Posted on 11/25/2022 11:18:13 AM PST by bassmaner
Last year, my aunt-in-law passed away after a long battle with cancer. She had 4 relatively old (13-15 y/o) cats at the time, and unfortunately she did not have a will. She was renting at the time from friends who are now being forced to sell the house, and she had no other living family. The cats are all relatively healthy: they're all spayed/neutered, they're not declawed, and are very well socialized indoor cats. Since the house is nearby, my wife and I have been taking care of the cats: feeding, changing litter, etc (we can't bring them to our house due to allergies and dogs: our dogs are extremely territorial and would not adjust to having feline housemates).
Starting last spring, we have attempted to find homes for the kitties, with the absolute requirement that they be allowed to live out their lives and not be euthanized.
Unfortunately, we have hit a brick wall with this: every single so-called 'rescue' or 'no-kill shelter' has been unable or unwilling to help. In every case, we get the 'it's kitten season' or 'we just don't have space' excuse. This is putting us in an untenable position: we don't want to end up taking them to the local SPCA, where they would waste no time putting them to sleep despite their relatively good health and sweet disposition.
Good ideas. We did get a trap from local SPCA and trapped “Blackie,” gorgeous long-haired boy who really is a wild cat. And we knew where he lived. They neutered him, gave him shots, and brought him back. He comes for crunchies often. Another neighbor leaves crunchies out too.
However, “Louise,” the abandoned, shy, but not wild girl is a bit more difficult. I’ve purchased two nice warm outdoor cat houses for her, but have no clue whether she uses them. I can almost pet her when she comes up on the deck for dinner, If it weren’t so cold now, I could probably coax her into a crate by leaving food in it. But she comes at night, so she’d be stuck there til morning when the vet opens. If my cat didn’t hate her, I would just leave the door open for her. She keeps looking inside with longing, but my Daisy hisses and growls.
I’ll call the SPCA re Louise.
Cat rescues work best when kittens or a bit older, but that old is far more difficult. Unfortunately. If the cats still have claws, you might try a farm place where the farmer will take the cats and they can fend for themselves, rather than being killed. We have cats all the time, love em and spoil them, and I pray for a good solution for you.
Before we decided to bring the feral kittens inside we fed them on the screen porch. Each end of the porch had a door, and we propped them open about one foot with a rock. We learned from a Feral Friends group that they dislike going into a space with only one way in and out; they fear being trapped.
As it got colder in the year, we bought a large dog house at the farmer’s co-op and set it up inside the porch. There’s a plastic heating pad for pets at Amazon and we put it inside. We plugged in into an electric cube that automatically turns on when the temp goes down to a certain temperature.
They wouldn’t use it at first. Then we remembered that there was only one way in, so DH cut a second opening in the opposite wall. They started using it immediately. In the morning we’d find them all cuddled together, warm and cozy.
Then we found big raccoons skulking around and decided to bring in the babies.
There are a number of cat shelters who work to find homes for senior cats with senior people. But they are far and few.
See if you have one in your area by talking to the adopt-a-cat shelters that set up at Pet Smart on weekends.
If that fails, try running free ads on Craigs List. You might get some response. And run the ad to tick all the necessary emotional issues. Like this:
Sweet 10-year-old cat looking for a good home with a caring cat family. Owner died. This is a lovely lap cat with no health issues. Comes with a kitty litter box and a 30-day supply of kibbles. Call now before the cat is gone.
The other option is to load the cats into a cat carry case set up outside of Target or WalMart.
Paint a sign: Free kittens.
The kids will beg mom to bring a cat home.
Good luck.
Kitty ping!
With all due respect...My opinions are generally known as “free speech”...
See post 8?
I volunteer at a shelter/rescue,for cat TNR (trap/neuter/release). Here in Louisiana, our shelters are busting at the seams & they’re running out of space for animals. Most are desperately seeking fosters to take the animals & care for them in home, until they can be adopted. If you can find a shelter in you area that fosters animals for adoption, they usually pay for all costs involved: food, vet care, etc. You just have to care for the animal & meet potential adopters or attend adoption events.
Maybe this is a long shot, but I came across this article A while back about a woman in Canada in the same spot as you with her grandfather’s cat. She ended up starting a non-profit to home elderly folks’ pets when they pass. She has a facebook page (assume she still does). Although she is in Canada, she went through the same issues as you & can possibly provide some insights.
https://www.westernjournal.com/woman-begins-new-nonprofit-aid-pets-whose-owners-near-end-life/
I hope this gives you some useful information
& wish I could help more. You are so very kind to try to care & rehome the cats, bless you. So many others would just dump the cats somewhere & be done with it. I wish you the best of luck!
Fascinating. I live in apartment, so have limited space on deck. Looked at warm mats, but I don’t have an outlet outside. Do have a crate I could cut open on one side, or some nice man in the ‘hood could.
One of those nice men wants to adopt her. He’d done me a few favors when I was in bed with corneal transplant, so I invited him for late afternoon Thanksgiving din yesterday. My Daisy woke up from her nap in bedroom,, came out, walked right. up to him to get petted. Big WOW. First man she wasn’t afraid of. Louise will or could be happy with him, warm and well fed.
I’ve been wondering how the surgery went for you. You posted that Daisy had been a trooper while you recovered.
Maybe things will work out for Louise and your friend in da ‘hood. I get so sad for pets who need a home.
Call 1-800-catgut tennis racket strings
put up a listing on PetHarbor, Petfinder, and/or contact your local vets and ask them if they have referrals to rescues
Just be very careful... there are people who use cats to “train” pitbulls.
I’ll add that all these people telling you to just let the cats “live outside” and “fend for themselves” should be left on a deserted island to fare however they can. These cats would truly be better off taken to the vet and put down in a humane manner if you cannot find someone to adopt them. My truest advice would be, if you have a spare bedroom, take them home and keep them in there where the dogs can’t get them. At least until you find something better.
👍 ... big time.
Even at the note kill shelters, it’s not always good news. I’ve been to some where cats have been living in a cage for years. A pretty small cage. The turnover is extremely low, so check that out if you do find a place that will take them. But that is one reason why many shelters and rescues don’t have room.
Our last four cats have come from a Petsmart program - a local volunteer rescue organization works with them.
Previous to that, I found a wonderful cat by looking in the want-ads. This was before the Internet, so I don’t know how individuals with a litter of kittens advertise them now; but in those days, people would advertise kittens and give them away for free.
Bulletin boards in vet offices are another good idea - lots of people who have had to euthanize their cats will be looking for another one.
If I lived nearby I’d take them. I hope you find a FReeper home for them.
Sorry, the company here that works with volunteer rescue and where we’ve gotten our cats is Petco, not Petsmart.
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