Adoptions (was OT: heartbroken)

Susan Hoffman Sat, 13 May 2006 08:34:54 -0700

NOT the shelter. You have to be committed to finding good forever homes. Adoptions are hard work. I understand the temptation to just close up shop and keep the ones you have but if you do that there comes a point when you have to stop taking in anyone new. And there are too many out there whose lives depend on getting into a foster/rescue situation.

I don't do caged petstore adoptions. The cats do not show well unnder those conditions and it just isn't an efficient use of time. Here's what I do:

1. Craigslist.org -- Everyone -- kittens, seniors, special needs -- gets listed on craigslist. There are craigslist boards across the country. Some are more active than others. I'm in the San Francisco area with a very active craigslist and I do most of my adoptions through craigslist. (Also recruit foster homes via craigslist.) Listing is free. Take great photos.

2. Pennysaver and other newspapers -- I'm looking at the Pennysaver newspaper for cats in foster homes in the Sacramento area. That craigslist is less active. A friend in the Los Angeles area has great success with adoptions via the Pennysaver so I'm thinking about using it in Sacramento too.

3. Network -- This is especially helpful with harder-to-place cats. (a) A friend who works at a medical university is posting my epileptic kitten there for adoption. I figure the right home for Connie will be someone who is epileptic or who has an epileptic family member or perhaps has had a dog that is of a breed prone to epilepsy. It will be someone who understands how easily controllable this is. (b) This same friend has an FIV+ foster cat and we are looking for a home together for that cat and an FIV+ Siamese mix who is coming my way. (c) Another friend helped me place a senior 12+ year old Himi last year with a retired couple that she knew.

4. Get creative -- Senior cats are a good fit for seniors and retirees, a population less likely to be online. Find the pet-friendly retirement communities in your area and see if they have a bulletin board where you can list senior cats. Again, take great photos.

5. Online resources -- My FeLV+ girl is now listed online at a couple of places that feature special needs cats. (http://tinyurl.com/o553l) And I'm networking....and getting creative. She's going to be one of the harder to adopt simply because of the stigma still attached to FeLV.

6. Foster homes -- I've cultivated a few foster homes because that way (a) I can take more cats and (b) I can separate out populations. Tiny kittens have no business in my house -- I've seen too much uri and ringwork over the past couple of years -- so they go elsewhere. The FeLV+ girl is in an only-cat foster home. I have another foster home that gets one or two adults who donn't do well in multi-cat situations. I take the ones who have health or socialization issues at my house. Foster homes allow me to take in more animals and to take certain risks that I could not take if all the cats had to come to my house. The cats are better cared for and get more individualized attention this way.

I have to do adoptions. If I don't do adoptions I can't do rescue. I spend my weeks screening potential adopters, clean the house on Saturday, and have approved adopters come primarily on Sunday, though sometimes I can have someone come in the evening during the week if the house is clean enough. (And, yes, I do have a fulltime job and a social/romantic life. I also have a long-suffering roommate who is a bigger softie than me and he helps with these guys.)

So, please, reconsider on keeping them all yourself. There are people who will adopt many of those cats. You just have to rethink your approach to adoptions so you can find those people. As you get cats adopted out you make room to take in others. And a good adoptive home with one or two or three cats in residence and with financial and other resources not stretched so thin is really a better lifetime environment for an animal. They get over me awfully fast when I find them the right forever home. And that is as it should be.

catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Hideyo,

You definitely have way too much on your hands to do adoptions. Maybe you could do a petfinder site though?

I know this sounds cruel......... I don't know how old you are either........... but there comes a time you have to take cats you find like this to a shelter. You can't take them all, and you're too overwhelmed yourself to take in more. :(

t

Hideyo Yamamoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I am so sure that they are adoptable ---and I used to go to adoption clinic every single week a few years ago.. maybe I did adopted out a couple of them during that time.. (I was very very selective as to whom ) but considering the number that I have, considering the amount of time I need to care for the ones I have.. I decided to spend time taking care of them instead of finding a home for one or two in a year or two which will not make much difference in my life..

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan Hoffman
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 5:35 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: OT: heartbroken

Senior and special needs cats are adoptable. It takes longer and you work harder at it but I firmly believe that, somewhere, there's a forever home for every foster cat in my care -- and that forever home is not necessarily me. You just have to really work on finding adoptive homes.

Hideyo Yamamoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I am pretty well connected with the people in the rescue group I know them and they all know about me pretty much.. all the people I know of, they are in some what similar situations as I am they usually find a problem for ME to solve because they know that I will not say NOand they are right.. I never say NO to any cats who need a help and thats why I have what I have ---some are Felk, or FIV, or injured, sick.. I nurture them back to health whenever I can.. and no one wants the cats I have.. but instead they call me if I could take care of the ones they find..

