If you are surrendering a kitten, or litter of kittens, to the animal shelter you will want to make sure they are put up for adoption and get new homes. Note:  Adoption means rehoming a pet through a proper animal shelter, SPCA, or Humane Society, selling a pet is not the same as placing it for adoption.

Some areas have no-kill pet shelters, many people feel these are good places to surrender unwanted pets. No-kill shelters are often full and turn away animals at such times. This forces owners to take their pets to the shelter where euthanasia is used to deal with housing so many animals in a limited space.

How Shelters Work

Typically when new kittens are brought into the shelter they are put into an isolation area. If they are “strays”, lost kittens brought in by people who do not know who the owner is, they must wait several days for an owner to claim them. If they are brought in by their owner the wait is not needed, but they still must pass another hurdle, being selected for adoption, rather than euthanasia.

There are many criteria that shelter staff use to determine which pets are euthanized, and which are kept. If they are not full there are no issues, but if they are full they have to look at each animal individually. There are some things you can do to help your kitten move into the adoption area, and to be selected by a prospective owner.

The kittens selected for adoption are vet checked, vaccinated, and wormed. Once kittens are placed for adoption they are often kept for two to four months before the shelter considers euthanasia if they are not adopted. Some shelters keep them longer, but few would euthanize sooner since they have already invested money into the kitten by getting its vet care looked after.

Age of Kittens

If you bring kittens that are under six weeks of age to an animal shelter they will very likely not be kept. Only in very rare cases are special kittens sent to foster homes for raising. The best age to surrender a kitten to the shelter is just over six weeks, but under 12 (at this stage they are most-adoptable).

Health

One of the criteria animal shelters look at is how healthy your kittens are in terms of how much cost it will be to them to get them ready to go for adoption. Kittens who are brought to the shelter already vet checked, vaccinated, and wormed, can be placed in the adoption area quickly (after a day, or two, of monitoring), where as any other kittens must be seen by a veterinarian, get vaccinated, and dewormed, all at the shelters expense. *Over-the-counter wormers do not count for "worming" a kitten as they don't kill all types of worms and it cannot be verified via a vet record that they were wormed this way.

Be sure your kittens are eating well, and using their litter box, before surrendering them to a shelter.

Getting put up for adoption is the first hurdle your kittens have to cross. By being “ready to go” the shelter is more likely to pick your kittens to move into adoption.

Socialize Your Kittens

Friendly kittens are adopted far faster than shy, poorly socialized ones. Typically kittens who were born and raised outdoors (such as farm kittens) are not as socialized as those born in the home and handled on a more regular basic. If a kitten is to be adopted it needs to be friendly so that when people enter the kitten adoption room they see the kitten.

No Rules

Sometimes people will make rules such as “Must go with Sibling”. These rules are not practical at the kitten stage, and really hurt a kitten's chances of getting adopted. Most shelters will not even consider such rules in young animals.

Financial Incentives

Some animal shelters allow the owner to make special donations for their relinquished pets. In such a way a person might give a $20 donation for the shelter to use to reduce the adoption fee on that pet. This is above the standard relinquishment fee as requested by most shelters.

*Remember

You allowed your pet to become pregnant, and are now burdening the shelter with your kittens. They will have better chances of screening potential owners and finding “good homes” for the kittens, than you will (some “good homes” are not so good). If it means paying a few extra dollars to ensure your kittens find good homes you should be willing to do so.

Due to the surplus of extra cats you should make arrangements to spay your female cats, or keep them indoors only.