Re-homing your Cat or Kitten to Finding your Lost Kitty


tabby cat laying on a brown plush pillow



 

Re-homing your pet is heart breaking. It is often due to circumstances beyond our control. But, there are steps and processes that we can do to help the transition for our pets as smooth and angst free as possible. A little research and preparation may save you some heartache and lead your pet to a loving, caring forever home. Just remember throughout the re-homing process that you have a legal and ethical responsibility to your pet to ensure that the new home is going to value and respect your pet.

We wish you every success if you are faced with this decision.


Start Looking ASAP

re-homing a cat can take a quickly as a few days (usually young purebreds or kittens) or months, so start looking as soon as possible. If you only have a week to find a new home, you will not have much luck, and you might end up settling for a home that isn't right for your pet out of desperation which can be a nightmare for your cat.


Prepare Your Cat

Make your pet more attractive to potential adopters. Make sure your cat is up to date on vaccinations and spayed/neutered. If you haven't and are low on funds, you can try a low cost spay/neuter clinic but those usually have a waiting list. You should also microchip your pet in case the adopter loses or dumps your cat so you can be sure s/he is always safe. Be sure your pet has been FIV/FeLV tested (especially if your cat goes outside). You will have much more luck finding a home for it if you can provide veterinary records showing the cat's health status. A responsible and informed adopter will want to know all of this information. A huge red flag is an adopter who doesn't ask about the medical condition or records. Do not separate lifelong friends or litter mates. Many people are willing and eager to adopt two cats who are friends and bonded to each other.


Where to Look First

Advertise through friends, neighbours and local veterinarians. Pets Niagara will ask you to canvass your circle of trusted friends, family members, and co-workers to see if any of them would be willing to give your cat a loving and responsible home. Your personal network is the best pool of adopters for your pet. Ask your veterinarian if you can place a poster advertising your pet's need for a new home. Place flyers promoting your pet at work, school, church and other public places you frequent. Speak with other pet guardians in your area, veterinarians, groomers, pet store staff, boarding or day care staff, and others in your local pet care industry. If Pets Niagara is assisting you with the re-homing process we will also contact these same agencies throughout the Niagara region.


Animal Shelters

Some shelters are low kill. However, others are not. Some high kill shelters have a very high euthanasia rate due to overcrowding regardless of the age, health or breed of the cat. Older pets, hybrid pets, and those with even minor health and behavioural problems are at an even higher risk of euthanasia. For this reason, we strongly recommend looking for a new home on your own or with the supportive assistance and expertise of Pets Niagara in screening potential adopters.


Re-homed cats and the psychological effects

Pets that are well cared for are usually fine to find a new home. But what about cats that are older and/or felines that have experienced neglect and abuse?

With re-homing, we know that cats can adjust fairly well based on ordinary circumstances. And that like humans that have experienced extreme circumstances, may need extra TLC and assistance to recover and give full trust again.

What we do know for sure is that cats share the same emotional feelings as us. Continued captivity can be taxing, whether it's in a caged pound or a breeding farm. How clean, how much enrichment and socialisation, and how well-kept will also influence the outcomes for a cat's mental state. This is why many cat re-homing and dog rescues often place animals in foster care situations with families, first. Or, have them cared for like we do - roaming free all or at least part of the day to mitigate any negative side effects with affection and play as part of the enrichment process.

Like humans, cats are resilient. And with the right family and the right environment, they can definitely recover from even the most significant trauma. Rescue pets that have had a pretty hard-knock life might take a little bit of extra care, but they are also extremely loyal, loving and appreciative once they've bonded to their new pet guardians.


Pets Niagara's approach to cat re-homing

If a pet is taken in to our care, they are given a thorough check-up to ensure they are healthy and worm free. We also ensure that they have some form of permanent identification such as a microchip or highly visible tattoo. As tattoos do fade over time, we will often microchip the pet just before transferring him or her to a new pet guardian.

From here, our pets find themselves nice and snug in our isolation room for 2 weeks. This allows us to closely monitor them for any signs of illness. We also get lots of one-on-one time to assess their individual personalities and needs.

