Pet re-homing advice

[Salsa]

Its hard moving your pets on to someone else, hope you find the right situations for them easily. They sound like lovely cats.

[visitor1]

Its very hard thing to do, but i know it needs to be done, and as soon as possible sadly

[NaeNae]

A heartbreaking decision. No advice but I wanted to send you big hugs.

[Papillon]

Kim, i am so sad to see the decision you have made. Although i do understand it. As you know, we have 5 ourselves, and on a daily basis one or two annoy us lol and we threaten that we will find them a home - however sadly i am not as strong as you and i just kep soldiering on. They are my fury kids, and although there is current issues between them - i just couldnt not bring myself to re-home them. DF and i go by the belief that we brought them into our home, made them our family. Sometimes, families dont live in ideal situations, and/&or go through hard times, and it can be really horrible for all members - but life goes in full circle and so does bad times.

But thats us- you and Craig know what you need to do - and i do totally understand it. It is so tiring looking after 2 kids and 5 cats & 1 dog. (kinda the same as you lol) Especially when they are inside/enclosure cats.

As for how to pick who goes and who stays. Oh hun i just cringe at that notion. DF and i have had the talk before, (when it all is in its bad phase of the cycle and we consider re-homing 1 or 2) and we just sit there and go around and around and around. Our five all have something they bring to the family - and each little trait is just as important as the other. I dont have any real advise as for WHO should go - as i quite clearly have no idea lol... we still have 5!

But- one small suggestion - go by their personalities.

1.Who do you think would stress less without you? (long term - ofcourse who ever goes will stress to begin with)

2. Who adjust's to change better? Which is a slight contradiction as cats generally do not like change - however some adjust really well. i.e our cat Shambhala - he is 6 years old, deaf as a door post and has gone through 9 moves and he copes so well with them. If anything he acts as though he loves them- like he really embraces them. Normally a house move is the biggest stress factor fopr a cat, and often can result in changing their personalities permanently.

As for where and how - try Animal Aid in Coldstream. I know it is a bit of a drive for you BUT, they are so very nice and they have a very good policy about not putting cats to sleep and i think you can also have the option to take them back if a home isnt found. But, one great thing is the turn over rate for cats finding homes there is just awesome. And the ones who havent - lol they are now residents. (they greet you at the door )

Id stay far far away from RSPCA- but thats just me!

Honey, i dont envy you - but i do admire you and craig. This would be one of the hardest things in life to do i reckon. A decision not easily made - but just keep WHY your doing it in focus! (says her who cannot do it to save her life )

Huge- truck loads of these!

ETA: Petlink can be very useful - if your wanting to have more of a hands on approach to this (so to be able to pick what home they go to). http://www.petlink.com.au/Cats/Kittens/