Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Such a great question as I struggle with this as well.  Kittens are adorable at that "kitten stage" but too young to adopt.  At 2 lbs they can be spay/neutered, but I still struggle with 2 lbs.  The issue I find is letting them be adopted before spay/neutered is a risk of them not getting fixed.  I'm working on a follow up plan for kittens adopting  to good homes before spay/neuter.  I'm going to follow up with a schedule date, and pick up the kitten for the appointment.  I know it's a step many may not be able to do, but I'm going to try it. 

Following to see what everyone is doing!

Such a great question as I struggle with this as well.  Kittens are adorable at that "kitten stage" but too young to adopt.  At 2 lbs they can be spay/neutered, but I still struggle with 2 lbs.  The issue I find is letting them be adopted before spay/neutered is a risk of them not getting fixed.  I'm working on a follow up plan for kittens adopting  to good homes before spay/neuter.  I'm going to follow up with a schedule date, and pick up the kitten for the appointment.  I know it's a step many may not be able to do, but I'm going to try it. 

Following to see what everyone is doing!

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

I'm such a big fan of pre-adoption! My previous shelter pre-adopted out the vast majority of our neonates from foster. We made them available at 6 weeks and scheduled pickup based on their anticipated surgery date. We emphasized with adopters that the surgery date was estimated and that a number of factors could delay surgery. We had protocols for contacting adopters: ehen to reach out, what to say, what their options were, etc. when surgery was delayed.  That made it relatively smooth. Most adopters waited, some picked another kitten. 

I encourage you to question whether you're delaying surgery based on legitimate increased risk or your own perception of risk. I absolutely understand the feeling that these surgeries are risky. The kittens are so tiny! But the data clearly show that these are safe surgeries when kittens are healthy and age-appropriate protocols are followed. I think this is one of those things it's important to challenge ourselves on, because delaying surgeries inevitably means fewer kittens being able to come through your program. So there's a very real risk of waiting. 

I'd be happy to chat more about my shelter's pre-adoption program or how we made decisions around risk if it would be helpful. 

Such a great question as I struggle with this as well.  Kittens are adorable at that "kitten stage" but too young to adopt.  At 2 lbs they can be spay/neutered, but I still struggle with 2 lbs.  The issue I find is letting them be adopted before spay/neutered is a risk of them not getting fixed.  I'm working on a follow up plan for kittens adopting  to good homes before spay/neuter.  I'm going to follow up with a schedule date, and pick up the kitten for the appointment.  I know it's a step many may not be able to do, but I'm going to try it. 

Following to see what everyone is doing!

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

I'm such a big fan of pre-adoption! My previous shelter pre-adopted out the vast majority of our neonates from foster. We made them available at 6 weeks and scheduled pickup based on their anticipated surgery date. We emphasized with adopters that the surgery date was estimated and that a number of factors could delay surgery. We had protocols for contacting adopters: ehen to reach out, what to say, what their options were, etc. when surgery was delayed.  That made it relatively smooth. Most adopters waited, some picked another kitten. 

I encourage you to question whether you're delaying surgery based on legitimate increased risk or your own perception of risk. I absolutely understand the feeling that these surgeries are risky. The kittens are so tiny! But the data clearly show that these are safe surgeries when kittens are healthy and age-appropriate protocols are followed. I think this is one of those things it's important to challenge ourselves on, because delaying surgeries inevitably means fewer kittens being able to come through your program. So there's a very real risk of waiting. 

I'd be happy to chat more about my shelter's pre-adoption program or how we made decisions around risk if it would be helpful. 

Such a great question as I struggle with this as well.  Kittens are adorable at that "kitten stage" but too young to adopt.  At 2 lbs they can be spay/neutered, but I still struggle with 2 lbs.  The issue I find is letting them be adopted before spay/neutered is a risk of them not getting fixed.  I'm working on a follow up plan for kittens adopting  to good homes before spay/neuter.  I'm going to follow up with a schedule date, and pick up the kitten for the appointment.  I know it's a step many may not be able to do, but I'm going to try it. 

