Feral adoption update

For those of you who don't want to wade through old posts, I'll do a quick recap.

In March of this year, we started feeding three feral adults living in our ravine.  Two are likely siblings, and not quite a year old - Esther and Brighton.  The third is a full adult male, we call him Simon.

All three went through TNR in early April and returned to the ravine.  

In late April, 2 weeks after we released Esther, we spotted her in the distance with at least two kittens.  We called the vet who had neutered her, and were assured that she was not lactating nor had she ever had kittens.  We didn't see the kits again until late June, at which time we estimated they were around 3.5 months old.  We have never seen a mother of the kittens, and given the timing of her capture and spay, if Esther were the mother, the kittens wouldn't have survived her absence.

We captured the kittens in late June, and transferred them to my screened-in front porch.  It's not large - about 20x6 - but large enough to house large cages at first, and now the free-range kittens.

The kits are now around 4.5 months old, and have all been neutered.  We have named them Castor and Pollux, Oedipus and Leonidas.  Three are orange, one is a grey tabby with white points.  All are male.  They are playful, inquisitive, loving, and very well socialized now.  All four love to play, will sit on laps and purr, and adore cuddles.  They have healthy appetites and loving personalities.

Now, we're having trouble getting them adopted.  Yes, there is a shelter here, but I've been assured that if I take them to the shelter, an older and less adoptable kitty will likely have to be put down.  There is no no-kill shelter here.  

We have ads on Facebook and Craig's List, posters up in town, and are using our contacts to try to get them out.  Unfortunately, we haven't gotten a single email or phone call on the kittens.  Not one.  

I'm running out of time with them.  They can't stay on the porch much longer - it's too small, and they're getting too big.  They desperately WANT to be inside, and rush the door when I'm coming out, but soon we'll be faced with the real possibility that they'll have to go back outside.  THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT, but I have an indoor diabetic kitty for whom stress can be deadly.  

What else can I do?  If I can get people over here to look at the boys, they'll be adopted quickly, but no one even asks.  

I'm so sad for them.  They want to be loved, and they deserve love so much.  Ideas?

Oh, boy.  I can only offer encouragement.  I, too, have two fosters who are looking for a permanent home.  The only thing I can think of is to make a flyer and post it in local vet offices.

If no adopters come forward, can the boys stay with you and porch/outside kitties?  As fixed males, they should stay close to home.  The porch can be their bedroom and potty but they can expand their territory outside.  Another suggestion - can you build them an enclosure that perhaps attaches to the porch?

I know neither of these is an ideal situation but they will give them a safe environment without impacting your inside kitty.

Vibes you find a home or homes for them.  Thank you for helping them!

I have not one but 5 indoor kitties, all sharing a house that is only 800 square feet of finished area.  

I also live within 5 blocks of a sports stadium, and football season is right around the corner.  On home football game days, we have upwards of 80,000 people in my neighborhood, and I park up to 23 cars in my yard alone.  Kittens on the porch will be very scared and this will be hugely inconvenient during parking season.  Sending them outside or building an addition won't work in the fall.  I worry about the outdoor kitties, as well.

I am currently feeding 12 cats.  12.  How did this happen?  

Poor little boys.

Oh, I didn't realize!  God bless you!

When my kitty adventure began, I fussed about adopting two together.  Wasn't sure if I could handle more than one cat.  Ha - did the universe have something different planned for me!

I would definitely post flyers all over the place.  You never know if some football fan is looking for a cat.  (Are you lucky enough that one on the team colors is orange?  There would be a good marketing tool.)

It's like B. Kliban always said, one begets another and another and another.  Three of my indoor kitties are rescues - we found one very little boy in a parking lot, and he became a very BIG boy.  

http://tinyurl.com/mb3c3lx

The link above is to the Kliban cartoon best suited to our situations.  Man proposes, God disposes - kittens, apparently.

Thank you for all of your work.

A friend and I re-socialized four adult cats in her home.  When it came time to adopt them out, I had my sister post ads on her very large government agency's intranet.  My friend has a number of clients (acupuncture/massage) and spread the word there too.  We adopted two or three through contacts where my sister works, one through where I work and one through my friend's clients.

If you know anyone who works at a large firm or has a large clientele, I'd try that.

I like the idea of posting/handing out flyers at the football games.  If you know the local team's colors, or if they have an official uniform, I'd pose them with a pennant or (if the cats are game), dress them up in an appropriate costume.

Good luck!

I'm in Iowa City, so it's the Hawkeyes.  Black and Gold - my kits are orange and white or grey and white.  

I had thought about the games as an adoption possibility, but worry about the quality of adoptions that would come from such an impulsive decision.  Many of the fans are VERY drunk very soon after arriving, and even more drunk when they depart.  Interviews would be curtailed by necessity, and I would worry about my little boys.

My contacts at the local shelter have informed me that they've just done a large intake of cats from an abuse situation.  They have no room for my boys, or if they did, they would have to euthanize a number of others to make room.  I can't do that.  My heart would break.  

I'll contact some vets, but several have kittens fostered in their office and STILL can't get them homed.  This is a tough kitten season.

Yes, I'd worry about the quality of adopters when drunk.

So, during the pre-game/picnic I would hand out flyers with pictures (in color) with an email address, one created only to field adoption inquiries.  If the person is serious (and sober), they'll contact you later.

So many kittens/cats, so few people.

Geez.  I don't drink, so it never even occurred to me that they might be drunk.  I'm with Ritz.  If you post flyers, it should only have an email, so you can follow-up and give any potential adopters a good assessment.

I think this is the worst part - so discouraging to have so many kitties needing homes.

Drinking doesn't really cover it.  They start at 6 AM and they're already drunk, for the most part.  Many stay up all night, and show up in the morning staggering.  Evening games, which start at 7 PM. mean people in the yard from 1 PM until 11 PM or so, and I worry about drunk drivers.  They pee in my ravine and on my garage, despite a clean portable toilet just a few steps away, and play AWFUL music from early in the morning until they leave.  

At least they don't bring their dogs...

Good grief.  It sounds like you need a big electric fence!   That or maybe a security detail. 

Wow!   Those folks do not sound like good adopter material.....still I like Ondine's idea of only sharing e-mail so you can weed out the ones that are still drunk (more typos?) more safely that way!   Good luck finding homes for your kitties.   I know it's tough out there, I did a big ad blitz for my outdoor feral to be a barn cat and I did get two nibbles but both turned out to be flaky in the end.