# Where do you Adopt your Pets from?



## Jakiepoo

We have a very big shelter that has branches all across the province, who also branch out to local pet stores in order to house more kitties, and this is usually the route people take when it comes to adopting cats or kittens.

It was the route we took, but lately I've been researching other local adoption options just to see what else is out there, as this shelter is strictly no kill, and I was trying to find a kill shelter (I haven't found one yet) for the next time I adopt. That also led me to check out kijiji at the cats and kittens on there, and there are so many litters of kittens it's ridiculous, and some of the descriptions for the cats up for adoption made my heart weep, because no one's going to want "a nasty cat who hates people, and always hides under the bed".

And don't even get me started on they way they all advertise their declawed cats as a good thing. It really irks me.

But it got me to thinking as to what route most people take when it comes to adopting, I mean I used to think shelter was the best way to go, but I look at all of the kittens and cats people are getting rid of, and I think that may be the next route I take, but who knows.

Of course there's no bad way to go about adopting, but do you prefer the shelter route, adopting from friends/coworkers/people who advertised kittens, or do you adopt cats from the street?


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## Jacq

We adopted our from the Meow Foundation (Make Each One Wanted :3). And if we're adopting again while we're still in the city, we'll go through them again.

Meow runs all the TNR in the city, raises lots of funds for pet welfare and education, is active in my community, and does lots of other great stuff (including subsidizing spay/neuter events and selling handmade cat beds and toys). The Adoption fee for Io was either $150 or $100 (can't remember), and it included s/n, all her first two years of shots, microchip and pet licence, as well as any necessary vet care for the first 3 or 6 months (again, can't rememeber) so it was economically a good deal too. If you adopt any of their shy or feral cats, there's no fee and they offer lifetime support for caring for these babies.

On the website, Meow puts personal descriptions and photos of each cat, as well as potential behavioral issues or where they were found, and a "feral power level" to let you know a lot about a cat (and fall in love  ) before you even meet them. They are also very good at following up. For a few weeks after we brough Io home, I exchanged emails with my adoption coordincator about any concerns I had with her. If something happens, Meow will also take any cat of theirs back and try to rehome it if possible.

They also have a live Cat Cam: MEOW Foundation, Calgary on USTREAM: . Cats 
awwwwwwwwwww


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## Justteri1000

*No kill shelters*

Ya know.......no kill shelters don't have unlimited space. When a no kill shelter fills to capacity, they have two options: turn away new cats and dogs, or move out cats and dogs that are older or less likely to be adopted to make room for ones who might still have a fighting chance. We won't discuss where the "moved out” pets go.

Most times for me, a cat picks me or a situation presents itself that puts me in a position of saving a life. 

There are so many cats and dogs that need a furever home, either in shelters, on the street or living on borrowed time with an owner who does not want them that you really can't go wrong by adopting from a shelter or from someone wanting to get rid of their pet.

When I was living on my own, with no other pets and I was the master of my own universe, I was that person who would have taken on "the nasty cat". I had the room, the patience and frankly the money to take as much time as that difficult cat needed to learn to trust a human being and learn how to just be a
Pampered kitty. 

Now I have two senior cats, one who took years to trust and the other with precarious health, and a new husband. It will be awhile before I will take on another cat, but when the time comes, it will be a middle-aged to senior aged cat.


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## Wannabe Catlady

I adopted my first boy from the Milwaukee animal shelter, and my second boy from the Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue, which sounds a lot more pretentious than it actually is, lol. I really liked the second rescue because they are all based out of foster homes, and the amount of medical care they put in for some cats is amazing. They get a lot of Persians and other long haired cats from hoarders, or other awful situations that animal control finds (where the cat would typically be put down) and spend as long as they need rehabilitating. My adoption fee for Booboo from there was seemed high since he specifically had needed no medical care, but it was nice to know that my adoption fee was going to help cats who would otherwise be put down. 


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## Carmel

For me they've all been cats and kittens from the street. Our area doesn't actually have many stray/feral cats but we seem to find them.

Most people adopt from the SPCA. The city I live in, however, has a shelter run only in this city that took over from the SPCA and works as a true no-kill shelter, with the largest cat sanctuary in North America run by the same organization to back it up when they get less adoptable cats. I would adopt from there if I wanted a cat/kitten. They've done fantastic things, even with the SPCA sort of undermining them (by trying to present themselves as working in the city when they don't have much to do here any longer besides looking into the legal side of abuse/neglect of animals).

