Rehome Cats or Dogs

STOP! Before you rehome or surrender your pet – is there an issue that CAN be helped? – check this page for help

Something to Consider

It’s hard for animals  who are surrendered by their owners to adjust to a shelter environment. The comfort of home is all they’ve ever known, so they often become depressed, can become aggressive and even give up the will to live. For the well being of your pet, surrendering him or her to a shelter should be an absolute last resort. Please try and find a home for them by contacting friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members. This is always a better alternative. Pets  who are surrendered to shelters are more susceptible to stress, illness and depression. They grieve the loss of their families and often stop eating or contract an upper respiratory infection. Senior pets are in the most danger of falling ill or giving up.

Shelters can’t save and support the huge number of accidental litters, stray and family animals brought to the shelter doors everyday. For example, in the U.S. the most comprehensive data indicates that nearly 72% of cats that enter these facilities are killed. There is no guarantee your pets  couldn’t end up being euthanized or lose his or her will to live.

Almost all shelters and rescue groups will have a waiting list!

How to ReHome a pet

Finding adoptive homes takes time and creative effort, but it is not impossible. Thousands of grassroots groups and rescuers find homes for cats every day by following these steps, being persistent, diligent, and remaining positive. Here are screening tips and a sample application you can use to find a good fit and safe home on your own: Best Friends Rehoming Tips

ReTailsIndy (phone: (317) 536-3227)

reTails is an organization devoted to ending the death of pets in shelters. They don’t operate a shelter. All of their adoptable pets are housed in foster homes until adopted.

If you are interested in having reTails help rehome a pet, please help them by providing as much of the information as possible here. Since their adoptable pets are kept in foster homes, their ability to accept pets depends on a number of factors, including the size/breed of a pet, how well it gets along with other pets or children, and it’s spay/neuter and medical status. Even if they don’t have a foster home available to accept the pet, they can still provide free courtesy postings on their Petfinder listing and their Facebook page and may have other resources available for helping.

Advice for Rehoming

Charge a fee:

FACE recommends that you charge a fee for your pets. You invested time, energy, and love, as well as provided for your pet’s basic needs and medical care. Asking a fee will not deter good families from inquiring about your cat or dog; it may stop unscrupulous folks from answering your advertisement.

Ask questions:

Don’t be shy about asking questions. You want to make sure your cat or dog goes to the best possible home.

Some questions to ask

• do they have children (does your pet do well with kids)
• do they have other cats or dogs
• have they ever had a dog or cat before
• are they able to provide for your pet’s medical needs
• will they keep your pet inside
• can they provide a veterinarian reference
• will they allow you to visit their home prior to placing your cat or dog with them

Make your pet desirable:

• Spay/neuter your cat or dog
• groom your dog and cat and trim your cat’s nails
• have your pet current on vaccinations
• make sure your puppy or kitten is older than 8 weeks

Ask for a valid form of identification and record the driver’s license number for your records.

Special considerations for kittens

Your first instinct when you see kittens may be to swoop them up and take them home with you, but that is not always in the best interest of the kittens–or you. If the kittens look healthy and safe – wait and see if mom returns. It is ideal that they stay with mom. Please read the info on our kitten care page to help decide next steps.

Kitten season is the time of year when cats give birth, flooding animal shelters and rescue groups across the nation with homeless litters. Kitten season is really three seasons in one, starting in spring, peaking in late spring or early summer, and ending in fall). Please be patient.

Tips on caring for orphan kittens

If you take orphan kittens to the shelter and they cannot find a nursing mom or bottle feeder they will be put down.

What not to do:

If you spend much time on Craigslist, you’ll see lots of cats, dogs and other critters looking for a new home. While the site is good to network a couch or other items you’d like to sell, think twice about using Craigslist to market your pet. Lots of bad things can happen to pets on advertised and rehomed on Craigslist. Check out this story about pets on Craigslist.