We always try and buddy up kittens so they have constant company. And there is never a lack of human cuddles and attention from our care givers.

We always try and spend as much time playing, cuddling, brushing and generally interacting with the cats. The more we know about our cat re-homing candidates, the better we can match them to the purr-fect home. Once the cats have the medical all clear and are of a suitable age for adoption, we begin promoting them through our social media. We always make sure the person who adopts one of our feline friends is ready, willing, and able to be a responsible pet parent.


Purebred Cats

If your cat is a recognized and papered purebred or mixed with a purebred cat, Pets Niagara will reach out to Breed specific breeders and rescues to let them know of the availability of your pet. Keep in mind that purebred cats attract a lot of people who may not have the experience or knowledge needed to deal with a purebred cat and the health problems that potentially come with it. For example, few people with no Bengal experience can handle the hyper activity and potential destructiveness of the breed. Many purebreds have specific health concerns that only educated or experienced purebred owners and skilled veterinarians realize. Pets Niagara ‘s background investigative process will help to avoid your pet being re-homed to someone who just wants a showpiece.


Medical/Behavioural Problems

Behavioural problems are rarely a good reason to re-home your pet because you are just passing on the problem to someone else. If your cat has health or behavioural problems, such as aggression, litter box issues, or requires a special diet, we must be entirely candid and up front about it with potential adopters. Even though our Adoption Contract specifies that a pet guardian must contact Pets Niagara, first, before they do any future re-homing of that pet, we don't often become aware of that the pet is no longer with the adoptive pet guardian until it's too late. So, the last thing you want is to adopt your cat to an unsuspecting person who later re-homes the cat again (or surrenders it to a shelter) due to an unanticipated problem. If your cat doesn't like dogs, female cats, men with beards, or kids, make sure the adopter knows even if their home doesn't have those elements in case they move in the future or board the cat somewhere when they go on vacation.


Resources

Pets Niagara never uses online classified ads like Kijiji or Craigslist and we don't recommend them as a choice. As tempting as it may seem, re-homing a pet through Craigslist may place your pet's life in significant peril. Many animals advertised on Craigslist have wound up victims of torture, abuse, and neglect, re-homed unknowingly with backyard breeders, hoarders, as bait for dog-fighting rings or with other criminal elements for no good purpose.

We will, instead, opt to post a free classified on AdoptAPet.com and on Petfinder.com, the sites used by most North American humane societies and rescues. If available we will also post a classified on Petango.com, again, another resource used by North American humane societies and rescues. We will not:

Screening Potential Adopters

Pets Niagara recommends thorough screening for any potential adopter. Please do not forgo this step. If you wish to attempt to re-home your pet on your own, please never agree to give your pet to someone who hasn't been properly screened and visited in their home. After all, it is your desire and ours that this person will care for your cat for the remainder of their life, which could be 10-20 years. Be prepared for a touchy question, if an adopter is truly interested in the welfare of your pet, he or she should be asking why you are giving up your pet. Look for red flags like someone who isn't interested when you tell them about your cat or doesn't ask any questions about him/her.

The Pets Niagara background check process includes:

Checking Veterinary Records

If you wish to pursue re-homing on your own, every applicant who mentions a current or recent (past 5 years) pet should provide a veterinary reference. Standard veterinary care includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, and an annual exam. Some folks may not vaccinate their older cats due to the risk of cancer — this is fine, as long as they are still getting an annual exam. Some important questions you should ask a potential adopter:

Keep in mind that some applicants don't mention that they may have used another vet, or that they went to an emergency vet in the last weeks/days of their pet's life. If there are holes in the vet records, give the applicant the benefit of the doubt and ask them if the animal received care somewhere else during this time. If the applicant denied treatment due to financial issues, be very wary that this may happen to your cat if adopted by that applicant. As well, if an applicant's vetting history is not stellar, you can ask him/her if there is anything they would do different. Sometimes people learn about cat health requirements the hard way and regret it.