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan Hoffman
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 5:17 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: OT: heartbroken

Where are you located? Perhaps there are other rescue people in your area. Your really must join the freral cat group I referenced in my earlier post. It's a nationwide group with close to 2000 members now.

Hideyo Yamamoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Hi, everyone, please understand I do spay and neuter whenever the opportunity there is I dont even want to tell you how many cats I have with me because its going to freak everyone out but I am saying that I simply dont have a space right now to even temporarily keep them.. I am used up all the crates that I have because I have trapped some moreI might have to catch ten or twenty before I can get the mama, but the meantime, I dont have a place to recover all of them thats my dilemma, otherwise I would have gotten all of them right away.

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan Hoffman
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 5:04 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: heartbroken

Several years ago when I trapped Cutie-Pie's babies one by one and brought them inside, she cried and ran around the house looking for them at first. But when she saw them in my foyer through the screen door she was fine. She knew I had them. (They screamed like crazy for her but she was fine with it.) Cutie-Pie was later trapped and spayed and then returned to my backyard. She is an untouchable feral girl. Now she is a plump plush little feral queen who presides over a colony of herself and 4 neutered feral boys. They live in my backyard and basement, are spoiled rotten (canned and dry food, catnip), and are very happy and safe there. In all these years Cutie has never allowed me the pet her, even once, but she will sit near me when I am outside and blink her eyes at me (throwing kisses).

janine paton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I've also trapped moms using kittens for bait. It's
heartbreaking until you see the mom weeks after the
spay and she looks so much better and relaxed.

Think of it this way - if you didn't try this - the
kittens will get bigger, she will have a harder time
caring for them. They will start wandering and
something could happen to them. She will get pregnant
again and not want that litter anymore.

When I've brought a feral mom in with kittens and mom
sees I'm willing to take care of the kittens, she is
relieved and it's probably the first break she's had
in a long time. I've had mothers who are sick but you
wouldn't even know it until they understand they no
longer have pretend to be fine just because they have
kittens.

I also will show the kittens to the mom when I can but
I always tell her it's OK, her babies are fine.

Take a deep breath and go for the spay - it will make
a big difference in her quality of life.

--- Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> I've done this with kittens and their Momma. I too
> was upset about
> having to put the kittens through the experience,
> but it worked like a
> charm and the kitten did fine. I didn't use all the
> kittens, just the
> strongest guy. If you continue to trap, you'd be
> doing the ferals a
> great service by having them s/n and then returning
> them to the site. I
> know you have problems with the "return" part of
> TNR, but please think
> about it, you would be saving kitties suffering down
> the line.
> Love to you sweetheart,
> Nina
>
> Joan Doljan wrote:
>
> > A good way to catch the mother is to put the
> kittens in a closed
> > carrier directly infront of an opened, baited
> trap.
> >
> > */Hideyo Yamamoto
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>/* wrote:
> >
> > Hi, everyone, I wanted to share a couple of
> new things -
> > I rescued three baby cats yesterday who were
> living under the
> > crawl space of the abandoned house, which is
> now bought and be
> > ready to be renovated.. the new owner was
> planning to get rid of
> > the kittens along with all the kitties who
> live under the crawl
> > space and I offered to take them. The babies
> were actually under
> > the hole under the crawl space which only the
> size of my entire
> > hand and thought I and Kathy (my rescue
> friend) were never going
> > to be able to get them out... but finally
> using a little fish net
> > to get one by one out - they were only 6 weeks
> old, one calico,
> > one tabby and one turtleshell (?) and they are
> all so cute.
> >
> > The one sad thing is that their mama came to
> look for the babies
> > while we were under the crawl space, she was
> so worried about us
> > doing something to the babies.. one time, I
> thought we should just
> > leave and have the mama take care of the
> babies and I worry that
> > later on, she might take babies some other
> crawl space near there
> > (there a few, unfortunately), and people might
> close the crawl
> > space without knowing that they were there..
> the mama came back
> > several times (while we were there as we were
> there for about 5
> > hours).. I felt very bad for mama but I
> decided to take the babies
> > from her..
> >
> > I tried to trap the mama kitty last night but
> I couldn't - there
> > are several kitties there.. I trapped one who
> looked like mama..
> > but she must be from mama's previous litter -
> she is less than a
> > year old..
> >
> > Anyway, I wanted to ask you to pray that I
> will be able to catch
> > mama soon (I probably could, if I don't mind
> catching all other
> > kitties who live there.. but I don't know
> where I could put them
> > now as I am running out of crate) --- and the
> mama will stay safe
> > and she will not be worrying too much about
> their babies. I am
> > heartbroken for the mama -I feel very badly
> for taking the babies
> > from their mama...I know that this is probably
> the right thing..
> > but I still cannot not think about the mama...
> >
> >
> >
>

Adoptions (was OT: heartbroken)

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