Finding Good Homes For Cats And Kittens

Finding good homes for cats and kittens can be a difficult task.

Giving them away from a cardboard box in your supermarket's parking lot is not considered finding a good home! You need to make sure that the adopters are willing to make the commitment to care for a cat for the next twenty years.

Did you ever wonder what happened to them after they were taken away?

To be honest, not everyone who adopts one of your sweet little kittens or puppies is being totally honest with you when they say the animal will have a good home.

Giving away any animal. whether it be an adult or a baby, without screening the potential adopter and without charging some sort of good faith fee can put your animal in dangers that you never would have considered.

There are people who make their living by go around picking up these "Free To a Good Home" animals and sell them to labs for medical research. You don't want to know what happens to them there. They will even bring kids with them so you believe they are a happy family looking for a little kitten

Free animals are also taken for sacrifice, they are used for bait to train attack dogs, they are even used for food for snakes. By just giving them away, you are basically saying that these animals have no value at all.

By putting a set price on them you are making it less desirable for these people as you are eating up their profit.

If you don't feel right about asking a price for a kitten, you can request that a donation be made to your favorite charity or local animal shelter.

You've cared enough about this animal to find it a good home, that entitles you to a donation, or to asking for one for your chosen charity.

How To Find Potential Good Homes For Your Kittens

* Place posters in your local veterinarian's office, or humane society or animal shelter if they will allow it....always ask first.

* Be careful about putting an ad in the paper. At the very least - do not put a "free kittens or puppies to good homes" ad in the paper.

Here are some of the people that might answer those ads:

Third-class dealers who sell the cats or puppies for about 30 dollars a piece to labs that perform medical experiments on them.

Although animal labs typically get their "subjects" from breeders (and some breeders make a lot of money selling kittens and puppies and other animals to labs), some protocols also call for an "unknown" group of animals, to be used as a control group in the experiment.

You may also get a visit from a fighting dog trainer. Sadly, some dog owners train their dogs to be killers by using live animals as targets.

Then, there are the just plain mean people who abound. Of course, none of these types of "adopters" will identify the true nature of their interest.

* Talk to trusted family members and close trusted friends who are interested in adopting the kittens or puppies. Preferably you want them to live with someone whom you would trust with your own pet, and who has had pets before. Granted, this isn't always possible.

Once You Get A Contact

Screen adopters carefully! Grill them all you want. See if they've had pets before. Find out why they want a new pet. Ask for identification and get an address. If at all possible, try to visit their home to observe the condition, particularly of other animals in the house.

You can draw up a small contract - it is legally binding, in fact (although enforcing it may be a problem.) You can call a shelter, rescue group, or breeder organization for guidelines. In writing, the adopter should commit to the following:

They will spay or neuter the kitten

They will give the kitten proper veterinary care - yearly exams, vaccinations, and visits to examine suspected health problems

The adopter will make the pet a member of the family. That means a companion FOR LIFE.

"Red flags" to watch for. These certainly aren't automatic disqualifications, but they do merit additional investigation.

Many young kids in the house Frequent traveling or business trips

A small apartment that already has other animals

College students living on campus

Military families

Sadly, the latter two categories contribute heavily to the feral cat colonies that abound college campuses and military bases, because of their transient nature.

Don't be shy about requesting a follow up visit or three.

Screen people very carefully over the phone and check all references before allowing them to come to your home to see the animal. The best reference is one from a veterinarian. It's very easy for a person to list their friends, who may not be honest, as references. A veterinary reference is the best way to check the person you are dealing with.

Don't hesitate to say "no" to someone who doesn't "feel right," even after they have visited the pet. If no is difficult to say, tell them that other interested people are coming later, and you'll call them.

You should ideally leave time to visit the home of the new owner before giving up your pet; this allows you to see the pet's new surroundings and to see if the person in fact resides at the address given.

http://www.eliminatecatodour.com

Anita Hampton http://www.eliminatecatodour.com

Success Tips For Your Pet Business

In order to be more successful with your pet business, get your mind and body geared up for success. Start by making positive attitude adjustments for success and better health, inside and out with these helpful tips...

* Concentrate on business first, and then dig in and learn more about how to run a business. Using help from library or other resources, develop basic business and marketing plans. And from now on, stop wondering how to run your business operations and KNOW. When you follow no plan or even a poor one, you do reach your goal: nothing. So plan for success and strive to get there instead!

* Learn more about the pet industry, what people buy online and off. Do a little research each month to see what the more popular selling pet products and services are and what campaigns are out in the mainstream. Bookmark pet sites and sign up for their ezines to see whats new, what the news and announcement are and what you might be able to learn to help your own business grow. Keep up with the industry!

* Slacking off and being lazy dont work in the business world long term. So stop trying to short change your visitors, leads, prospects, clients. Use some elbow grease and do what you need to do to each day to attract traffic, generate leads, follow up and close make your sales. Make a point to regularly plan sales and marketing campaigns online and off for getting human and search engine traffic, leads, prospects and sales. Have your website, content, autoresponders and everything else updated regularly and in place. Avoiding laziness helps make anyone more successful!

* Dont hide out from the real world and stay at your computer all day. Get out and network at industry event, and network, reaching out online and off to connect with others. Learn from other pet business reps who have been where you are and already reached some level of success. Network with others who work at home for tips about what works best and what doesnt when juggling work with family. Save your contacts information in a database like one in any email program (Microsoft Outlook) and add to your goals to follow up on a regular basis with people. Set goals: talk to at least four people every day via phone, email or some other means.

* Get and stay in shape. Success starts on the inside!

So get yourself and your business in sync with success. Successful work habits are directly proportional to successful results!

Renske Buursma, pet store owner with lots of helpful articles and a free newsletter about pet care at http://yourhealthypetsonline.com