# How do you know they're going to a safe home?



## Dannielle100 (May 23, 2011)

Okay, so my kits are only 4 days old now.. (we have 4, I'm DEFINITLEY keeping 2) but I already have people asking me about the other 2. 

What do you look for in a prospective new owner? I'm already sad at the thought of them going, I know here they'll be looked after!

Would it really be ridiculous to keep them all?! Lol xxx


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## Sorcha (Oct 19, 2009)

I think you can never be completely sure about the new home the kittens go to, but I think you can see a lot from the interaction between your cats and the possible new owners when they come to view the kittens. I also think it's good to go and bring the kittens to their new homes. This way you can see with your own eyes where they will come to live.
Good luck with the little ones


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## Amethyst (Jun 16, 2010)

To give them thier best chance, ask a local and reputable cat rescue to rehome them for you. They are experienced, will homecheck, offer rescue back up for the rest of the kittens lives, vaccinate, microchip and either neuter or give help with costs.

Don't re-home them yourself unless you can do all of the above.


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

When it comes to moggies I would take extra steps to make sure their new home is a good one to prevent further accidental mating.

I would ask a new owner if they are prepared to prepay for spaying and provide proof (a receipt for prepayment at the vets) and if you're not going to do the vaccinating yourself (though I would hope you will) then also ask them to prepay and provide proof of doing so for that too.

I think that would be an excellent way of getting a feel for if a new owner would be one that cares enough. These things will have to be paid for not too long after taking the kitten home so it's not that big an ask of people.

Or do what Amethyst suggests, which would be even better.


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## Kirstyx69 (Oct 17, 2009)

I think Aurelia has some good points I would also ask them if they know the basics of cat care. 

I was shopping for mine and a woman asked what age do cats start to eat kitten food from and what kind of things to buy for it, I asked her what kind she was getting she could'nt even tell me if it was male or female.

Also both my cats are from unwanted homes, I hate it when they say "it was a gift for my kid, now they dont want it"


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## Lumboo (Mar 31, 2011)

Unless you actually know the people you would be giving the kittens to I think Amethyst's suggestion would be best. 

However, I would explain to the rescue centre that you will keep the kittens until they find a new home, as this will take the pressure off the centre finding space for them, and having to deprive another needy animal. I also think you should pay the costs for vaccinating, micro-chipping, worming and giving them their flea treatments, as it is not really fair for the already overloaded rescue centre to do this.

However, they would be doing you a favour by ensuring (as far as they can) that your kittens would go to a loving home. They would also ensure the new owners would neuter the kittens when old enough and be able to pester them until they do so. 

This would be my preference if it was me, as at least it would give me some reassurance that the kittens were being looked after. Some people say anything to get their hands on precious kittens/puppies but truly have no idea that 'free to a good home' still means a LOT of expense if you want to look after your pet properly. It is much better to spend a bit of time making sure they get forever homes, and not just homes while they are fluffy kittens, ending up unwanted at 1 years old.

PS. Any photos?


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

Amethyst said:


> To give them thier best chance, ask a local and reputable cat rescue to rehome them for you. They are experienced, will homecheck, offer rescue back up for the rest of the kittens lives, vaccinate, microchip and either neuter or give help with costs.
> 
> Don't re-home them yourself unless you can do all of the above.


I don't want to derail, but I keep reading advice of this nature on here and I wanted to comment on the HUGE difference between the UK and my experience in the US. Although with dogs, rescues are a little more fussy, I have never run into any cat rescue or shelter that homechecks or asks more than the rudimentary questions. Heck, when we adopted our last 2 a week ago, they didn't ask a thing. We could have been taking them home to eat them and they'd never have known! I'm just amazed at the care that goes into finding homes (sometimes maybe a little too much in that someone can't even have a cat if they live near a road) for cats there, whereas in the states, it's just a cat


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## Dannielle100 (May 23, 2011)

Here they are 

I think I will go down the route of a rescue home then, I am going to look at getting them neutered and spayed before they are rehomed, most definitley vaccinated. 

I really want to keep them all, they already mean so much to me!!! It's going to be heartbreaking when they go :nonod:

One woman said to me that she'd heard I had kittens available, but when I said that they wouldn't be available until mid/end of september when they were 12 weeks, she argued the point with me, saying that I should let them go at 6/8 weeks when 'they're all fluffy and tiny, people won't want them at 12 weeks, they're too big!' so what, does that mean that if I let you have a kitten, when he/she turns 12 weeks, you suddenly won't want them?! Lets just say, she won't be having a kitten!

At least if they're with me, they'll be with me because I love them, not because they're 'cute and fluffy'!! xx


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## Cat_Crazy (Jul 15, 2009)

Never let them go before 12 weeks (13 if you are doing both vaccines).
That will put off a lot of idiots straight away as they want them tiny and don't realise how important it is for them to stay longer.

Try and find a vet that will early neuter before they leave, again putting off all the people who want to breed the cat.

Ask people questions about cat care, what will they be feeding etc. You will get a general idea of how they will treat the cat then. Make sure you soak about litter trays as an adult. I knew one person who re-homed her cat as she thought only kittens had litter trays and that adult cats should use the loo outdoors.

