My family wants to add a kitten to our lives. We have two dogs and are homing our son's young cat for a year. We own our own home, our youngest child is 16, all our pets are neutered/spayed and up to date on health care and vaccinations, but I keep having "issues" with Humane Societies, shelters, rescues, etc!
One accidentally adopted our kitten to someone else after we had waited two weeks for it, another turned us down because one of our dogs is a chow mix (it is NOT an aggressive dog), another because we lived in a different county.
I would like to support the local shelters and rescues, but am getting worn out.
We have a record as responsible pet owners, and these shelters claim these pets need to be saved, rescued, rehomed...but the way they are treating us is making us think "pet shop"..
Do you think we are automatically a "bad risk" because we have a dog that may have some chow in his backround? We adopted him from a shelter 5 years ago, and his parentage is uncertain.
Opal2008-06-29T22:35:59Z
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We got our cat at a farm, for free! The people that gave her to us were very nice about it too. You could get a cat at a pet shop, the cats there are very cute. You could also look for signs about kittens for sale. Many people at work have kittens that they want to go to good homes, you could ask your coworkers if they heard news about kittens on sale. Even though you have had troubles with shelters and humane societies you could try again, maybe in a different city or town.
Out of experience I would say to bring your dog into the shelter when you go look for a cat or kitten. Let them see how your dog reacts to the cats. Chows do have a bad reputation in society as they are known to be aggressive. If you take your dog with you to look at cats. And the dog does well with the cats. That should be proof enough to them at the shelter. If you do get a cat or kitten from a shelter. The shelter will vaccinate the cat and you will have the cat spayed or neutered if it's old enough. If it's a kitten, you can make arrangements for the it to be fixed at a later date.
Most nursing cats will willingly take on a few more! Of course, not all of them do it, but you should certainly give it a try. Rub the new kittens with your cats scent, by first rubbing her, and then transferring that scent to the new kittens before putting them with her. I have had a mother cat take on a new, unknown kitten.Cats have even been known to nurse squirrels as well as other little animals as well, so there should not be a problem. Have the kitten owner stay for a while, just to see if your cat is going to accept the kittens, it should only take a few minutes to know.
Thats a real shame because so many cats are put down every year because they can't find homes. Surely a caring home is better than being put to sleep! I personaly got my cat from a pet shop but I didn't know much about where to get cats from at the time, as much as I adore her if I had known more I would not have bought a cat from a pet shop.
I would suggest looking in the free ads. Alot of people offer cats free to good homes and essentially they are in the same predicament as a cat in a rescue shelter its just the owner of the cat that gave birth is being socially responsible finding homes for the kittens.
I'm not telling you to lie but just don't be all telling when they ask to list all your pets! You best know your pets short comings and their personalities! so you know what to say and what not to say! come on! they are not going to coming knocking on your door! they may call! I adopted a young cat about a six weeks ago form Petsmart and the rescue had called about once a week for the first four weeks but it seems to have stopped now! truth is the little devil was hard to acclimate but she has come around and now is Queen of the house! and puts everyone else in their place! (:-)
But I didn't spell out the ABC's of the house and my pets! I don't think they would have let me have her! but she fits right in I just had to be patient and she came around! I'm not one to say no it's not working either. I just let her find her own space and everyone has their pecking order in tack now!
Try the Rescues or shelter again! you might get someone else today that won't be asking so many questions! alot depends on the person your dealing with too!
Good Luck on finding a kitten! there are so many that need good homes!