June is Cat Adoption Month! (No, I'm not making this up...)

From the PetMD website...

I’m big on this. Really big. Finding homes for in-need cats and kittens is a never ending battle I’ve long since sworn to fight into perpetuity. As should you … if you love cats, that is. And the rest of you? I’m not sure I believe you aren’t secretly smitten. Because who can’t find a soft spot for an animal so fiercely … well … feline?

So now that June is coming to a close, I figure I’ve got to make good on my perennial promise to contribute to the kitten-homing, cat-evangelizing religion I so fervently practice (well, I try, but I don’t always succeed).

To that end, I’ve come up with a few choice tips for all you novice cat rescuers and kitten homers (I can’t teach the pros anything), or anyone else looking to disseminate felinity far and wide. Because getting felids placed is an art, for sure, but it’s also a sales job.

1. Cats are best homed in twos and threes! That’s right, you heard it definitively here. Cats love company — kittens, especially. How else to save yourself the stress and pain of needless adolescent play-inflicted claw marks? Kittens LOVE one another. Never again will you need to ask, "Should I get her a playmate?" And, of course, this trick gets the little ones homed two or three times as fast — that is, if you’re good at the up-sell. 
   
2. Cats are the perfect starter pet! I do actually believe this, heart and soul. It’s especially true for those who are either very young or very old and haven’t yet experienced the joys of pet-keeping. The right cat — and I almost always recommend docile adult cats here — is the perfect addition to any pet-curious household.
    
3. What’s one more cat? This is an especially responsible sell to someone who only has one or two cats. Whether it’s a one-cat scenario in which the incumbent’s getting fat and sleepy, or in any two cat household where the relationship isn’t what it should be, adding a relaxed cat to the mix might be just what the doctor ordered (and indeed, I do.)
   

Those are my favorites. Now it’s time for the professionals to chime in. How do you get your forever homes to open their doors just a little wider?

Dr. Patty Khuly