I get to help screen adopters for our fosters!

gapeach · Oct 8, 2013

The rescue has asked me to help with potential adopters and placing our 2 babies.
I'd love help on what to ask.
So far:
children & ages
other pets

The family interested in Penny has a 2 yr old child & a 7 month old German shepherd. That makes me kind of nervous. Resa has a potential with kids but I need more info.

Thanks for reading!

gapeach · Oct 8, 2013

Forgot to mention ...their contract States they must keep them indoors, UTD on shots and spay/neuter.

tulosai · Oct 8, 2013

feelings on declawing

other pets they have had and what happened to them

name of vet if they have had other pets, what they plan to do to find a vet if they haven't had other pets

names of ALL people living in the house and verification that ALL of them are on board with the new cat

gapeach · Oct 8, 2013

Thank you, those are great questions.

lilin · Oct 8, 2013

Personally, I would want to have the kids in with them to see how they have been taught to treat an animal.

I have just seen way too many parents who don't think this is important, let the kids be really rough, and what you wind up with is a traumatized cat who gets thrown back in the shelter because they're not entertaining anymore.

The dog is obviously much bigger than kitty, but this will also depend on how the DOG has been trained, and their general disposition. As a child, we had a Belgian Shepard and a Cornish Rex kitten, and they got on like gang busters. So it just depends.

In both cases -- kid and much bigger dog -- it's going to depend on the responsibility of the adults in the house as far as training them.

Another question that I saw on the adoption form I filled out -- and I think this is a really good idea -- is "Under what circumstances would you rehome this animal?"

That can tell you a lot about how seriously they take the commitment.

tulosai · Oct 8, 2013

Lilin said:
Personally, I would want to have the kids in with them to see how they have been taught to treat an animal.

I have just seen way too many parents who don't think this is important, let the kids be really rough, and what you wind up with is a traumatized cat who gets thrown back in the shelter because they're not entertaining anymore.

The dog is obviously much bigger than kitty, but this will also depend on how the DOG has been trained, and their general disposition. As a child, we had a Belgian Shepard and a Cornish Rex kitten, and they got on like gang busters. So it just depends.

In both cases -- kid and much bigger dog -- it's going to depend on the responsibility of the adults in the house as far as training them.

Another question that I saw on the adoption form I filled out -- and I think this is a really good idea -- is "Under what circumstances would you rehome this animal?"

That can tell you a lot about how seriously they take the commitment.

It also depends if the cat can handle a dog. One of min is BEST BUDS with any dog he meets that is of all but the worst dispositions. At the vet, he always makes a mad break for it out of the examining room to try to play with the dogs, and the dogs are 90% receptive to him- even big ones. My other cat hisses at the mere mention of a dog and gets crazy eyes.

I like the rehoming question but would add- BEWARE the person who says under NO circumstances would they rehome the animal, that sometimes (I want to stress not always, but sometimes) means that they haven't given this any thought at all and if they encountered a serious situation they hadn't thought about, they might actually rehome after all. Some answers that I- I don't want to say like, but still adopt cats out after include but are not limited to 'if I had kids and they had severe allergies to the cat that could not be controlled with a reasonable course of treatment' or 'if I was hospitalized or placed in a care facility and there was no reasonable expectation of my returning home and the cat couldn't come with me'. I'd be hesitant to rule someone out because they said they might rehome the cat, but make sure you look carefully at the reason and ask follow up questions if necessary.

lilin · Oct 8, 2013

tulosai said:
It also depends if the cat can handle a dog. One of min is BEST BUDS with any dog he meets that is of all but the worst dispositions. At the vet, he always makes a mad break for it out of the examining room to try to play with the dogs, and the dogs are 90% receptive to him- even big ones. My other cat hisses at the mere mention of a dog and gets crazy eyes.

I like the rehoming question but would add- BEWARE the person who says under NO circumstances would they rehome the animal, that sometimes (I want to stress not always, but sometimes) means that they haven't given this any thought at all and if they encountered a serious situation they hadn't thought about, they might actually rehome after all. Some answers that I- I don't want to say like, but still adopt cats out after include but are not limited to 'if I had kids and they had severe allergies to the cat that could not be controlled with a reasonable course of treatment' or 'if I was hospitalized or placed in a care facility and there was no reasonable expectation of my returning home and the cat couldn't come with me'. I'd be hesitant to rule someone out because they said they might rehome the cat, but make sure you look carefully at the reason and ask follow up questions if necessary.

Yeah, absolutely. Certainly, I don't think anyone can say there is NO circumstance under which they would rehome an animal. But stuff like "If I move" is a red flag to me. If you're truly committed, the cat comes with you if it's at all possible.

What I put is 2 things:

1. Extreme aggression or destruction that could not be solved with veterinary and behavioral treatment.

2. Incapacitation or death where my "cat godparents" fell through and could not take her (I have two).

I can think of maybe one or two other circumstances where I might need to have her stay somewhere temporarily though. I'm childfree and like living alone, so that's not a concern for me.

tulosai · Oct 8, 2013

Lilin said:
Yeah, absolutely. Certainly, I don't think anyone can say there is NO circumstance under which they would rehome an animal. But stuff like "If I move" is a red flag to me. If you're truly committed, the cat comes with you if it's at all possible.

What I put is 2 things:

1. Extreme aggression or destruction that could not be solved with veterinary and behavioral treatment.

2. Incapacitation or death where my "cat godparents" fell through and could not take her (I have two).

I can think of maybe one or two other circumstances where I might need to have her stay somewhere temporarily though.

Hope I didn't come across as argumentative! I love your posts, they are so thoughtful. I just wanted to add some stuff because it doesn't seem like the OP has had too much experience with rehoming and I wanted to make sure he/she is having reasonable expectations re: answers

gapeach · Oct 8, 2013

Thank you both very much. No I have no experience re homing! These are our first foster kittens that we helped rescue from a high kill shelter. I have 2 children who have ha idled them but my kids are gentle (also a lot older than two). The kitten Penny has had exposure to our dog Gracie (she has never been around cats, so we are integrating VERY slowly) Sometimes Penny is scared but mostly very curious of our dog.
I want to make sure these babies only go to a great home.
The right person could do this right, but a 2 yr old, a large puppy and a kitten seem like a lot to manage!
I think I will also ask how they plan on integrating the kitten in to the home.

I get to help screen adopters for our fosters!

gapeach

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tulosai

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