8 Week Old Kittens Ready for Adoption -- Advice!

Hello! I have 3 kittens that are about 8 weeks old now. They were rescued and bottle-fed. My boyfriend and I are ready to advertise them for adoption and we're using good ol' Craigslist. We would greatly appreciate any advice given, we want them to go to really good homes that would care for them the way we have been. 

We are not asking for any adoption fee whatsoever but the adopter MUST pay for their vaccines and spay/neuter with the low-cost clinic in our area. 

We know there are creepy people out there that are not for the best interest of the kitten or will feed them to their pet snake--something crazy! We want to avoid them as much as possible! 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated! 


Here's a short video I have of them playing.  

Awww, they're so cute!

First off I want to warn you about Craigslist. It seems you already know the dangers (people tend to lie about how well they'll treat an animal they get off there, especially free ones) so just be careful. I'd hate to see one of those little guys get hurt. I would very carefully interview the people interested and request to see where they'll be taking care of the kitten and just really get to know these people before you hand over the kitten. I'd imagine most people who are trying to get a kitten to do something horrible like that won't be interested in sticking around long, they'll just want you to hand over the kitten and then disappear. That might help a lot in weeding out people who aren't interested in taking good care of the kitten.

Family and friends and friends of friends are a good way to find potential owners who are more likely to actually care for the kitten, too.

Good luck!

Thank you for your response. I was actually googling information on this and someone suggest having the adopter fill out an application form?

My boyfriend and I decided that the adopter must first pay to schedule for their spay/neuter and vaccines. They can pick up the kitten on the day of their spay/neuter at the clinic during pick-up hours. We figured a person who doesn't want to spend the money to pay for their care probably should not even have a pet to begin with. Hopefully, that can deter a lot of unwanted adopters. 

We took in a momma kitty and her babies in June and were faced with the same issue.

If it is within your means, I would suggest that you spay/neuter and vaccinate yourself and then charge an adoption fee that is equivalent to that amount.  Unfortunately we live in a society where people only value what they pay for. 

Many low-cost spay/neuter clinics will do juvenile spay/neuters.  While there are many people who do not agree with juvenile spay/neuter and I do agree that it is better to wait until the cat is 6 months, the point here is to prevent more kittens and there is only one way to do that.

Browse through some cat rescues online and have a look at their adoption forms - take from that the questions that you feel are important.

Some we used are:

How do you feel about declawing (because that is an issue for me)?

Do you own your home or rent, if you rent does your landlord allow pets?

Are all family members in agreement over the adoption?

Who will be the primary care giver for the animal (note, it should always be the adopter)?

Have you ever had to rehome a pet, under what circumstances?

Under what circumstances would you rehome this cat?

List animals you have owned previously and what happened to them?

List any animals you currently own and are they spayed/neutered?

Make up a couple of scenarios - like you come home and the cat has missed the litter box, how do you react?  You come home and the cat has shredded your couch, how do you react?

Most importantly, trust your gut instinct.  We all have a general feeling that "No one will take as good care of these kittens/cats as I will" so you need to set that aside.  Then trust your gut.  If it feels wrong, it is wrong.

We were able to get the kittens fixed at a low cost clinic and I charged $150 per kitten as an adoption fee.  I definitely didn't make money, but I didn't lose a lot. 

You should definitely get the adopters to sign an adoption contract. State that the kitten must be spayed or neutered, must not be declawed and must be vaccinated. You should state on the contract who will pay for this, you or the adopters. Make sure that the adoption fee covers any of the procedures that you have already had done.

It's a lot easier to find homes for kittens that have already been blood tested and have had their first shots. Make sure you get a certificate from your vet to prove this, make a copy for your own records and hand over the original to the adopters.

Take the kitten to the adopters home. Don't hand kittens over in parking lots, it's just asking for trouble. You need to know where the adopters live and you need to have their contact details.

The contract should also state that if they can no longer keep the kitten they will give him/her back to you and not turn them over to a shelter or give them to anyone else.

Another TCS member had a terrible experience with one of the kittens she rehomed recently.

 [thread="304569"]Broken Humerus 106 2 Fever Only 5 Mos Old​[/thread]  

In this case she was lucky enough to find the kitten again, but it could have ended really badly.

Serious adopters won't mind you going to all these lengths and will appreciate your concern for the kittens.

I have adoption apps, and an adoption contract stating that if for any reason they are unable to keep the cat that they agree to return it to my rescue.

The app asks name, address, house or apt, rent or own, if owned does the apts allow pets and is dep required? Landlord's name and phone num.

How long at address.

Current pets and are they fixed, indoor only, indoor/outdoor, declawed?

Former pets and what happened to them, other people in home, kids and if so how old, do they plan to allow cat outside, declaw?

Then I ask how experienced they are with cats, (if they've owned any before, etc)

Ask if they have ever surrendered an animal to the shelter and if so what were the circumstances, and if there are any reasons why they would not keep the cat, with check boxes, if the cat cries, doesn't get along with current pets, moving, etc.

I want to know exactly where my cats will be going to.

They are healthy, fixed, wormed, chipped, tested for felv, vaccinated.

I want to do this before adoption so I know it gets done or it defeats my purpose of rescuing.

I would definitely not take people's word for it that yes they will get it done, as many will not and problems come up when sexual maturity comes, spraying, etc the next thing you know the cat is left on it's own and turns semi-feral.

This is exactly how it goes.

Also, when you get these done first, and charge a fee for cost recovery, they won't go feeding the kitten to their pet snake.

Yes, they do this. I have a person right here in my town who raises Great Danes, who has an enormous snake that he feeds cats to that he traps outside.

I had nightmares for weeks when I discovered this.

People also use them for baiting dogs, taste of blood, etc.

You bet they do. It doesn't matter that we can't comprehend people are capable of this, the fact is they are and it happens all around us.