Need a home for my babies!

Unfortunately my son has allergies to our two cats and has been continuously ill for the past seven months. Several doctors told us we need to rid our household of the cats before our son's condition worsened and he developed asthma. Yesterday I took our cats, Libbie and Leo, to Heartrescue.org. They seem like a decent organization but I couldn't find any other info about them. Has anyone heard anything?

Also, we are actively trying to find them a home. We will pay the donation fee requested by the rescue place ($150 for both cats) to have someone adopt them. They are wonderful animals and need a good home and my wife and I are heartsick over having to give them up. If we cold find a good home for them it would go a long way to easing our pain. Many thanks.

PS If you have any advice I am all ears.

Go to petfinder.com and post a classified. You can mention everything about the cats and ask for an adoption fee to be absolutely sure they go to a good home. You can even request to deliver the cat yourself to just check out their home and make sure they aren't some cat hoarder or something. You specifically select your location so people around you looking for cats can see it.

Also, you may get emails from weirdos that say they are from another country and they want to send you a check for a lot of money and have you ship it back with your cat and blahblah, those are scams, just ignore them. It happens all the time and it will be obvious because it will sound hokey and they tell some sob story about their homeless family or dying child who needs money. Just delete these emails if you get them.

Other then that though, I have had a lot of luck with the classifieds and plus, it is free to post it.

Oh and don't say anything about paying the people to take your cats. YOU must charge THEM an adoption fee.

If you don't want to post directly on petfinder.com, do a search for shelters in your area and find out which ones are no-kill or not. Most shelters that take in pets will have policies for euthanasia and they will charge you a fee. Call the shelters and find out what their specific policy is and ask for their euthanasia %.

No-kill shelters will not typically take in animals from owners. They usually will allow you to post pictures of your cat at their clinics, and there are some that will agree to put them in their program if there is a foster family available, or if you foster them until they are adopted. Most no-kills will have LONG waiting lists for fosters, as they are full from the abandonded and traumatized cats.

And I have to warn you - the number 1 reason given about turning a cat in is "my child has allergies and I have to get rid of the cat". The story is clearly overused and most shelter staff will be skeptical when they hear that story. If you approach them, bring the doctor's report that recommends you do this or you may not get much sympathy. It's a sad fact of life.

And never, never, never say "free to a good home". You may get hoarders (collectors) or bunchers (people that collect for lab research) answering those ads. Our shelter recommends asking for a $25 fee. You can always waive the fee if you are totally confident with the adopter.