what to do with these kittens

Have you looked into no-kill shelters in your area? I know they're almost always full, but it's worth a shot!

Call them, explain the situation, ask if they have room. Even if it is only for 1 or 2 of the kittens. Do you know how to find local no-kill shelters?

If no one can take them, a cage in a warm place with food, water, litter box and people tending to them is better than the alternative. Don't you agree?

A good no kill shelter is surely better than many other alternatives. So if you no way can find them a decent home, try with these shelters yes.

But best is if you can find them homes.
As a "cat home" is no solution. Or rather, it is a very provisory, temporary solution.
It is not what the name says, it is only a shelter, they do seek homes.

The shelters first hand purpose is to help homeless cats. Not cats who do already have an owner.
Anyway, such is the case in Sweden.

I know, usually it is not easy to find a home.
One idea. You perhaps do have some friend who is good at helping others?
Ie, you dont neeed to find homes if you arent good at talking people over. It may be enough if you find someoen who is good at talking with people. Perhaps knows lots of people...
"find good helpers, so you dont need to do all the work youselv, alone"

Good luck!

A well run no-kill shelter is not a bad idea. Usually kittens get adopted fairly quickly. Since the worst kitten season is over you may get lucky and find a shelter that can take your kittens. Try contacting local rescues as well. If you go to petfinder.com you can search for local rescues and shelters.

Unfortunately though there are way more cats and kittens in need then there are available spots in shelters and rescues so chances are that you won't be able to find one that can take any of your kittens. In that case, or if you think it's the better option, your only good choice is to find homes for them yourself. With young kittens it should not be overly difficult and time consuming although it does require some work. Surelyb the kittens are worth it though.

To find homes start with putting out ads on as many places as you can. Try Craigslist (although beware of replies from less than desireable people), Kijiji, Petfinder's classified section, your local newspaper (sometimes they offer free ads) and any local pet related sites there may be. Flyers to put up in pet stores and vet offices is good too. Take some good, cute pics of the kittens and write a clever ad that tells the reader a bit about the kittens' personality, etc. I've found that it's usually better to list the kittens separately and make an ad for each one than it is to list them as a group.

When you get replies it's very important to screen the people that want to adopt a kitten. Ask questions and ask for references. A vet reference is good if they have one. You can do a google search for "cat adoption application" to get an idea what rescues and shelters ask from their adopters.
In my experience you get the best info by asking about a person's current and past pets. Like, are their current pets spayed or neutered and up to date on shots. Do they live inside as a part of the family - if someone tells me that their dog lives on a chain in the backyard they are not the type of people I want to have one of my kittens. How long have they had their pets, etc.
When you askl about past pets ask them to list each pet they have had, what kind they were, how long they had them and why they no longer have them. If they tell me that they've had three cats before that they only kept for a few years and given up because they were moving or some other similar reason chances are that they will do the same with my kitten and I don't want that. I want all my rescues to have a forever home.
You also want to make sure that the kittens will be inside cats so that they remain safe and that every person in the adopter's household is okay with adopting the kitten. Also never let someone adopt a kitten as a gift for someone else. I get a lot of requests like that around christmas and I always say no.
Talking to a person and asking questions will give you an idea if they would make a good home or not. If you don't feel completely comfortable with an adopter it's completely okay to back out. The kittens' wellfare comes first.

When you list the kittens do not list them for free. Free kittens are much more likely to attract less than desireable people. Instead charge a small adoption fee. If you can get them vaccinated and spayed or neutered that's great and in that case you can charge what you have put into the kittens for vetting. If you can't have the kittens fixed ask the adopters to sign a spay/neuter contract where they agree to have the procedure done as soon as possible. It's best if you follow up with the adopters to make sure that it gets done. Spaying and neutering is the only way that we can end the suffering many cats experience living their lives as unwanted. You can find spay/neuter contract samples online.

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you or confused you. It may seem like a lot but it really isn't that bad. Remember that you are saving lives and that's no small thing.

If you need any help or have any questions please feel free to ask. I, and I'm sure others, would be happy to help.

Good luck and thank you for taking these kittens in.

Excellent post Lizita.
Just to copy and paste into the official manual of Catmanship.


Tx a lot for sharing.

Right! And preferably not TOO small a fee.

I do have an additional advice here. If you by any reason find it embarrassing to ask for the fee, ask for a donation to some good cause IN THE NAME of THE CAT! (NOT in the name of the adopter!) The additional plus with this it makes a sort of magical bond.
Any decent organization will do: Red Cross, Doctors without boundaries, a Church group, and so on...

I shall tell here the amusing story about an interesting magical trick used by my brother. He had once these two young female kittens. So they went to the vet with them. Too late! A time afterwards they had 14 kittens running in the house filling it up: 12 kittens and their two young moms...
He had ads in the local papers and message boards, and found good buyers to all of the kittens. He picked preferably families with children, young but not too small. The delivery and payment went as follows: He met the child together with the parents. The child would leave over the money (10 dollars), and got the kitten into the armful. With the parents present and supervising - thus taking the outermost responsibility.

All these kittens he could follow did fare well also several years later when he left for another county.

Dont underestimate magical bonds.

It's always a good idea to have a back-up plan or two so I think you are going about it the right way. The kittens are lucky to have someone that cares about their futures.

I'm not familiar with your area but most areas have some kind of low cost vaccination clinics. Petco hosts low cost vaccination clinics that are ran by outside companies. The company or organization varies by area so you have to call your local stores for details. You can also call a local Humane Society to find out where you can find low cost vaccination clinics and other low cost vetting. They usually know all about that.

Since I'm responsible for vaccinating so many cats I save a lot of money by doing it myself. Allthough it's not difficult it's not for everyone and you want to know what you are doing before you vaccinate a cat yourself. I'm mentioning it though in case it's an option for you or someone else. I'm not suggestiong that someone who is not familiar with giving injections try to vaccinate cats themselves. Anyone who vaccinates themselves should know that there is a risk, although a very small risk, that a cat can get an anaphylactic shock from a vaccine which is deadly. In case of an anaphylactic shock a shot of epinephrine is needed within a few minutes to save the cat's life.

I buy 4-in-1 vaccines that come 25 doses to a box. With shipping the cost is about $50 which equals $2 a dose. Since the low cost clinic here charges $14 per vaccine the vaccines I buy has paid for themselves by the fourth cat I vaccinate. Even if you don't need 25 doses it may still be cheaper doing it this way. You can always donate the remaining doses to your local shelter or TNR group. I buy 3cc syringes with the vaccines.
If you can't give shots yourself and don't know anyone who can you may be able to strike a deal with a vet to do it for you for a small fee if you provide the vaccines.

I know this already came with a disclaimer, but I want to put an extreme caution on this. The only people I've seen who do their own vaccinations are people with years of experience caring for numerous cats...people who run shelters and rescues. If one of the kittens does have an anaphylactic reaction while at home, the result will almost inevitably be death.

In no way should anyone untrained by a professional attempt home vaccinations.

I agree, the cat rescue group I work with won't even do that. They buy their own vaccinations in bulk (which they are very particular about storing, and checking batch numbers etc.), which they get a vet or vet tech to administer.

I certainly don't think the risk is worth it just to save a few dollars.