Cat Adoptions (homes, stores, used car)

[apanda]

Recently, I have lost my beloved kitty of 5 years. (If you want you can read about that here: Rear Legs)
Our other kitty is now lost, he has never been alone, being the younger of the 2. Well, we have decided that we need to go looking this weekend for a new kitty to keep him company. It is heartbreaking to see him lost and alone. I would like to know of any experiences with the shelters/adoption groups around. I am having a little bit of a hard time as I feel a little weird about someone coming to my home to judge whether or not I am fit to adopt their kitties. Also, with the mine and my husband's schedule's being opposite (great for the new kitty, but though to find time to look), we only have this Sunday to go looking until next weekend, so we would like to make the most of it.

[FLPL75]

Apanda I am so sorry to hear of your loss

We adopted our Lola from animal care and control and there were no home visits involved

When we adopted ralph last year we called in advance and they took all the information with regard to vet and references
You could call a few places and see what their "requirements" are

What I would do is get a letter from your vet stating that you keep you pets up to date with shots and care. This is usually the most important thing to Adoption programs.

I know they have Cat adoptions at Pet smart

[mawipafl]

Sorry apanda for your loss!

I can't comment from personal experience about local shelters and adoption groups, but I can say that although the scrutiny feels strange, we were glad that the agencies we have used cared so much for their animals that they wanted to be assured of the best homes. Knowing that made the "investigations" quite tolerable.

I'm not certain of the Sunday hours for any of the humane societies, shelters, and stores (like Petco for example) who have adoption days. Hopefully someone will post the info here, or in the meantime, maybe you could search the 'net for places in your part of town. We did find our dog through petfinder.com, so that may be a resource for you to check out.

[apanda]

Thank you both. I have been looking on Petfinder. Great resource. I am familiar with adopting from the city, that is where we got our dog, I plan on looking there after Sunday if we have not found a kitty that clicks. It is just that they will not be open on Sunday. Keep the suggestions coming!

@ Karla, I have been in contact with a few rescues just this morning I sent out some emails, I am bent on investigating, we had a bad experience a few years ago with a "rescue" that ended up being a puppy mill. That got cleared up, long story short, we only had 2 weeks of companionship with our puppy. I can only hope we gave him the best 2 weeks of his little life.

[riveree]

So sorry for your loss, Apanda .

I don't have much to add, I like all the suggestions above. The city shelter would be my first choice as those cats are on the fast track to euthanization.

Petfinder can be a good source too with all these people out there needing to rehome their pets right now. Your vet's office would be another source. You can not only tell them you have "an opening", but my vet's offices have a board and a book for animals needing homes right now. Your vet probably has similar listings.

There are some links in this link that you might find helpdul:

Animal Shelters | The Humane Society of the United States

Let us know how it goes and here's a cheer to you for choosing to adopt an animal in need !

[apanda]

Originally Posted by riveree

So sorry for your loss, Apanda .

I don't have much to add, I like all the suggestions above. The city shelter would be my first choice as those cats are on the fast track to euthanization.

Petfinder can be a good source too with all these people out there needing to rehome their pets right now. Your vet's office would be another source. You can not only tell them you have "an opening", but my vet's offices have a board and a book for animals needing homes right now. Your vet probably has similar listings.

There are some links in this link that you might find helpdul:

Animal Shelters | The Humane Society of the United States

Let us know how it goes and here's a cheer to you for choosing to adopt an animal in need !

I thought we had a no-kill shelter! If that is the case, the shelter may be my first stop! I see a lot of kitties (been looking on Petfinder) in the Clay County shelter also. Any ideas if they euthanize or not? Thanks for your input

[riveree]

Originally Posted by apanda

I thought we had a no-kill shelter! If that is the case, the shelter may be my first stop! I see a lot of kitties (been looking on Petfinder) in the Clay County shelter also. Any ideas if they euthanize or not? Thanks for your input

Duval is a kill shelter. Clay and St. Johns have both been no-kill, I believe, but I'm not sure if they still are . Like shelters all across the US, ours here are overwhelmed with the amount of people wishing to drop their pets off with them right now. I read something recently - and I can't remember now for the life of me which one it was - that one of those shelters was trying to stave off euthanization, but they felt they may have to start up again because of the sheer number coming in each day. You'd have to call to check their current status with euthanization.

Since you're going to the shelter, have you heard of Black Cat Syndrome?

Here's some info on Black DOG syndrome (basically the same issue for cats):

Black Dog Syndrome

Here's a thread I started a while back on the subject:

Black Dog Syndrome

No pressure, but please don't overlook the black cats .

[apanda]

I have heard of the black animal issue. Both of my dogs are black (one solid) and I have owned a black cat before and have no issue with them. In fact, I refuse to own another kitty with mostly white fur as it shows up EVERYwhere! Thanks for all your info.

[frisky]

Originally Posted by apanda

I thought we had a no-kill shelter! If that is the case, the shelter may be my first stop! I see a lot of kitties (been looking on Petfinder) in the Clay County shelter also. Any ideas if they euthanize or not? Thanks for your input

The HUMANE SOCIETY is no-kill. The MUNICIPAL SHELTER (Animal Care and Control) does euthanize. However, they try to get the rescue groups to take the animals before euthanasia is their only option. I do dachshund rescue (senior dachshunds only) and the staff at AC&C knows that they should NEVER have to put down a healthy and happy dachshund, simply because of it's age.

Consider a cat close in age to your current pet, apanda. The seniors need homes too and contrary to popular belief, they won't drop dead from old age tomorrow.

[Ryde41]

Sorry to hear about your cat apanda. Sounds like it was an awful thing to go through. Good luck with your kitty adoption.