If they have children find out how they will stop the child hurting the kitten and how they will react if the child gets scratched. Again there was a kiten handed into rescue (and called feral) simply because it scratched a child who pulled it's tail! The parents felt the kitten was in the wrong 

Make sure people sign a contract, fill it full of scary rules like 'I have the right to re-possess the kitten at any time if the appropriate care standards are not being met' etc. Not always enforcable but THEY don't know that and it makes people think twice about if they can agree to that.

Micro-chip the kittens IN YOUR NAME, you can add the new owners onto the chip as a second contact also but always keep your details registered to it that way if the kitten ever ends up lost, in a rescue or a vets etc. you will be contacted and can do something about it.

Baically if you put people off a little and they still want the kitten you are on to a good start, the idiots that get cute kittens and then get bored want to phone you and come and get the kitten straight away. Any waiting time or hoops to jump through will mean they move on to someone else as they don't want to wait. These are the people you want to avoid.

I make a point with rescue kittens of never letting someone come and view the same day they phone, I make an appointment for a few days time giving them time to think about it / lose interest etc. before coming. I often say (I am busy this week sorry call back on Wednesday) and then if they don't call back it clearly the kitten is not important enough to them. 

Also do not let them take the kitten home the same day they visit, when faced with cute little kittens people go into 'I want it now' mode. If you send them away and ask them to return the week after then only the people who are prepared to wait for the right kitten will return.

I always use the final vet check as an excuse for this.

Ask people to bring a carrier to collect, one idiot turned up to my house to collect a rescue kitten with a cardboard box 
Not only was he sent away but he didn't get a kitten, if they are prepared to let the kitten travel un-safely then what other risks are they prepared to expose the kitten to.

I sound very very strict and I am proberly too strict, a lot of people will not agree with this but being in rescue I have seen some APPAULING things and it makes you very cynical and untrusting of other people. I would rather piss off 10 genuine people and get rid of the 1 non-genuine at the same time then risk one of my kittens going to that 1 non-genuine person.


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## Dannielle100 (May 23, 2011)

Thankyou so much, that is great advice. 

And I especially agree with the 'making them wait' idea, that way I'll know they are genuinely interested, when we went to collect Albie, we had only rung up about her that morning. It was 10 pound a kitten, and luckily she was the last one, or I would have taken them all, they were living in squalor  and the mum blatantly was being used to breed constantly. I asked to see the mother, but apparently, 'she was in the vets'. 

I was surprised Albie got a full, clean bill of health when we took her to the vets that afternoon for a check.

x


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## K337 (May 20, 2011)

Oops same here :hand:



Cat_Crazy said:


> Also do not let them take the kitten home the same day they visit, when faced with cute little kittens people go into 'I want it now' mode. If you send them away and ask them to return the week after then only the people who are prepared to wait for the right kitten will return.


All of the above is such great advice but I feel a bit bad now about breaking this one myself (as the one visiting the kitten, not the breeder). I went to see 6 week old girl kittens, with the intention of bringing them home at around 6/8 weeks later. But there were two 14 week old boys that were available and I just couldn't resist :w00t: Totally suckered into the 'I want it now' mode :nonod: but at least I did spend the time getting carriers etc and went into full research mode straight away (including on the BB while debating the kittens over lunch) so at least it had a happy ending this time.
I'm a reformed cat slave since I joined this forum and learnt so much more :blush:

Personally I find 6-8week old kittens absolutely adorable, but so small that I worry about them being hurt. The 14 week old kittens are still adorable but are now strapping youngsters that look like they could handle house life so much better. Hopefully their new slaves are worryworts - they make the best slaves :001_tongue:


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## Guest (Jul 5, 2011)

If you go down the rescue rehoming route check the individual branches way of rehoming as the well known rescue I got mine from turned up with the kittens on the home check and never looked further than the kitchen and just seemed interested in the money :nonod:


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## Gratch (Aug 22, 2010)

My lot are 16 weeks this Thursday and the boys have their big boy faces now though Simi is a little fuzzball babyface girl. I had initially intended to keep one, and one each were to go to my granddads but we had one more than expected so we said we'd keep two. But I fell in love and couldn't let them go. It might happen to you  Took me a while to get OH used to the idea and there is a mixed bag of regrets and happiness but there ya go. We let them be brought into the world, it's our duty to protect them in whichever way deemed right. I wish you the best of luck whatever way you go, though putting them to a rescue does sound like it would place unnecessary strain on the already overfull rescues and further limiting the chance of older cats getting chosen, which is a criticism a lot of accidental pregnancies come under. My advice would be, advertise them to go together, to a settled home and charge a fee for them. Again, best of luck


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

dagny0823 said:


> I don't want to derail, but I keep reading advice of this nature on here and I wanted to comment on the HUGE difference between the UK and my experience in the US. Although with dogs, rescues are a little more fussy, I have never run into any cat rescue or shelter that homechecks or asks more than the rudimentary questions. Heck, when we adopted our last 2 a week ago, they didn't ask a thing. We could have been taking them home to eat them and they'd never have known! I'm just amazed at the care that goes into finding homes (sometimes maybe a little too much in that someone can't even have a cat if they live near a road) for cats there, whereas in the states, it's just a cat


I live in the USA and the shelters in my area require an extensive application form to be filled out with references, landlord (if renting) and vet, and they check these references. There is often a wait of up to two weeks from the time the application process is started until the adopted animal goes home.

