How to Adopt out Cats and Kittens Without the Help of Your Local Shelter

Everyone is full, full. We are clearing the shelters with adoption events, we are debating the merits of fee waived adoptions, and our small programs can’t TNR because we are backlogged with “way station” cats and kittens waiting to find placement.

The wheels stop turning in our community cat machinery this time of year and that isn’t good.  We have tried networking with as many organizations as possible and we hit brick walls.  So now we need to look into another option:  adopt out on our own. On a quick Google search, I couldn’t find any good links on how to adopt our cats and kittens on your own, however, so here are some considerations:

1. Are you allowed to adopt out on your own? Let’s say you represent a small TNR group. In some states, if you aren’t registered as a shelter and you do TNR, adopting out cats might raise a red flag for the state, so you’ll want to be careful. Ask around with other local groups — if this is true in your state, you may want to find folks not connected to your group to help adopt out the cats/kittens.
2. Oh gosh, the adoption process just takes so much time and it isn’t the best use of our time … but we gotta do it.  At the very least, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, however. Check out other organizations that you admire and use their adoption questionnaires to help with screening.
3. Get the word out through Facebook and other social media outlets. Maybe some groups will do courtesy posts for the cats and kittens you have available. Use your own personal networks to help with finding homes for your kitties. Of course, there is also the dreaded Craigslist.  I can tell you, I have a love-hate relationship with this site. I really can’t share an opinion other than be aware and be very careful.
4. Over 50% of folks get their cats and kittens from friends and family. So this process isn’t anything new. You are just going to become part of these statistics. Do your due diligence and be careful.  I would also be very careful about collecting any fees.  Since these are your kitties, adopt them out in a way that makes you feel most comfortable.

Now let’s go back to adopting out through the organizations we depend on most, the adoption centers. Here are a couple of tips that may help “speed-pass” your kitties in:

1. This may seem obvious, but I would get your kitties down on as many wait lists as possible.  Just because a group can’t take your kitty in now, it doesn’t mean that they can’t down the road.
2. Make sure you have excellent paperwork, good pictures and well-written bios. Being well prepared may move you to the top of the list for any adoption program. If your cats/kittens are adoption ready, then you most likely will get to the front of the line.

Each week of every summer is a challenge. The summer bottleneck of cats and kittens is the worst … We need to keep working together to find other solutions to this problem.