I disagree about there being no bad way of adopting... if you buy from a backyard breeder you're supporting the practice and enabling them to continue. I know there are genuine "oops" litters and I wouldn't mind supporting that, especially if it enable them to spay/neuter their cat afterwards. However, the majority of sellers on Kijiji aren't being responsible pet owners and it's not something I would support even if it was to "save" a kitten from them. What of the kittens after them that their pets will continue to have? Shelters work at reducing the population by spaying/neutering before sending their animals to their homes, and that's something I want yo support. Where I live cats aren't cheap from shelters (150+ dollars unless they're much older cats) but the principles behind them and everything they're trying to achieve are where I would want to adopt from.


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## Blakeney Green

I adopted Zephyr from the municipal animal shelter of the town I was living in at the time. He was just a tiny kitten but was scheduled to be put to sleep that day.

Maisie was a stray found by a co-worker that they couldn't keep permanently and were having trouble rehoming because he had some emotional and behavioural problems. I'd been planning on a second cat so I decided to take him.

I plan to adopt my third cat from the no-kill shelter where I volunteer.

There are so many cats out there in need, and so many good ways to adopt a cat. I don't think one source is necessarily always the best to the exclusion of any others.


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## Jakiepoo

Oh yes, no kill shelters have their limits, and I've never had any regrets the times we've adopted from our shelter. They do a fine job, but the reason I was looking at other options is because the shelter is so well known here, and I know they're aren't the only shelter doing work. I mean, when people want to adopt, they immediately go there, so as far as potential adopters, they are the least hard pressed, and they probably procure the most outside funds.

And yes, I totally agree that buying from a backyard breeder is definitely not the right way to go about procuring a kitten, or puppy for that matter. I can't begin to count the number of unpointed himalayans, ragdolls, and himalayan/ragdoll crosses that are trying to be sold for a couple hundred dollars. But when I think of adopting kittens on kijiji, I'm thinking of the ones that say "free to a good home" or that come with a cheap adoption fee that's like 25$. The ones where you may not be supporting responsible pet ownership, but you know they didn't do it purposefully to try to make a few dollars. Adopting from them tends to help with the over population as you'll take in a kitten, get it spayed/neutered and prevent one more from ending up on the streets, because that's where the unadopted kittens from those people tend to end up if they aren't adopted. That or the local shelter where you would have adopted them from anyways.

Either way, I do plan on supporting our local shelter, whether it's through adoption, fostering, other volunteer work, or donations. I support what they do for pets here, as it's the same thing, spay/neuter before adoption, adoption fees tend to be at about the same range (150$), and all of their cats have a guaranteed health, as in you know what you will be getting in terms of health problems as all animals are regularly checked by their vet. There's also a local TNR group looking into starting up a cat sanctuary I may look into for volunteer opportunities which might be interesting.

When I have a quieter place I would like to take in some of those kitties with a few more behavioural issues, but we'll see how things end up.


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## CatMonkeys

I adopted my two from my city's no-kill animal shelter. They had a record number of kittens last summer and I volunteered to foster, but ended up keeping them. The shelter is pretty well-run and they include spay/neuter, shots, and microchipping with the adoption fee (I think $150 for kittens and $125 for adult cats), and they also have a TNR program. There have been a few senior or ill cats who are not expected to make it long and they try to get those in foster homes to spend their last days in as much peace as possible, which I think is wonderful.

Jacq, I just spent far too long watching the cat cam. I want all of them!!


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## swimmergurl1105

I volunteer part time for an animal rescue, and we post to Petfinder, RescueMe, and RescueGroups. RescueMe is especially good if you are looking for a specific breed of dog/cat. 

Personally, I have adopted two kittens from a high kill shelter near me (which is basically animal control, where all the strays wind up). I also adopted a kitten from a no kill rescue in my area, but I found him on Petfinder. I fell in love with his little face and adopted him within a week <3


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## JungliBillis

I got mine from Bideawee, a fancy rescue place in NYC. The animals there are really well taken care of, and I paid $150 each. I initially tried to adopt from a rescue group that just had foster homes, but with them, I could not meet the cats or get details on them at all (They just bring the cats over for test run), so I decided to go to a place where I could meet the cats in person. I felt it was important. Bideawee was within walking distance from my previous work, so it was perfect 

Billi and Aloo were both pulled from Municipal Shelters, so there was a chance they could have been put down, if Bideawee didn't take them. I'm so glad they did!


