Upset about giving up the kittens I've been caring for...

I have been taking care of 6 kittens since they were 4 weeks old. They are now 18 weeks old, and they have been fixed so now I have to find homes for them (I can only keep two inside, and I didn't want the others to go outside). I had been trying on and off before they were fixed, but I wanted to get them fixed beforehand because I figured they would be easier to find homes for. I contacted The Greater Huntsville Humane Society, which is a local no-kill shelter near where I live. They said they would be able to take them in so they can adopt them out. I know they will find great homes for them, but I am sad. I have been caring for them for so long. I have been crying on and off all morning. I have to take them Saturday morning, and if they pass the FIV test, they will take them in. Oh goodness, this is harder than I expected.

Lots of  for you. I have thought about fostering, but I am afraid I would feel the same way about letting them go and end up with all of them. Just know that you have given them a great start in life, and hopefully they will find wonderful forever homes.

Lots of hugs to you! I'm already heart broken thinking of giving my kittens away. It's not an easy thing to do, but you are so great for giving them a great start.

Believe me , I understand and I can relate,     and I confess to having cried after saying goodbye to kittens.   It is easy to get very attached to the dear little monsters.    

    But you can't keep them all,  and your care has helped them grow up to be healthy, well socialized 4-5 month old kittens who will give much happiness to their new families.    They are more adoptable now while they are still rather young so it's really best that you do take them to this no kill shelter this weekend. 

Then you can come home and have a good cry. 

 If you have been taking photos,  you could maybe put together "Baby Picture" CDs for the new families.  ( ask the shelter if they would be willing to give it to them.)    

 If you think you can stand it again,  maybe you can volunteer as a foster home for more kittens w.ho need someone to take care of them

I figure I won't make it out of the facility without crying. They will probably be like what is wrong with her. Haha. Three of them are all black so I hope they don't have a hard time getting adopted. Here they are:

I LOVE all black cats! In fact I hope to keep our black one. Is it typical that black cats don't get adopted? I heard someone else recently with that same worry, I never heard it before though!

I am also a black cat lover!

Sadly though, I've been watching for years now, from beginning of kitten season, putting my first litter up for adoptions, and over and over, I sadly watch the colored kittens go, and the blacks are overlooked. Eventually they do get their homes, but maybe 85% of the black kittens do not get chosen over the colored one. I guess people think the calicos/torties, tabbies, orange/reds, are most attractive?

Go figure, nothing like a sleek, shiny black cat to me!

Besides, holding a black cat is slimming, they go great with your decor, they are easy to find in a snowstorm, they always look clean and their teeth stay white, and so on.

Kidding aside, studies of cat behavior according to color showed that black cats by far do best in multi cat homes, getting along with everyone.

They do eventually find their homes though. Just not usually the sought after color.

A word about your sadness.

When I first started rescuing, I was the same way, but you know, it didn't take me long to understand my part in these little lives. While I will never ever forget each and every one of my kids, I am their stepping stone, the second chance they would not have had, and holding on to them only meant that there was no room for the next bunch who needed me just as much as they did.

There will always be kittens and adult cats who's very life depends on people like us. Think about all the ones who were not lucky enough to find us How sad is that?!

So I accept this, and through the years I've gotten to where I 'get em in, get em ready, move em on' Ready for the next little kids who need me.

Stop by a kill-shelter and look into the eyes of the ones waiting to be euthanized due to lack of space........now THAT will help you let them go

They don't cry or whine, (unless theyre very young babies) they just stare into your eyes, speaking volumes.....you are my only hope, my last chance, please take me out of here, I will be a good kitty, I'm so afraid........

Let yourself cry, we all do, I STILL do! But know they will remember you, and will grow up to be big kitties, living the life every cat dreams of, love, a home, warmth, safety, a name, and a true sense of belonging.

Then go save some more!! 

 They are all lovely kittens.  The black kitties are gorgeous!  and they sure look like siblings!  There's a very strong resemblance.  look at those heads!  ( beautiful heads!).   Those black kittens are gorgeous!

 I have another photo idea  ---  take some pictures of them playing,  and pick out some really cute ones that show their personality,  that could be used on the shelter's website   & Petfinder page,  and maybe also one photo of each could be put on their cage at the shelter ( or on the wall of the room if it's cageless shelter)   It may catch someone's eye  and they may give a second look, in case the kitten is sleeping at the time or feeling a little shy and not putting on a big show to get attention.   I think adopters do enjoy seeing a picture of them in a home environment.. . makes it easier to imagine the cat in THEIR home.

maewkaew said:

 
 They are all lovely kittens.  The black kitties are gorgeous!  and they sure look like siblings!  There's a very strong resemblance.  look at those heads!  ( beautiful heads!).   Those black kittens are gorgeous!

 I have another photo idea  ---  take some pictures of them playing,  and pick out some really cute ones that show their personality,  that could be used on the shelter's website   & Petfinder page,  and maybe also one photo of each could be put on their cage at the shelter ( or on the wall of the room if it's cageless shelter)   It may catch someone's eye  and they may give a second look, in case the kitten is sleeping at the time or feeling a little shy and not putting on a big show to get attention.   I think adopters do enjoy seeing a picture of them in a home environment.. . makes it easier to imagine the cat in THEIR home.

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Thank you. That is a great idea about the photos.