Following to see what everyone is doing!

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

I love this, Karen!

FYI: The UC-Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program recommends "spaying/neutering shelter kittens is as early as 6 weeks old or at a robust weight of 1.5 pounds." Of course, not all veterinarians are comfortable with this-but that's likely to change over time, as the veterinary community recognizes the high value/low risk.

https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/resources/recommendation-spay-neuter-healthy-kittens-at-6-weeks-1-5-pounds

I'm such a big fan of pre-adoption! My previous shelter pre-adopted out the vast majority of our neonates from foster. We made them available at 6 weeks and scheduled pickup based on their anticipated surgery date. We emphasized with adopters that the surgery date was estimated and that a number of factors could delay surgery. We had protocols for contacting adopters: ehen to reach out, what to say, what their options were, etc. when surgery was delayed.  That made it relatively smooth. Most adopters waited, some picked another kitten. 

I encourage you to question whether you're delaying surgery based on legitimate increased risk or your own perception of risk. I absolutely understand the feeling that these surgeries are risky. The kittens are so tiny! But the data clearly show that these are safe surgeries when kittens are healthy and age-appropriate protocols are followed. I think this is one of those things it's important to challenge ourselves on, because delaying surgeries inevitably means fewer kittens being able to come through your program. So there's a very real risk of waiting. 

I'd be happy to chat more about my shelter's pre-adoption program or how we made decisions around risk if it would be helpful. 

Such a great question as I struggle with this as well.  Kittens are adorable at that "kitten stage" but too young to adopt.  At 2 lbs they can be spay/neutered, but I still struggle with 2 lbs.  The issue I find is letting them be adopted before spay/neutered is a risk of them not getting fixed.  I'm working on a follow up plan for kittens adopting  to good homes before spay/neuter.  I'm going to follow up with a schedule date, and pick up the kitten for the appointment.  I know it's a step many may not be able to do, but I'm going to try it. 

Following to see what everyone is doing!

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

At our rescue, kittens fly off the shelves whether they are 8 weeks or 16 weeks, but we have the option of an onsite location where there is a lot of visibility. We also do pre-adoptions while kittens are still in foster care. People meet the kittens in foster homes before they are neutered, and we start the adoption process and reserve the kittens for them.  Once spay/neuter has been completed the adopter can pick the kittens up from the rescue or from the foster home. We encourage our foster homes to market their kittens on social media and invite people over to meet them for socialization and adopting.  It's fun for foster homes because they get to meet the people adopting, they get updates on the kittens as they grow up, and the kittens get to go from a home to a home - less stressful.

To increase visibility, we do stories on social media about certain litters and kittens. We've done public adoption events at various locations. We've taken kittens on our local news channel to get the public more aware of our presence in the community. We host a kitten shower every year.  Eventually, we aim to create a more robust foster kitten pre-adoption program through marketing all available kittens (not yet spayed/neutered) on our website and developing a simpler adoption process that our foster homes can learn to do. Check out Cat Adoption Team's model (part of their Fostering for Rockstars program). It works really well for kittens. We are working towards this kind of system.

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Michelle, CAT was my shelter! And thank you for bringing up Fostering 4 Rock Stars. That website has much more information about our foster program than my brain does. 😉

Fostering 4 Rock Stars Resources

Direct Link to Pre-Adoption SOPs

Karen

At our rescue, kittens fly off the shelves whether they are 8 weeks or 16 weeks, but we have the option of an onsite location where there is a lot of visibility. We also do pre-adoptions while kittens are still in foster care. People meet the kittens in foster homes before they are neutered, and we start the adoption process and reserve the kittens for them.  Once spay/neuter has been completed the adopter can pick the kittens up from the rescue or from the foster home. We encourage our foster homes to market their kittens on social media and invite people over to meet them for socialization and adopting.  It's fun for foster homes because they get to meet the people adopting, they get updates on the kittens as they grow up, and the kittens get to go from a home to a home - less stressful.