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## NebraskaCat

I adopted Simon from the city (high kill rate) shelter and Nala and Penny came from the no kill shelter where I volunteer now, The Cat House.

As Justteri1000 said, our no-kill shelter has a capacity limit so have a waiting list on intakes. We're always expanding our foster network to increase capacity, and we'll never turn away an animal at the top of the intake list, regardless of medical condition, but it does make it difficult. We're becoming more and more sanctuary-like in that we have a large population of CKD, FIV, FeLV, seniors and other special needs. But cats from those categories get adopted regularly. There's a person out there for EVERY cat, I believe that.


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## Jacq

For the record, my city is considered "no-kill". That doesn't mean that pets aren't euthanized, but most adoptable animals are never euthanized to make space. That's a city mandate, and I've talked about it before so I won't get into it again.

I'm just saying don't lose hope. It's possible to control the homeless animal population with owner education (carrots) and heavy fines for irresponsibility (sticks).


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## CharlesD

Every cat I've ever had has been a rescue of some sort. When I was 6 years old our neighbor, who was a state trooper, found some kittens that were six weeks old or thereabouts dumped in a sack on the side of the road and he gave us one. I had that cat until I was 18. I cried like a baby when he died. Then I went a few years without having cats, college and trying to get on my feet financially. Then in the mid 90s I lived in an apartment that was the lower level of a two story house. The guy who lived upstairs had a female tabby and he just up and moved one day and left her outside. He just moved out and didn't even take the cat with him. A few days later she just followed me in one day and got friendly. Basically she adopted me you could say. She ended up pregnant and she had a litter of four behind my couch. I picked two from the litter, a male and a female, and when they were weaned I found a home for mama and the other two kittens and I kept the two I had picked out. I kept those two until 2001 when I got married because my wife was so dead set against pets at the time and I didn't put my foot down enough. I've spent all those years trying to convince her and then a few weeks ago I found an abandoned 3 week old kitten in our driveway. I brought it in and we bottle fed it and tried our best, but the little guy was just so sick and he died after a week. Then a couple weeks ago I found another one that I suspect is from the same litter. We've had him two weeks now and he has a clean bill of health from the vet. He's probably about 7 or 8 weeks and is just as sweet as can be. My wife has agreed to let me keep him and I think he's slowly winning her over.


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## Lotu

Our 2 kittens are almost 2 months old. Their mom was originally surrendered by the owner to a high-kill shelter and gave birth to 6 kittens the same day! A rescue group took them to a foster home and posted updates on their facebook page. We watched them grow online. They were $160/$135 (discount on getting 2nd)...update shots and spayed. We had one vet appt already for distemper shot/fecal sample and will need 2 more vet appointments to finish up their kitten vaccines (still need rabies/one more distemper and fel leuk?). I liked the rescue since we have less experience with cats-had one who lived to be 14 years old. Through the rescue, I feel like they were socialized and ready to be the best behaved kittens possible. I am glad that there are people willing to take on those challenge kittens/cats...they need love too! The rescue has been wonderful to respond to questions we have. I was able to see updates when the other littermates were also adopted and am waiting to see when the mom (a beautiful petite tuxedo kitty) gets adopted too. It is fun to go on the website and I plan to send them an update on the kittens in future years.


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## Ezio

The dogs came from shelters. 
Two of the cats where from rescues, one was dumped and two were born here. 
The horse was a breeder reject (not good enough for the breeder:cussing)
The goats were born here. 

The chickens came from a hatchery.


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## cat face

Cat's Protection League and they cost a donation fee which is up to the donator.
I love that place. They're strict with home visits and stuff but they will never put a cat down.


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## MowMow

MowMow - Humane Society
Shepherd Book - A local cat rescue group (he was in their viewing rooms at the Thrifst Shop I love so much).


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## BigDaveyL

I adopted 2 of my cats from the local Humane Society. They run a farm where you can adopt pretty much anything from hamsters to cattle. They have full vet staff on hand and they have vets do their internships/residency there and provide a place for them to stay.