They are handsome little fellows. I named them Swiffer and Zorro. The female the top picture, and I named her Pixie. The tabby is called Tiger. When I went to get them fixed, she asked me which one was Swiffer and which was Zorro. I said you can pick whichever one you want to be because I cannot tell them apart. Zorro is about a pound heavier than Swiffer I found out.

From what I have heard and just my general thought, is that all black cats are harder to adopt than the multicolored ones. I've heard the superstitious factor or whatever, but I have always though black kitties were adorable.

@catwoman707:  Holding a black cat is slimming!  LOL   that's a good one.

I LOVE my all black kitty.  I had intended to only adopt black cats but things didn't turn out what way..... 

 I feel like vball 91, I would end up with a dozen cats because I'd get attached and wouldn't be able to give them away.

I admire all of you who foster cats--to give them so much care and attention to get them started in life is such an act of love.  

betsygee said:

 
@catwoman707:  Holding a black cat is slimming!  LOL   that's a good one.

I LOVE my all black kitty.  I had intended to only adopt black cats but things didn't turn out what way..... 

 I feel like vball 91, I would end up with a dozen cats because I'd get attached and wouldn't be able to give them away.

I admire all of you who foster cats--to give them so much care and attention to get them started in life is such an act of love.  

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You know I just kinda stumbled into this whole fostering thing. We had a stray at our business for about  around a year and a half. She wasn't that friendly at first, but she eventually warmed up to us. She came up pregnant, but must have lost the litter because her milk dried up quickly. Well I had talked about getting her fixed, but I kept putting it off. She would come and go so you never knew which morning she would be there. She ended up pregnant again pretty soon after the first. The kittens were a month old when she came up to our shop one Saturday. She was sick and had developed mastitis that became septic. She had to be put down so I went and found the kittens she had, and I have had them ever since. I wasn't going to let anything happen to them so it just kinda happened. It has been an interesting ride. To trying to keep them from chewing all my cords to breaking a few items to sucking on my blanket as I am wrapped up in it. Hehehe.

Thank you all so much for the support. We dropped them off earlier today, and all of them came back negative on the test so that was good. We got to say our goodbyes, but I did better than I expected. I cried more on the way than I did at the shelter. I felt better once I went in, and started talking with everyone. We got to look in the cat room so technically I could visit again if I wanted to. You just have to sign in each time to go visit the animals. They asked about their behavior and everything on the surrender form so everything went smoothly. I'm still upset, but I will get through it.

The only probably was the lady that I gave the vac records to asked me "you didn't get them tested." I said no, the lady said y'all would do it before you took them in. She said but you have already had them vaccinated. They are going to test positive. I said no, my vet doesn't give the vaccine that makes them test false positive because it isn't very effective. They just got their leukemia shot and distemper and rabies. She acted surprised, but anyway they all came back negative.

I am struggling. I didn't know I would be this emotional or upset about this. It is so quite around here. I miss them so much. The two I was able to keep are not playing and not eating a lot. They are as sad as I am, and I even had thoughts about going back to get them even if they charged me, but I know this isn't really realistic.

I'm so sorry. I'm sure it is so difficult especially when it's so fresh. How about having a vigorous wand playing session with the kittens to help distract all of you?

vball91 said:

I'm so sorry. I'm sure it is so difficult especially when it's so fresh. How about having a vigorous wand playing session with the kittens to help distract all of you?

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Thank you. I will try this to see if I can get their mind off their buddies. I just keep thinking did I jump the gun too soon? Should I have waited a little longer? Just second guessing myself.

It's normal for you to miss them.   and it's normal for the ones you kept to feel a bit confused about where their siblings went.    but you were right to let them go now unless you were really able to keep all of them forever.   It would not have gotten easier if you waited longer  -- for you or for the kittens.   It would have gotten harder.

So try not to second guess yourself ,  and just give these 2 a lot of love,  and some exciting playtime as vball suggests,    and try to stay positive and upbeat with them.  ( They pick up on your feelings too!)

You have given a great chance to those litter mates you brought to the shelter so they can get adopted.  

I went through the same thing with the six kittens I helped raise that a stray we took in had. I was there for their first breaths and got so emotionally attached to them and was heartbroken when I took them to our humane society. I cried so hard as soon as we got there and cried for a while after we left them there. 3 of mine were black and I was worried about them getting adopted. All six got adopted within two weeks thankfully.

You are a gem for caring for those babies, it will get better with time. I still get sad when I look through photos from a few months ago.

I do understand, as I recently rescued 4 (2 week old) kittens without a mom. I hated to see them go, but I knew I could not keep them all. I found the perfect homes for 3 of the kittens. I'm happy now because I know they're each getting more than I could have gave them; had I kept all 4. And I did keep one, Marvin, who is the sweetest kitty ever, and I'm so grateful to have him.

Oh, and I love solid black cats! I'm always admiring pictures of them.

Good luck, and also, thanks for giving the kittens a great start. Hoping they all find forever homes soon.

I know I saw this thread earlier, and I'm going through the same thing although my kittens still have a few weeks left with me.

How are you doing now?

I have never fostered because I know how hard separation is for me, and in hindsight I think if I find a pregnant stray again I'd try to find a foster home right away.  I'm already crying daily and tearing up when ever I think about letting them go. I hid the phone number for my contact at the no-kill shelter in my desk drawer at work because I get sad thinking about it. I may end up going to the doc and asking for a stronger anti-depressant to get me through this. I love these kittens so much and have spent so many hours with them, socializing them, loving on them.

So sad.