Listen to My Kitty Predicament...

[chrrycolalola]

I guess I just need to vent a little bit about my recent cat fiasco....
I have always been a huge cat lover, for me the world begins and ends with cats ( you can probably tell by my signature ). I share a house with my mother, I own one beautiful kitty and she owned 2...this was until her 7y/o persian got out of the house and got pregnant . She should have been spayed, but since she was a house cat I guess my mother didn't stress this too much. We were actually excited about this because, well we love cats and were willing to welcome a few more kitties into the house. Sunshine (my mother's cat) ended up having 3 kittens this past July, since it wasn't a large litter and because we love them so darn much, we kept all of them.

So...here's where the trouble starts. At this point we had 6 cats in the entire house, a lot for some people...but not too crazy for us cat ladies. About a month ago my fiance and I stopped into a local pizzeria to pick up some food. This place had it's doors open and as soon as I looked inside I saw a beautiful cat. Thinking that the cat belonged to the owners, I went up and petted her...by far the sweetest cat in the world. Well, turns out that she doesn't belong to anyone there and within minutes the workers were literally kicking the cat out onto the very busy local street. I couldn't let this happen, and I knew that by the time a shelter was called to pick her up...she would be long gone, or worse. So, I decided to step in and take the cat for the time being. She had such a wonderful personality that she let me just pick her up and put her in the car ( without any box or carrier). She sat next to me the entire ride home, purring and being absolutely calm. I brought her home with the intentions of taking her to a shelter on the weekend. The cat was clearly starved, so I knew that for the time being she needed somewhere warm to sleep and some good food. It was when I brought her home and "temporarily" set her up in my office that I realized for a starved cat she had a pretty big belly. Low and behold 2 days later I wake up to feed her and there are now 5 more kitties in the room. I wasn't too suprised, because things like this always happen when I do something good lol! Now I made the decision that I couldn't send this wonderful cat and her kittens that were only a few hours old to a shelter where god knows what would happen. I decided to keep "JoJo" and her beautiful kittens until they were all old and healthy enough to go to good homes.

The kittens are know 4 weeks old and what I feared most is happening, I've fallen in love with them The kittens and JoJo are so wonderful that it breaks my heart to have to think of giving them up to someone or somewhere that might not care for them properly. It turns out that JoJo, the stray is at least half persian ( she is a beautiful calico with long shiny hair, but my guess is that since I found her on the street and no one ever came forward to claim her, she must be some sort of mix...some people are so cruel bc she was definately a house cat at some point, she is far to loving and sweet to people to have been raised on the street) The thing is that her babies for the most part look like full persians, beautiful long hair, short full bodies and full round heads....adorable! ...But as you can all see I'm way too attached, I'm gone for at least 11 hours a day and so is my fiance...my mother is in her 60s,needs hip replacement and just can't care for an additional 6 cats while I'm gone. I'm at the point now where I just don't know what to do, I was really trying to do a good deed but it is just too much of a hectic situation to be permanent.

 

[chrissyk]

Call all of the no-kill rescue organizations in your area and beg them to foster this mom and her kittens. Someone will say yes if you just keep trying. If worst comes to worst, can you just keep them in one room with food, water, bedding, litterbox, etc. until the kittens are 10-12 weeks old and then find homes for them? We fostered 2 rescue kittens this past spring...it was hard to say goodbye to them when they went to the forever homes, but I feel good knowing that they are so loved and wanted.

 

[dmslush]

Yes, start calling no kill shelters soon. It won't be long until all of your cats start breeding and you will end up with dozens of inbred (sp?) cats. Trust me, I know! I had three or four little strays that I was feeding outside, they started breeding, and kept breeding. At times, there would be upwards of twenty cats. It was a horrible cycle, and it only ended when we had the shelter pick them up.

You may also want to look into assistance programs to help you spay and neuter the ones that you want to keep.

 

[Rhonda922]

I would want to keep all of them. There's just no way I could let go of them. I love my kitties (I have three). I always ask DH if we can get more. If you have to take them to a shelter, please make sure it's a no-kill. Or, you can also try putting up a sign and/or pictures at your vet's office. At least that way, people who bring their own cats to the vet will see your notice. I have to admit though that it breaks my heart thinking of them in one of those cages at the shelter.

 

[sleepyone]

I just adopted two 5 month old kittens (sisters ) from VAP (Volunteers for Animal Protection) at my local Pet Smart. You could call Pet Smart and ask about their program.

ETA: They make sure the cats they adopt out get spayed or neutered and are up on vaccines, etc. I had to fill out an application and answer lots of questions about the type of home the kitties would have. Hope that makes you feel a little better. The cats were in a cage at the store but, they were let out of the cages to play each day in the room behind. On Saturdays and Sundays, people can bring in their pet and stay with them while they wait for them to be adopted.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We recently adopted 2 half grown kittens to make us a 4 cat family (plus 2 dogs and 4 kids...). I agree--call the no kill shelters in your area. There's a decent chance that you (or they) can find a home for the kittens. Put the word out to everyone you know just in case they want a kitten. Finding a home for the mom kitty will be harder. Is there anyway that you'd be willing to keep her, especially knowing what a good cat she is?

 

[chrrycolalola]

Thank you everyone for your ideas. I will start to call shelters soon and most likely check with our local Petco. But I just can't deal with the idea of them growing up in a cage. If I'm able to, I would like to keep them all until the kitties are at least 8 weeks and then find people willing to adopt them...it's a lot of work, but I feel much better knowing that they are in a warm home until they find their permanent families. I know that placing the mommy cat will be the hardest, because although she is beautiful and young, people don't adopt older cats too often. I would keep her, but she is the type of cat that absolutely loves being around people and I'm gone for so often during the day that she doesn't get the kind of attention that she deserves. Thank you everyone, I'll post some pictures soon for everyone to see

 

[sleepyone]

I thought of something else. When I took my kitties to the vet, I noticed a bulletin board with flyers of "free kittens", and there was one for an older cat too. Maybe you could put up a flyer at the vet's office. Just another idea.