I know quite a few people also in various parts of the USA who work in rescue and fostering and shelters, and their organizations also have stringent requirements.

Sadly, I know not all places are so thorough, but I wanted to point out that rescues and shelters vary every where, sweeping generalizations like that are not accurate.

PS to the op, you've received excellent advice that I have nothing to add to, good luck to the babies.


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

lorilu said:


> Sadly, I know not all places are so thorough, but I wanted to point out that rescues and shelters vary every where, sweeping generalizations like that are not accurate.


Sorry if I offended and I didn't intend a sweeping generalization--I did say in my experience. I've filled out long applications, but nobody checked a thing on them, not landlord, not references, not the vet either. I've been listed as a reference for friends and never been contacted. And nobody ever suggested coming to my home. And this would be in two different states, 4 different towns and 4 different agencies. I'm not sure what's better sometimes, though. It seems like lovely people on here get turned down for arbitrary reasons because some rescuers are too overzealous (too near a road, will let cat out, won't let cat out, has a child, has a dog......).

Anyway to the OP, best of luck with them, and maybe you'll find that you just want to keep them now that you're attached.


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## gloworm*mushroom (Mar 4, 2011)

I took both my kittens home the first day I saw them. I had had email and phone contact with the breeders beforehand and was at the house when I got Gloworm for about 3 hours!

In answer to the OP, you don't know they are going to a good home. Nobody can ever truly know. If I had some mog kittens I would possibly look to find somewhere that did early neuters and have them neutered before they went to a new home, and incorporate that into the price.

Neutering is the biggest issue in my opinion, as remember its the lack of neutering which ended up in this situation in the first place. I would feel it was my job to make sure that this particular line of kittens stops with you....


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## honeysmummy (Oct 17, 2010)

Dannielle100 said:


> Here they are
> 
> I think I will go down the route of a rescue home then, I am going to look at getting them neutered and spayed before they are rehomed, most definitley vaccinated.
> 
> ...


You have just warmed my heart with that post....


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## honeysmummy (Oct 17, 2010)

Hopefully you will not ever have to go through it again 
Cannot imagine bonding with them and then having to let them go.
So pleased that you are letting them go in the right way

Kelly xx


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## Dannielle100 (May 23, 2011)

Thanks Kelly xx

They've started opening their eyes now, and going to be developing little personalities soon. I keep making excuses when people ask about them.. even when I know they would make great owners! 

I still have a while anyway, they were a week yesterday, and I'm hoping that they can warm my hubbys heart too, and he'll let me keep them all! xx


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## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

'I dont get that they are still tiny and fluffy at 12weeks? whats wrong with people? Do they not realise that they will grow up?

Only thing you can do is ask lots of questions and Always trust your gut instinct


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## Lumboo (Mar 31, 2011)

Taylorbaby said:


> 'I dont get that they are still tiny and fluffy at 12weeks? whats wrong with people? Do they not realise that they will grow up?
> 
> Only thing you can do is ask lots of questions and Always trust your gut instinct


Judging from the number of 4-10 month old kittens I recently saw in the rescue centre, they are obviously past their sell by 16 weeks!


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## jenny armour (Feb 28, 2010)

alot of it i think is intuition, you get a feel for some people, having said that i have known breeders to be wrong, i think its just a risk you sometimes have to take when selling loved kittens to another home


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Lumboo said:


> Judging from the number of 4-10 month old kittens I recently saw in the rescue centre, they are obviously past their sell by 16 weeks!


Often the problem is that people don't want to put the time in to teach a kitten of that age how to behave. A four month old to ten month kitten will go and go and go and go. S/he bites and scratches in play, and gets into mischief if not given enough attention.

People don't want to spend the hours every day playing with the kitten and teaching her how to sheath her claws and control her biting, so they decide the kitten is "too wild" or "too aggressive" and off the baby goes to a shelter, or worse, dumped on the street.

A kitten kept with mother and litter mates until 3 months is much less likely to have the biting and scratching problems, but s/he still needs interactive play from the human several times a day, every day, to become adequately socialized.

This is much on my mind right now because many pet forums seem flooded with these types of threads lately. Hopefully they are heeding the advice they are given about structured interactive play and how to train against biting and scratching. But many are just too lazy to do it. 

<edit> to keep this post on topic, to the OP it is important when screening potential adopters that you make sure they understand this. Perhaps write up a "Kitten Instruction Sheet" with "what to expect" as far as the energy and attention needs of the kitten, training tips, and ideas on Games to play with the kittens, type of scratchers kitten will need, (something to jump and climb on for example) and stuff like that. Keep it short and interesting, to increase the likelihood they will read it.


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