Any suggestions on how to get my black cats adopted?

So you think the problem is because they are black?  I LOVE black cats!  (But am not in the market for any more at the moment )     And these girls look precious.  How are you trying to get the word out about them? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by xocats 

All three of your little panthers are gorgeous.
 

Make that into a reklam slogan. 

Wanna a mini black panter

Mowgli could and had, so can you!

You dont even have to say they are Bombay look alike... 

Good luck!   

Oh they are so adorable! I know when I adopted out Jackson, who is also solid black that the general feeling at the rescue was the black cats are harder to place. I don't know, I love black cats too. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatNamedPanda 

Lol yes I think the problem might be because they are black and not tiny little 8 week old kittens. I have an easier time when I have tabby cats. I have put them on craig's list, ebay classifieds and in the news paper and even put flyers in the vets offices and no takers. I tried petfinder once but after I was flooded with spam last time I will never use it again.

Hmm.  I would think you'd get more spam from Craig's list than Petfinders, but I really don't know for sure.  I thought most people used Petfinders when looking for new furbabies to adopt.

Thank you for rescuing these adorable kittens/cats.  The pictures are great.  Hint:  see if you can get a picture of them where they are looking off to the side or engaged in some activity, even something as simple as using their scratching post.  That way you're looking at what they are doing, not so much their coloring.

It is hard to adopt out adult cats, I have five (now, two) teenage to adult cats that I'd been looking for Forever Homes for since June.  My twin sister works for a large government agency, so she posted ads on her agency's intranet.  We have had the most success through that venue.  I too tried PetFinder twice, both times, lots of spam.

I find that the ad/bio sells the animal.  Maybe someone at the animal shelter could review the ad for you?  A woman at a national TNR organization offered to tweak my ads, and it made such a difference.  Or, as strange as this may sound, ask someone in the field of Marketing who loves cats, to review your ad/bio.

Try to find a "hook"; for Buckley it was "heart of gold".  Buckley was adopted last week, a male cat around 18 to 24 months old.  For Petey (a bully by any other name), it was "wants to be the center of your universe".  All negatives can be positives.  Eats a lot = not a fussy eater  Sleek as a panther is visually stunning and then you think oh yeah that means the cat is black.  And definitely indicate that they were rescued from the grips of death. 

Buckley and Petey were abandoned.   JD was semi-feral but young enough to be re-socialized.  JD was an all black cat, but the college students (mature for their age) were attracted to his personality ("independent") more than his color.

Princess Leia was also probably dumped, but also quite young.  And Mystique is still a "work in progress"  as opposed to "not only no but he!! no you can't touch me".  All five cats were abandoned or semi-feral and I retrapped early this year and moved into my friend's cattery where we have been resocializing them.  ("Street cat" has less negative connotations than "feral cat".)

Finally, do indicate that there is an adoption fee.  If they can't afford the adoption fee, they can't afford a pet.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

CNP:  I got the same kind of spam mail.  Daughter, party, etc.  Frustrating.  My contact, the person who wrote the ad, strongly suggested reporting the spam to PetFinder.  She also contacted the person doing the spam saying "I am assisting...."  Not surprisingly, we haven't heard anything from the spamer.

Feralvr:  get idea about posting an ad at the vets! 

Great news about low cost S/N.  I volunteer for a cat sanctuary and get FIV/FELK testing done there.  I go through a low cost S/N organization, same price as your place.

Good luck!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ritz 

Finally, do indicate that there is an adoption fee.  If they can't afford the adoption fee, they can't afford a pet.

 

Yes, do always take an adoption fee.  If it by any reason is sensitive or anyting, let the adopter pay a donation, minimum 15 dollars*, in THE CATS name, to some worthy cause. Some cause which feels good for the donator. Doctors without boundaries, some church helping group,  some cat rescuing group, etc...  This making also a magic bond - connecting the adopter with noble feelings whenever they look at the cat.

The only exceptions may be if you KNOW it will be an excellent home, and you know  the adoption will be received as a costly, precious gift.

Take more if it is proper at your place and circumstances. 15 dollars is the absolute minimum.

* 15 dollars is ridicoulusly low. But here in Sweden cats, barn-borne and some others too, are still given away for free "to a good home", or sold  "10 cent a paw and a dollar for the tail."   So 100 kronas (=15 dollars) as all papers and ad-lists did agreed as their minimum for allowing to write in ads,  is at least a step forward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatNamedPanda 

 

I thought it would be great too, until every day I got strange emails and they were for all of the cats I had posted not just one. They were talking about wanting to get a cat, that their family was a husband wife and son, and then in the next line stated that they wanted the cat by the weekend for their daughters birthday. And the there was also stuff about they were already planning the huge party they were going to throw to celebrate the cats arrival and they would send me pictures of the cat at the party, and after that I should expect a picture twice a week. Also in the adds they never referred to the cat as a cat it was the pet or it. I got different variations of similar stories everyday before I deleted the add.

