Sadly, Must Re-home My Cats

I am moving from a house to a retirement home and unfortunately cannot take my cats. They are 2 very healthy neutered & spayed 10 year olds, inseparable, get their booster shots every year and so affectionate and still very playful. It is one of the hardest things I have had to do, so I really want to work on finding them a loving home. My last resort would be a shelter because of their age and the horror stories I've read that they could be euthanized if they can't be placed. I would be so grateful for any advice or ideas on where I could start this painful and difficult task of finding an equally loving home for these critters.

We have had several sets of cats at the shelter that have come from your type of situation; an owner got disabled, another died, and another just moved out of state. Each one left several cats. The outlook is not good for them, unless they are extremely outgoing, and even then, they may not survive for long if it's a high-kill shelter.

Thanks for coming on the site for help. I am sorry for your situation and know this must be terribly emotional for you. Your older cats most likely would not get adopted in a shelter environment, I am sorry to say. I know this is not what you want to hear. Although, there are people out there with very big hearts who look for older cats to give them a good life fir the years they have left and ten really isn't too old for cats. Do you have family or friends you can reach out to for help in finding a new home for them together? for you and your cats

Is it at all possible for the cats to come with you? Some places are becoming more "pet friendly" and if you would still be able to care for them, feeding and taking care of the litter box, perhaps they would be able to join you.

Welcome to TCS!

Unfortunately your cats have the odds set against them. It's tough enough to place one senior cat, but two together is even harder. Couple that with "kitten season" - meaning most people will be swayed by the adorable babies rather than two "old" cats - and their odds of adoption are slim.

I apologize for sounding so grim, you may be lucky enough to find someone to take them, but in most shelters they stand no chance of adoption. Have you tried checking with local vet clinics to see if they know of anyone who may adopt them?

Again, I wish our shelter would give an adoption discount on senior cats and to senior people.

One of our most senior cats (I would guess he's 15, but who knows?) got adopted last Friday. The adopter knew exactly what they were getting into, and specifically wanted to help an older cat. But that kind of person is rare.

I can understand a nursing home not allowing cats, but almost any other situation is prohibited from depriving anyone above a certain age of their long-time pets, as I understand the law. I'm not a lawyer, and I haven't worked with that for a long time, but I know 20 years ago a subsidized apartment where my mom was thinking of moving said she couldn't have a cat, then asked her age, and said they were not allowed to enforce that on anyone her age.

Have you tried contacting some of the rescues in your area? I know most of them near me are entirely fostered so someone might be able to find your guys a place outside of a shelter environment.

I am sorry you are faced with this. I hope you find a solution to this problem. I know it is breaking your heart.

I have thought of what a great business opportunity it would be to take in such cats. The owner could pay a small monthly fee to cover food, and have a prepaid account with a local vet in case of medical needs. However, unless the "cat retirement home" could get all the various cats to get along, it would be limited in the numbers they could accept!

I suggest that you reach out to family, friends and neighbors. Maybe there is someone who is a cat lover, who would be able to take in your kitties. Maybe there is a perfect fit for them, a person who can't afford to adopt a cat, but would love to have two join their family.

It wouldn't hurt to call the rescues to see if they have any ideas to help.

I have to agree with everyone else. This is a very tough situation. I'm with a cat rescue and we regularly get emails from people who want us to take their cats but we have to say no to all. We're full and so are every other rescue. There are just sooo many cats in shelters, pounds, on the street, in abusive and neglectful homes.
Finding homes for adult cats is really hard. Most of our cats stay with us at least a year, some even longer. We have one that has been here for almost three years. They are all wonderful, healthy, young cats but there isn't a lot of demand for adult cats. Given that yours are a pair and ten years old it makes it even harder. It's not impossible. You could get lucky but if you are to have any chance you have to work really hard at it.

The first thing I would do if I were you is to start calling around to retirement homes within a 100 mile radius or so and see if you can find one that will allow you to bring your cats. My sister-in-law's dad managed to find a retirement home where he was allowed to bring his cat after doing some searching. I did a quick Google search for "pet friendly retirement home Ontario" and found several that accept pets. If one doesn't advertise that they accept pets it still doesn't hurt to ask them about it. See if they would consider it if you pay an extra fee. Maybe you have a family member that could promise to help with the cats' care if you can't do it yourself at some point. They may be willing to negotiate. Explain to them how extremely important the cats are to you.

If bringing them to the retirement home is not an option you have to start an advertising campaign. Put out ads in the paper, on several websites, put up flyers in stores, library, vet offices, etc. Plea to people's hearts. Let them know that if no home is found they will be killed and that would break your heart. Let people know about the cats' personalities, what they like to do, etc. Describe each cat. Including cute pictures is very important. The more places you can get ads and flyers up the better. If you are able to give the new family some money for food and litter every month include that in the ad.
You may also want to include in the ads that you would also be happy if someone could foster the cats for a while if a home isn't found in time. If someone is willing to foster the cats for a while that would buy you time to find a permanent home. You may want to make it clear to any potential foster home that it can take many months to find a permanent home. During that time you have to be proactive in your search. If you can afford to give the foster home some money that can help.

If you do find someone that is willing to adopt or foster the cats make sure that you ask some questions to make sure that they are responsible people. Unfortunately not everybody is. If you can visit their home before the cats are placed that's highly recommended. That will give you an idea of who they are. Never just let someone come pick up the cats without having found out who they are first. Offer to drop the cats off so you are sure they get there safely. If you don't feel comfortable with the situation for any reason trust your gut and don't let them have the cats.

If all these options fail I have to say that I would strongly discourage you from taking the cats to the shelter. That would be cruel to the cats and they would suffer a great deal. Cats that have been in a home their whole life that are placed in a little cage 24/7 in a noisy, scary shelter do very, very poorly there. They become so terrified that they just curl up in a corner and often get depressed. It's a hard existence and with older cats it can last for many, many months, even years if the shelter hold them that long. Most don't and if they are not adopted in a few months they are put down.
It's not fair to them to suffer in a cage for months just to be put down. This may sound bad but if no home of foster home can be found the kindest thing to the cats would be for you to take them to the vet and let them go in your arms. They wouldn't suffer and would have had a good life their whole lives. It would hurt for you but it would be best for them. And you would know that they are in heaven waiting for you. Hopefully it won't come down to that but realistically you have to prepare for that. Shelters should not be an option in my opinion unless you could find a great cage-less no-kill shelter where the cats live good lives. These are usually full but it wouldn't hurt to call around to see if you can find one that can take your cats.

I wish you the best of luck. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you and your cats.