Please help the crazy cat lady...

Hi. I retired and became the crazy cat lady, unbeknownst to me. I take care of feral cats and abandoned cats in my Los Angeles neighborhood. After trapping cats, taking them to a vet for neutering, spaying and shots, the group had stabilized. I have 5 feeding stations and feed canned and dry twice a day. The food is purchased at Henco, Sun Valley and I finally found Fix Nation where the cats are neutered for free as I was going broke. My head outdoor neutered male, Blue Eyes, was hurt in a fight defending his turf and after surgery to clean and suture the abscess, the vet said he should retire. He's gained so much weight as an indoor cat, he's turned into Mr. Chubbs. He loves the indoor life! Blue Eyes was the 16th cat who became an indoor cat. [I am illegal as all get out and spend a lot of time as you all do, cleaning cat boxes and hairballs. I love the Spot Bot carpet cleaning machine!] All of the cats but two were feral and had something wrong with them that required doctoring and, thus, one by one became indoor cats.

What I have going now is that three weeks ago, my 90 year old neighbor told me that there were kittens whose mom had not been seen for three days. The weather was hot so I ended up bringing three, three week old kittens home. Went to the vet the next day and, as instructed, bottle fed them with KMR and treated their eyes. They went to the vet yesterday for their first shots and flea meds and are healthy as horses. They are all tuxedo boys and my daughter said one of them had a Groucho mustache, which he does, so his brothers were named Harpo and Chico -the Marx brothers. They are now about six weeks old. Do any of you have suggestions as to how to find good forever homes for them? I love them to pieces but have a small house so in a couple of weeks, they will be ready to purr and give love to their new companions. Thank you for any suggestions.

Linda in Los Angeles, CA

If there's a good cat rescue place in the area, contact them to see if they have room. It's a lot easier for people to go to one place to see a lot of kittens, and it's likely to attract a higher-quality batch of potential adopters, and the adoption place can do the screening.

If not, put posters up everywhere, charge a small adoption fee (get them fixed before adoption if possible, if not, make very definite arrangements for it to be done at a certain age, and be sure to follow up), and screen the potential adopters as well as you can. Ask for their vet's number, ask what happened to their previous pets, etc.

Willowy said:

If not, put posters up everywhere, charge a small adoption fee (get them fixed before adoption if possible, if not, make very definite arrangements for it to be done at a certain age, and be sure to follow up), and screen the potential adopters as well as you can. Ask for their vet's number, ask what happened to their previous pets, etc.

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Another good source is  ads at the vet, or even better, if the staffs knows.  For example, if some old or sick cat was time to pts, the owner needs a kitten (or preferably - two).

Take always a fee, unless the kitten is given and received as a precious gift = you know the exact circumstances.

If it feels awkward to ask for money - and it feels awkward, because it is so easy to get a kitten "free to a good home" or "a dollar a paw, and also one for the tail"

you can ask the adopter for an anonymous donation to some praiseworthy cause you both agree upon.  Doctors without boundaries, some church project, Red Cross...

Say the cat is  Thunder.  The adopter is  mr Smith.

The donation is payed in from Thunder, or perhaps even better, from Thunder Smith.

So you can even ask for a (small) fee as said above, AND an anonymous donation. This way you are sure the adopter is serious.

Tx Linda a lot for caring!

Good luck!

  Welcome to our Forums!

Thank you.  I did call Kitten rescue and they are full up.  I will try Best Friends tomorrow.  Taking pictures of them for the vet's offices is like trying to hold down a hundred ping pong balls in a bathtub full of water. I will be very careful of anyone who wants to adopt one of the Marx brothers.

Linda in California