 

 

BINGO: Scams

I listed Bandit on CL and got the same thing. Pet, and also asking for my address to mail me money, even though it was clearly FREE to a good home!!

They are gorgeous!!  I have a Phoebe kitty as well.  Anyway, I agree about putting them on petfinders... But not so much on Criagslist.  You may have to have them fixed yourself.  Most people won't do it.  And some will probably even have them declawed and not tell you about it if the arrangement is to have them indoors.  Thats the thing about Craigslist.  It's like an add in the newspaper or hanging up in a pet store somewhere, you just never know the kind of people that will be taking them on.  I have found contracts to be useless.  So when Genevieve (King Arthur and Morgan La Fay's mother) and her other kittens were ready for new homes, I found friends I knew and trusted because I was disgusted by the people that contacted me from Craigslist and Petco ad.  I had several of them tell me that I was paranoid and way overprotective... "It's just a cat dude!  Chill."  Was actually what one said to me.  Well, maybe so to some people... But to me, it's a life in my hands.  A precious soul that is counting on me to find someone worthy of them. 

That probably doesn't help you too much.  But I think Petfinders may be a little more strict on guidelines.  But, my advice is anything in the contract like spaying, you'll probably have to do yourself.  Most won't spend the money.  And most will put them out if they can't declaw.  You can't trust people.  And a contract at the end of the day is just a piece of paper. 

Right, scams are not unusual.  Here Im not thinking on bad joke or people who want to cheat you on the cat - although this surely happens,

but scams as variations of Nigeria Letters or Spanish letters as they could be called in 1800-ties..

Usually some sort of check, which seems to be OK, but several days later your bank discovers it wasnt good.  And now YOU must refund it.

They do come on many sorts of ads.  Most frequent on ads where the price is relatively high - cars, bikes, or here - pure bred cats.

If the answer looks funny - dont accept it.

Try to look out the people behind. Make sure they are real citizens of the town they say they do live.

Talk with them on the phone...  Or if mailing, make sure they are communicating with you for real, not only some standard phrases stacked upon each other.

One suggestion that might make people more interested is if they are spayed beforehand, they might have people "biting" at the ads more often.  I know a lot of guys that would get a black kitty, and they'd be excellent "daddies" too so don't unapprove a guy because you think he wouldn't be good enough... There are a lot of guys out there that are more into cats than a dog.  The thing is, people believe spaying is expensive and if they have to do that, they usually won't.  But if they are already spayed, they are more willing to.  And you can totally make the money back from it, too... Charge an "adoption fee" ( I'd do that anyway).  People are more willing to pay an adoption fee if an animal is already fixed.

Black cats are my favorite and most of my fosters tend to be black, because the adopters tend to find them less desirable and they end up getting euthanized :(
I like to put them in sparkly collars or bandanas or bows to make them stand out a little bit and all of those things tend to be on the safer side in regards to dressing to a cat up! I think red looks best on a black cat!
Here's a picture of my current senior foster, Dracula, all dressed up in his sparkly collar!

And Since your kittens are about 6 months old, I'll attach a photo of an all black 7 month old that I dressed up in a flower collar which actually did end up getting more people interested! (I get all my collars at petsmart)

LOVE the photo of Dracula above. What a handsome fella.

I would agree that any photo that shows the cat being playful and a colorful or cute accessory couldn't hurt in a photoshoot.

I don't understand why people don't like black cats. I love mine. It didn't even cross my mind to not want to adopt him because he was black. I thought it made him look really striking, like a little panther

My Magnus

9 months

I don't understand why either! Black cats are my favorite! Mangus is so adorable!
Here is a picture of Dracula when he first came into foster care with me. (this is why he is named Dracula) but all but 6 of his teeth were removed because they hadn't been taken care of by his former family. He looks much more dashing now!

I love him! he's awesome! Thanks for posting that photo. When they show their teeth like that it cracks me up.

I managed to get one photo where Magnus is showing his but they don't look nearly as long as Dracula's!

Anyway, sorry, don't mean to hijack this thread. 

Dracula looks like a mini panther.  I bet he's a sweetie too. He's lucky to have you

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens 

Hmm.  I would think you'd get more spam from Craig's list than Petfinders, but I really don't know for sure.  I thought most people used Petfinders when looking for new furbabies to adopt.

 

A lot of people do use Petfinder to find pets but that's the pets that are posted by rescues and shelters that are Petfinder members. If you are an individual you have to post in the classified section and that's a bit different. If you search for a cat in your area on Petfinder you'll only find the cats posted by shelters and rescues, not the ones posted in the Classified section, so I don't think that Petfinder is very useful if you only post in the classified section, unfortunately. ANd then there is the issue of all the scammers, mostly located in Africa, that are claiming to want to adopt your pet to try to scam you out of money eventually. This has been going on for years and it will most likely go on for a few more years.