Checking Personal References

Personal references should be used with all adoption applicants. This is used to verify pet ownership history and get a feel for the applicant and how they would care for an animal. Here's an example of some questions to ask a person who has been identified as a personal reference:

Landlord Check

If the applicant is a renter, be sure the potential adopter is allowed to have pets and that it is clearly stated in the lease. After all, we don't want to adopt a cat to an applicant, only to have it returned a month later when the landlord finds out! If Pets Niagara is doing the background check of a potential adopter we will call the landlord to see if there is any fee or condition associated with the adopter having a pet. This contact will serve as notice to the landlord that his/her tenant is planning to adopt from you.


Meet and Greet

The references checked out and you are ready for the applicant to meet you and your cat in your home – great! Take the chance to ask more questions and observe. This is also a chance for the adopter to ask questions about your cat's health, behaviour, and likes/dislikes. Above all else, go with your instincts. If something doesn't feel right, do not adopt your cat to that applicant. You will regret it later and may find that your instincts were right.


Home Visit

If all the references check out and the meet and greet goes well, you want to do a home visit before the adoption is finalized. If, again, you are wanting to carry out the re-homing on your own, pay attention to the safety of the home for a cat: are there broken windows, missing window screens, doors that don't latch, holes in walls, plants poisonous to cats, or unsafe electrical wires? If your cat is a kitten, have they "feline-proofed" the home? Where will your pet will be spending his or her days and evenings– does it get the run of the house? Where will its' bed, food, water, and litterbox be? The home visits are to ensure that the potential adopter will be able to house your pet correctly. This isn't just about the potential adopter keeping their place clean. It's about ensuring your pet will get sufficient space, attention, and care in a clean and orderly environment.


Adoption Contract and Fee

Regardless of whether you wish to complete the adoption yourself or if you wish Pets Niagara to help with this aspect of the adoption, we can provide you with a proper and legal adoption contract that will outline the conditions of adoption and what will happen if those conditions are not met. It will also state what will happen to the cat if the new arrangement doesn't work out. You can download a sample Adoption Contract from Pets Niagara website at http://petsniagara.org/Adoptables/RequestforAdoption.pdf and use it as is or edit to suit your needs.


We also highly recommend charging a fee, however small. This will subsidize the cost of the veterinary care, but it will also discourage adopters who may not value your feline. If someone is not willing to pay $75 or more to adopt your pet, what will happen with a much larger vet bill? Speaking of vet bills, we can provide you with a legal Direction to your veterinarian to release your pet's medical records to the new pet guardian.


Drop Off

Remember to provide any supplies when you drop off your adopted cat. You should provide a blanket that has familiar smells from your home to ease the transition and any toys, scratching post or cat tree, usually bedding, litter boxes and/or bowls for the same reason. Always transport your kitty in a carrier. Did you know that it is against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the OSPCA Acts of Ontario to not transport your pet in an authorized manner?

Also provide a week's supply of your pet's regular food and litter so the new adopter can transition your pet easily to his or her new home. If the adopter has another cat, make sure that they do a slow introduction and not merge the cats together right away. The integration should take several days or else it could be a disaster.


Follow up

Pets Niagara will be sure to follow up on how your pet is doing in his or her new home. We will call and visit at 1 month, then after 3 months, and then after 6 months if the adopter is in the Region. You should consider doing the same if you re-home your pet yourself. Also, we would ask that leave your contact information for the adopter in case s/he has any questions or concerns. If you cut them off immediately, then you risk your cat being dumped or re-homed down the road.

While this sounds like a lot of steps, please keep in mind that it can be a dangerous world out there for a pet. Your diligence will guarantee that your cat will be safe and happy and have the lifelong stability that he or she so rightly deserves.


Pets Niagara Fees

No fees are payable by the owner wishing to re-home their pets if that owner carries out all background checks. If Pets Niagara is requested to carry out all of the background checks of any potential adopter, then any adoption fee for the pet(s) will be paid to Pets Niagara to offset the costs incurred in performing the background checks. If during the re-homing process, Pets Niagara has a foster home become available to receive your pet and you wish us to take your pet into our sole care no donation requirement will no longer apply as the proper Surrender process would have to be undertaken and any adoption fee paid thereafter would then be paid directly to Pets Niagara as the then legal owner of your pet.


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