It sounds easy at first, but giving away a kitten can be harder than you might think. A lot of people already have pets of their own and don’t want the burden of taking on another. With the right preparation and a little persuasiveness, you can make the task of giving away a kitten much easier.
Make Sure Your Kitten Is Old Enough
Kittens shouldn’t be removed from their mother until they’re at least 8 week old. If the mother isn’t around or refuses to care for the kitten, you’ll probably have to care for the kitten yourself until it’s old enough for adoption – a lot of people don’t want to deal with the extra burden of playing mommy.
Have Your Kitten Spayed And Vaccinated
One of the problems a lot of people have with adopting a kitten is that they usually need to be spayed and vaccinated, a pair of procedures that can be fairly expensive. If you can front of the cost of these procedures yourself, you’ll find it much easier to give the kitten away. Check around – different vets will perform the procedures for different prices, and some vets even off a discount day or even free spaying now and again.
Throw In An Incentive
People like perks. Even something as simple as throwing in a free bag of kitten food or a few pet toys can sway someone’s decision to adopt or not adopt a kitten. Note that offering to give two kittens to the same family may not always be seen as an incentive – in this case, play up the idea that cats are happier and more lively when they have another cat to socialize with.
Where To Look For Potential Homes
Before you advertise your free kittens to the public, ask family, friends, and coworkers if they want any of them, or know someone who does. Word of mouth travels quickly, especially when it comes to adorable fuzzy things. Try to match the kitten’s personality with the person you want to pitch the giveaway to. A lively, rambunctious cat will be a better companion for a young couple, while a more laid-back cat might make a great pet for an elderly person that lives alone.
If you don’t have any luck getting a friend to take your kittens, consider putting a sign out by the road advertising free kittens. You could also try community sites like local-oriented forums, Craigslist, Facebook, and MySpace as venues through which to find potential owners. If you still have no luck, consider taking out a newspaper or TV classifieds ad.
Try to keep a sense of discretion when dealing with strangers. If you get the gut feeling that the person would mistreat the kitten, whether intentionally or through simple lack of responsibility, then don’t allow that person to adopt the animal.
Try to avoid taking the kittens to a shelter, if you can. Most shelters are already overwhelmed with kittens, with some in busy metropolitan areas receiving as many as 90 kittens a day. If you absolutely must take them to a shelter, see if you can find a no-kill shelter in your area.