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## Marcia

I try to adopt only from Animal Control. That is the city sponsored animal shelter. They are a kill shelter so when I adopt from them I feel I am truly saving a life, especially because I only look for senior or otherwise unadoptable cats. Plus they are cheap - $25 for neutered or spayed cats, shots and microchip included.


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## SandyClaws

I adopted Claws from my local shelter. I knew i wanted to give a home to an adult cat. I work and was aware that i wouldnt have the time and patience to meet all the needs of a 
kitten, cute as they are. I was looking for a mellow fellow who wanted to snooze on the bed rather than climb the curtains. And i was fortunate thats what i got, though i was expecting a more dignified sleeping position.















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## Marcia

For a cat that IS dignified!!! Cute! I'd like to see a face and body shot, he looks like my Zipper girl and MowMow.


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## Dicesmom

Fat albert-off the streets..okay more like him and his litter mates under a shed. He was the devil now he is a love bug and will trip you so you have to pet him. 

Zeke-from someone who found him during a storm. He was "free" and with cats you know what that can mean :/ the people meant well though and were very friendly!! He is turning into what I wanted and a feisty little kitten.

All my others I've ever had where litters of kittens we had dumped on our property. We got so bad one year(5 pregnant females dropped off and 6 litters of kittens) we had to send some to rescue,a lot to new homes and we kept a few. All of our cats were outside mousers but all where loved and vetted.I also got two kittens from my uncle. He had a pregnant female dropped off and had her kittens. I have always wanted a white cat with a black spot and a black ear. Don't know why but love that and she had one!! Named her milkshake. Then my brother got a fluffy orange kitten named.....orange lol.milkshake got up into my moms engine and didn't make it :-( so please hit your hood before leaving. Orange..my neighbors stole...literally. we saw a found cat add fitting his description and when we called the number was disconnected:/ 

My next cat will probably be a farm kitten(plenty around here) usually if you ask around you can find a farmer with a litter or two or a kitty off the streets.

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## SandyClaws

Marcia said:


> For a cat that IS dignified!!! Cute! I'd like to see a face and body shot, he looks like my Zipper girl and MowMow.


Hi Marcia, i couldn't get him to sit still long enough for me to catch a face and body shot. Once i had him sitting pretty and started to take pictures he took off. I enticed him with da bird to take a video today in the garden but then he spotted the real thing which is why he is ignoring the toy. 

View attachment 17946
and here is a face shot from a few weeks back.

Do you think he is similar to Zipper ? Can i see some pics? 


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## SandyClaws

Oops something happened and the video didn't post. I linked via goodreader on the iad but must ave done something wrong - will keep trying!


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## Marcia

*Zipper Pics*



SandyClaws said:


> Oops something happened and the video didn't post. I linked via goodreader on the iad but must ave done something wrong - will keep trying!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Zipper is 15+


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## Jakiepoo

Ahh staaap, I love orange and white kitties!

It's so interesting seeing where everyone got their cats from.

There was one kitten we got from a farm. My dad and uncle had to catch it, but we ended up bringing it back after a few days because there was something wrong with him, but I forget what it was :/

Aha yeah, free kittens never end up free after vaccinations, checkup, and spay/neuter.


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## SandyClaws

Zipper is a beautiful kitty. And is very similar to Claws - there is only a brown nose smudge and 12 years to tell them apart! I hope I am fortunate enough to still be talking about Claws' escapades here when he is 15+


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## moondiamond

I've had many cats in my lifetime. Some from "free kittens" boxes in front of the grocery store, some from adoption events by feline non-profits, one of my recent was from an elderly woman who found her living with ferals. She was one of those awful, hiding under the bed types when I got her at 9 weeks. Now, she rules the house, craves affection and is a wonderful pet! I am at home and have time. Our other recent kitten was from Craigslist. She was found wandering on a busy street by a nice lady, who already had four cats and 3 dogs. I don't think I've ever gotten a cat from a shelter, yet all but one were rescue.


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## MTTS88

Marcia said:


> I try to adopt only from Animal Control. That is the city sponsored animal shelter. They are a kill shelter so when I adopt from them I feel I am truly saving a life, especially because I only look for senior or otherwise unadoptable cats. Plus they are cheap - $25 for neutered or spayed cats, shots and microchip included.


This is how I choose to do my adoptions as well. We recently did this at the cost of $75 and it'll be another $20-30 for the rabies shot. All our animals get altered to prevent us becoming part of the problem.

