem because they brought her back after a few hours and didn't give me a reason.

So how do I get these girls adopted? I want to find them families that are well suited to their temperaments, I want to find a good fit, but being completely honest is making them apparently seem unadoptable.

Can someone give me some way to "advertise" my girls to find them good homes without scaring off their potential families? I can't just hand them off to anyone, because they'll likely end up in the kill shelter within a few days. How can I compromise between finding them a home quickly and making sure that home is the right one for them?

Can you still contact the second family? It would really help to know what happened. Ginger may need to be labeled "no dogs" and "no small children". Which sadly limits her adoption chances. I guess you could always go the references required route and require one of them to be a vet? If you find someone who truly wants one of your kitties they won't mind.

Where do you have them listed? Local paper, etc? Are you charging a fee? Sometimes a small fee will help weed out the irresponsible people. Make sure you notate all their positives i.e all shots, spay/neutered, microchipped whatever they have that would indicate less immediate out of pocket expense for the new owner. Or maybe offer a small bag of food with each adoption. I don't really have any other ideas. Good Luck!

i used to work in a nursing home they had two cats there! one was in the therapy room the other was down the dementia unit.... all the residents loved having them. and the cats did wounders for them...

Have you thought about giving them to a nursing home or a group home. Pets are good therapy for people.

in the nursing home one of the aids at each shift would feed and water the kitties. they were kept indoors only too

If they had problems in a home, it sounds like a nursing home is not the ideal environment for them Not to mention the documented evidence of the problems cats have in nursing homes too and all the table scraps well meaning residents feed them.

I too would ask for references. You can advertise on the classifieds on petfinder, ask local shelters and pet stores if you can put up a poster there (places where responsible pet owners may be, not the pet stores that sell BYB animals)

I have never had someone turned off by an age estimate before, we always make it clear that it is an educated estimate by our vet at time of spay/neuter and people are happy with that. My personal vet doesnt agree with the age estimate on either of my shelter cats but really, I love them and dont care how old they are.

Do you have any kind of contract, application form or 'intro kit' for them? Adopters at our shelter are asked to fill in an application form, even if they are interested in one of the animals advertised in our 'new homes needed' section (for animals adopted outside the shelter, by owner or small rescue groups who dont have the advertising resources we do). It asks questions about the number of hours the animal will be alone, if it will be allowed outoors, the ages of people living or frequently visiting the home, how people will deal with bad behaviour etc. We can weed out a lot of the adopters just by reading the application form. People are less likely to lie about children / other pets if they are writing it down too, we find people mention their fish etc where we ask about other pets and ask if its an issue that they are not spayed

i agree that nursing homes arent always good i was suggesting if you new of a good one. The one i did work at didnt feed the cats table scraps (since one cat lived in the therapy room, while the other lived in the dementia unit and got fed when the resdients were eating in a different room (her room.))

if she was just dropped back off because of the dogs and the toddler being to rough.

you can try flyers around your neighbor hood... seeing if any one would call and say best fit for ................. and list the qualities you want and say bring them back if it doesnt work out.

an application is a great idea i had to fill one out for my kittiesou can!! also you can ask for refernces!

Best of luck

see if your local rescue or shelter will let you list them on their petfinder website.

don't use craigslist. and do charge an adoption fee. Congratulations on how well you've done so far.

Wow, so much advice I don't know where to start! The humane society won't help me. Already tried that route. When I went thee to ask them for help, they said that they needed to perform a temperament test before listing her. This humane society is a joke to begin with, but they said she was unadoptable! They said her reactions were like a feral cat's. (In my opinion, they must not know a feral cat from my behind.) She was just scared by new people, new conditions and a Dog.

I wish I could get back into contact with the second family. I have to think that maybe since they were military, maybe they were moving, and realized the kitty would not take the move well.

Tactics I have used:

Flyers at vet's office that has seen her
Sitting in parking lots with her (helped to socialize her at least)
Offering week's worth of food and toys and bed
Posting her on pet adoption sites
Posting her on yardsale sites that allow pet listings
Allowing no-obligation visits for potential owners
Listed in a local paper but that got expensive pretty quickly
Showing her to the neighbors' kids (below the belt tactic, I admit)
Posting tons of pictures of her being sweet and adorable
Tried working with HS, that didn't work.

I'm afraid to ask for references or do applications. I have gotten the other adopters to sign a "care agreement" that has the basics of cat care on it, and give me their phone numbers so that I can call and check. I've told everyone that if there is a problem, to call me. I've only ever gotten 1 call from the other cat owners.

Ginger baby is such a sweet girl. She would be excellent in a nursing home with supervision, I think, so I will call and see if any of the ones in the area are interested. She just doesn't do well with dogs. She avoids really small children until she knows they won't hurt her, but that's it. Loudmouth would definitely do well at a nursing home though. She's a very outgoing and loving cat. She absolutely loves everyone, except dogs.

I'm just at a loss. They must be adopted out soon because I'll have to move in a few months, and I'm not doing an 8 hour drive with 5 cats. It breaks my heart, but if I can't find them a home, I might be forced to take them to a shelter, where they'll be put to sleep in 3 days if they're not adopted. They're just too sweet and too loving for that.

I'll keep trying, but I'm also going to keep asking for suggestions. Wish me luck in finding these girls a new home.

You can list them on Petfinder under classifieds. There is no cost for the ad but you will have to post an adoption or rehoming fee since Petfinder will not accept any ads that say "free to a good home". I got some really strange responses initially, but eventually found an excellent fit for Lion through Petfinder.
that you can find home for both of them.

Update:

At 4 pm tomorrow, I am taking Loudmouth to a nursing home to be a therapy cat for an hour or so. If it works out, the center will consider adopting her. So fingers crossed, and wish Loudmouth Luck!

for Loudmouth. Be a good kitty.