To increase visibility, we do stories on social media about certain litters and kittens. We've done public adoption events at various locations. We've taken kittens on our local news channel to get the public more aware of our presence in the community. We host a kitten shower every year.  Eventually, we aim to create a more robust foster kitten pre-adoption program through marketing all available kittens (not yet spayed/neutered) on our website and developing a simpler adoption process that our foster homes can learn to do. Check out Cat Adoption Team's model (part of their Fostering for Rockstars program). It works really well for kittens. We are working towards this kind of system.

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Thank you for these links Karen! Super helpful as we are building our programs. 
cheers,

Rebecca 

Michelle, CAT was my shelter! And thank you for bringing up Fostering 4 Rock Stars. That website has much more information about our foster program than my brain does. 😉

Fostering 4 Rock Stars Resources

Direct Link to Pre-Adoption SOPs

Karen

At our rescue, kittens fly off the shelves whether they are 8 weeks or 16 weeks, but we have the option of an onsite location where there is a lot of visibility. We also do pre-adoptions while kittens are still in foster care. People meet the kittens in foster homes before they are neutered, and we start the adoption process and reserve the kittens for them.  Once spay/neuter has been completed the adopter can pick the kittens up from the rescue or from the foster home. We encourage our foster homes to market their kittens on social media and invite people over to meet them for socialization and adopting.  It's fun for foster homes because they get to meet the people adopting, they get updates on the kittens as they grow up, and the kittens get to go from a home to a home - less stressful.

To increase visibility, we do stories on social media about certain litters and kittens. We've done public adoption events at various locations. We've taken kittens on our local news channel to get the public more aware of our presence in the community. We host a kitten shower every year.  Eventually, we aim to create a more robust foster kitten pre-adoption program through marketing all available kittens (not yet spayed/neutered) on our website and developing a simpler adoption process that our foster homes can learn to do. Check out Cat Adoption Team's model (part of their Fostering for Rockstars program). It works really well for kittens. We are working towards this kind of system.

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Michelle, CAT was my shelter! And thank you for bringing up Fostering 4 Rock Stars. That website has much more information about our foster program than my brain does. 😉

Fostering 4 Rock Stars Resources

Direct Link to Pre-Adoption SOPs

Karen

At our rescue, kittens fly off the shelves whether they are 8 weeks or 16 weeks, but we have the option of an onsite location where there is a lot of visibility. We also do pre-adoptions while kittens are still in foster care. People meet the kittens in foster homes before they are neutered, and we start the adoption process and reserve the kittens for them.  Once spay/neuter has been completed the adopter can pick the kittens up from the rescue or from the foster home. We encourage our foster homes to market their kittens on social media and invite people over to meet them for socialization and adopting.  It's fun for foster homes because they get to meet the people adopting, they get updates on the kittens as they grow up, and the kittens get to go from a home to a home - less stressful.

To increase visibility, we do stories on social media about certain litters and kittens. We've done public adoption events at various locations. We've taken kittens on our local news channel to get the public more aware of our presence in the community. We host a kitten shower every year.  Eventually, we aim to create a more robust foster kitten pre-adoption program through marketing all available kittens (not yet spayed/neutered) on our website and developing a simpler adoption process that our foster homes can learn to do. Check out Cat Adoption Team's model (part of their Fostering for Rockstars program). It works really well for kittens. We are working towards this kind of system.

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you. 

Hi, Rebecca.

The UC-Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program recommends "spaying/neutering shelter kittens is as early as 6 weeks old or at a robust weight of 1.5 pounds." Of course, not all veterinarians are comfortable with this-but that's likely to change over time, as the veterinary community recognizes the high value/low risk.

https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/resources/recommendation-spay-neuter-healthy-kittens-at-6-weeks-1-5-pounds

Hi.
Are your kittens being adopted pre-spay/neuter surgeries? I have wonderful bottle babies, but at 8 weeks they are too small to be fixed. Therefore I might be able to neuter, and put up for adoption at 10 weeks. They will still be awesome cats, but larger than what some might expect when wanting to adopt a kitten.

thank you.