I'm quite set on getting 2 more from our local animal shelter, 1 I know is older and black, very unlikely to get adopted, the other was passed up by everyone. She was a tortie and my wife said she was ugly  I thought it was such a sweet cat and you could tell she got passed by often. I pet that cat for 35mins. 

Animal control, although doing what they need to, has a great need for adoptions and it's very depressing for me that animals are being put down there that could otherwise have good homes. 

I want to be more active on this issue and will likely look for a way to be more so.


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## 3gatos

I adopted my first 2 cats from the Dane county humane society. And my kitten from Craigslist for free. My dog was from petfinder for free! It's always the free ones that end up costing the most though, lol!


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## Weezle

I kind of inherited Gabby and Frankie from my ex. We're still on really great terms and he lost his job and found himself needing to move with very very short notice. So, I took the boys, saying he could have them back when he got back on his feet. He did get back on his feet, but he told me he didn't want to take the boys away from me since I spoil them rotten and Gabby is completely in love with me. It all worked out for the best and he comes over for "play dates". 

Lola was one of those adoptable kitties shown in the small cages at the local pet store. I wasn't looking for a new cat, but I couldn't leave her there. I went back and saw her three times before finally taking her home. She was the shy kitty who wouldn't do,e out of the little box and had nothing written on her ID card other than her name. That usually means shy or scared. Turns out she was running out of time at the shelter when we adopted her. All of her kittens had been adopted and she was left. By guessed her at 4 years old and very timid. They told us she wouldn't be very loving or friendly. They were wrong. She sleeps in our bed, and is a total love bug. She's still scared of everything, even ever own reflection (and anything red), but she's a total sweetie. I wasn't looking for her, but I needed her and she needed me.




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## RockyandLily

We got Baxter from a friend's friend, who had taken in a pregnant stray. We got Barnaby from the vet, he was around 7 weeks old when he was found in a marshy area near our house/vet, my parents had just put down our sick cat the day before and he called up the next day asking if they would want him since he was a long-haired orange tabby (family is obsessed with orange tabbies). We adopted Rocky and Lily together from a local rescue organization, my Dad only wanted Lily but we convinced him to get Rocky too and I think it is lucky that we did since he was emaciated (less than 2 pounds at 7 months old and we could feel every bone in his body), we think Lily and her siblings were eating all the food, and neither liked Fancy feast (the food that they supposedly were eating). We adopted them on November 19th, a short time after our Baxter died suddenly.


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## dt8thd

Our first two cats, Spunky and Fraidy, were adopted through our vet; Galileo came from the city shelter--which is a kill shelter; Dante was found by my brother as a 4 week old feral kitten; Cosette turned up on a friend's doorstep as a 4 month old kitten; and Autumn and Ramona came out of the feral colony at my work place.

If I were going to adopt another cat, I wouldn't have to look far. Being involved in rescue and TNR, I'm around cats that are in need of homes all the time. In fact, I'm often looking for people to adopt cats that I'm fostering--often these are non-ferals that have come out of feral colonies that I'm in the process of TNR-ing or feral kittens. I currently have 3 kittens in need of homes, and I just adopted out two adult kitties last week. So, if I was looking to adopt another cat, I would probably keep one of the cats that I'm trying to find a home for. In fact, I would have kept Dinah (one of last week's adoptees) if I wasn't currently at my kitty quota.


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## DeafDogs&Cat

Well, When I decided I wanted to adopt a cat, I started looking at the Red Deer SPCA, Whisker Rescue, Paws and Claws Animal Rescue and Alley Cats Rescue... unfortunately, none of them had a cat that would work with my three dogs (I had a very specific cat in mind, personality-wise and activity level), so even though I would much prefer to adopt an adult cat, I thought I'd have to get a kitten, so I started looking on Kijiji. It wasn't yet kitten season, but that worked out fine as I found the exact cat I was looking for, with the bonus of being white and deaf (so he matches my 2 Dachshunds!)

Whisker, Alley Cats, Paws and Claws and the Red Deer SPCA all adopt their cats out for $125, altered, microchipped and vaccinated... but I got Munsch for free, with everything but the chip (he's tatooed instead) There are a couple of other shelters as well, but I hadn't yet looked at them when I found our perfect cat!


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