Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi All,
We are a non profit TNR (trap, neuter or spay, and release) for feral cats in our community.  We are not a rescue group or have a facility to house cats/kittens long term.  However,  many times we get calls about feral kittens in danger or just too many of them so we take them in.  With it being kitten season, we are getting so many calls every day.  We recently took in 14 kittens,  plus we have 8 from a previous call and another handful we would like to help.  Our policy is to spay or neuter before we adopt cats/kittens out.  We are however very full and want to get the kittens into homes while they are still little and cute.  Is there a way that has proven successfully to adopt them out and still ensure that new owners get the kittens fixed?  Perhaps a contract, or increased fee that is returned after proof of spay or neuter?  

Thank you for any suggestions

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
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Our Humane Society used to have people sign a contract but we no longer do that because too many people kept not getting it done. Now, another humane society I foster for does a foster to adopt arrangement & they go into foster to adopt once weaned. Although there have even been some people who wanted to take them as bottle babies if they are orphaned.  The vet at that humane society won't do surgery until the kittens are at least &y]_&though so this is what she came up with in order to & know to bring the kitten back for their 2nd vaccine & surgery. The appointment is made for a surgery date before the kitten leaves the shelter & the adopters function as fosters. The adoption is finalized after surgery. 

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Austen Musil
Foster
Rescue One
Springfield
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Thank you for the info.  I think this is the best way for us to be able to get more kittens into homes and bonding with their new people.  

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-05-2023 02:51 AM
From: Austen Musil
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

Our Humane Society used to have people sign a contract but we no longer do that because too many people kept not getting it done. Now, another humane society I foster for does a foster to adopt arrangement & they go into foster to adopt once weaned. Although there have even been some people who wanted to take them as bottle babies if they are orphaned.  The vet at that humane society won't do surgery until the kittens are at least &y]_&though so this is what she came up with in order to & know to bring the kitten back for their 2nd vaccine & surgery. The appointment is made for a surgery date before the kitten leaves the shelter & the adopters function as fosters. The adoption is finalized after surgery. 

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Austen Musil
Foster
Rescue One
Springfield
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This is what our humane society that we work closely with also does.  We have been following their model of the foster to adopt method and it seems to be working well.  Thank you for your insight. 

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-05-2023 02:51 AM
From: Austen Musil
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

Our Humane Society used to have people sign a contract but we no longer do that because too many people kept not getting it done. Now, another humane society I foster for does a foster to adopt arrangement & they go into foster to adopt once weaned. Although there have even been some people who wanted to take them as bottle babies if they are orphaned.  The vet at that humane society won't do surgery until the kittens are at least &y]_&though so this is what she came up with in order to & know to bring the kitten back for their 2nd vaccine & surgery. The appointment is made for a surgery date before the kitten leaves the shelter & the adopters function as fosters. The adoption is finalized after surgery. 

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Austen Musil
Foster
Rescue One
Springfield
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Hi Natalie! I work at a non-profit shelter with lots and lots of cats, and I hope I'm giving you the right information.
We try to foster out the very young kittens so that they are not in the high-traffic shelter environment where they might be stressed and more prone to getting sick, as well as for socialization. They are returned to us around 8-10 weeks and are put up for adoption once they clear their intake protocol. Our spay/neuter protocol is to do surgery at 3-4 months, so a person interested in adopting a young kitten is technically "foster to adopt" until after sterilization surgery is completed. The dates for vaccines and surgery are set as soon as the kitten is returned to us, and those dates are given to the potential adopters.  They do leave us a deposit, which is refunded at the time of surgery (which seems to be a decent incentive to make sure they come back). Hope this helps!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
=^..^=
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This is very helpful.  Thank you for the information.  What amount of deposit do you hold if you do not mind me asking? 

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-06-2023 09:34 AM
From: Kirsten Cianci
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

Hi Natalie! I work at a non-profit shelter with lots and lots of cats, and I hope I'm giving you the right information.
We try to foster out the very young kittens so that they are not in the high-traffic shelter environment where they might be stressed and more prone to getting sick, as well as for socialization. They are returned to us around 8-10 weeks and are put up for adoption once they clear their intake protocol. Our spay/neuter protocol is to do surgery at 3-4 months, so a person interested in adopting a young kitten is technically "foster to adopt" until after sterilization surgery is completed. The dates for vaccines and surgery are set as soon as the kitten is returned to us, and those dates are given to the potential adopters.  They do leave us a deposit, which is refunded at the time of surgery (which seems to be a decent incentive to make sure they come back). Hope this helps!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
=^..^=
------------------------------

Our deposit is $100 out of our $250 adoption fee for kittens under 6 months old. They pay the last $150 of the fee at adoption. We also if the adopters ask send some new photos or videos of the kitten along the way until the adopter is able to take them home.

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Karen Hunter
Foster parent and board member
Wells Calley Cat Rescue
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-07-2023 11:24 AM
From: Natalie Davis
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

This is very helpful.  Thank you for the information.  What amount of deposit do you hold if you do not mind me asking? 

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 05-06-2023 09:34 AM
From: Kirsten Cianci
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

Hi Natalie! I work at a non-profit shelter with lots and lots of cats, and I hope I'm giving you the right information.
We try to foster out the very young kittens so that they are not in the high-traffic shelter environment where they might be stressed and more prone to getting sick, as well as for socialization. They are returned to us around 8-10 weeks and are put up for adoption once they clear their intake protocol. Our spay/neuter protocol is to do surgery at 3-4 months, so a person interested in adopting a young kitten is technically "foster to adopt" until after sterilization surgery is completed. The dates for vaccines and surgery are set as soon as the kitten is returned to us, and those dates are given to the potential adopters.  They do leave us a deposit, which is refunded at the time of surgery (which seems to be a decent incentive to make sure they come back). Hope this helps!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
=^..^=

We also started as a TNVR organization and have grown into a rescue out of need. When we started, we tried this approach but some people would actually argue with us afterwards when it was time to spay and it was extremely stressful on us trying to make sure the kitten was spayed. Contracts are really not very legally defensible unfortunately. We spay and neuter at 2 lb and adopt out after surgery. We are inundated with kittens too and are getting 15 sterilized this weekend. But we can't take any chances with sending home an unaltered cat and continuing the population crisis. 

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Amanda Gray
Truly All Cats Trapping and Rescue
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We are a small foster based rescue. We bring kittens to our adoption events after the kittens have had their first FVRCP around 7-8 weeks. We let people deposit them at that time when they are still very cute and small. The kittens then go back to their foster home until they are altered and given a rabies vaccine and second FVRCP at 12 weeks.  We have tried to let adopters
take kittens earlier but they tend to not follow up with the rabies vaccines and altering. This allows the kittens to be spoken for earlier on in their process but does limit our intake because we have less than 10 foster homes.

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Karen Hunter
Foster parent and board member
Wells Calley Cat Rescue
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Consider foster to adopt. They finalize adoption AFTER the surgery. This has worked well for us since we started using it during the pandemic.

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Monica Gardner
Executive Director
Humane Society of Waupaca County
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There are so many cats out there! So our rescue does adopt out at 8 weeks when they are ready and healthy. We have them sign a contract saying they will bring them back for s/n. We only had a small handful that decided to do it on their own but they did provide proof. But the contract is the way to go! 

All our cats go home with at least 1 FVRCP vaccine, flea treatment, combo test for FIV & Felv, microchip, and a dose of deworming. We always tell new owners there might be a chance they might see worms again to contact us for more deworming and they pay a small fee for it. 

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Jessica D.
Founder of The Furry Paws Foster Inn
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My old shelter would have people foster to adopt in these situations. We had a much shorter (one page) application for these folks since they wouldn't be fostering regularly with us. 

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Marilyn Wheaton
Client Services
AnimalsFirst
Leesburg VA
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Although we are a TNR group and don't do adoptions, we transfer our kittens to other rescues and shelters that adopt them out.  They are all altered before adoption. During Covid, I do know of a smaller progressive shelter that did adopt without being altered, but they had the staff to follow up with all adopters and had a clinic on site. Their success rate was well over 90% for getting all the cats and kittens fixed, for those who were adopted intact. Counter that with our county shelter who hands out vouchers with intact dogs and cats, and out of the most recent 224 animals adopted, 11 were altered within 6 months, with up to a year wait for those vouchers to be scheduled. 

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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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We are also a TNR group and rarely do adoptions like you.  However, the the flux of kittens this time of year we have had many to find homes for and rescues and shelters full.  Being a very small group we find ourselves very busy.  I have taken some advice from this post and cam up with a system that seems to be working well.  Thank you for your insight as it is most helpful.

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[Natalie] [Davis]
[Treasurer]
[Bannock Feral Friends]
[Pocatello] [ID]
[619-647-9264]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-19-2023 05:07 PM
From: Karen Jealous (She/her/hers)
Subject: Adopting Kittens out before spay or neuter?

Although we are a TNR group and don't do adoptions, we transfer our kittens to other rescues and shelters that adopt them out.  They are all altered before adoption. During Covid, I do know of a smaller progressive shelter that did adopt without being altered, but they had the staff to follow up with all adopters and had a clinic on site. Their success rate was well over 90% for getting all the cats and kittens fixed, for those who were adopted intact. Counter that with our county shelter who hands out vouchers with intact dogs and cats, and out of the most recent 224 animals adopted, 11 were altered within 6 months, with up to a year wait for those vouchers to be scheduled. 

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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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We use a spay/neuter addendum and then we make the appointment with our vet (agreeing on a date with adopter) before they are adopted. Then, we follow up to ensure it's done on said date. It's a little bit more work, but it's really not terrible, when you consider the alternative! 

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Lindsey Kelly
Volunteer / Board Member
Maggie's Mission Rescue
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We are also a high volume TNR group but we don't do adoptions, and transfer all our kittens to shelter partners instead.
But in the early years during the pandemic, when capacity was just starting up again, we had a couple fosters who would make the S/N appointments at a vet and take them there for their appointments. They would be picked up by the adopter who would pay the bill. 
You could be creative perhaps with some vet partners of yours who would appreciate the business and potentially a new forever client and also ensure they are fixed before they end up in with their families.

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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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