In my town, if you adopt a pet from the Humane Society and have to relinquish it later on, you are obligated to surrender it back to them.

Please do not take said cat to a shelter. She will likely be on "death row" a week or so before they euthanize her.

Do not give up on her.

Many shelters will euthanize for space.
Be realistic about how adoptable your cat is before you turn her in. If you can get a rescue group to take your cat in that will be better, especially if you are willing to make a good donation for the care.

Hi - I work in animal welfare, so that's informing what I say.

There's no magic bullet here. You can find someone to take the cat (a friend, family member, neighbor, etc).

You can reach out to local rescue groups and see if they can take your cat in - King Street Cats is a good one; there are others in the area, too. But these are groups with limited resources and can't take every animal.

Or you can bring the cat to a shelter, where he or she may or may not make it out again. DC area shelters are by and large really good, so your cat has a better shot there than in other parts of the country, luckily. But cats still have the highest euthanasia rates of all animals, and this is a very tough time of year for cats in shelters - we're still in kitten season - so, there's that.

There's a new website that's supposed to help with rehoming options. I don't know how much use it'll be since it is so new, but it might be worth a try. http://pawslikeme.com/

And those are your options, basically. If you go the rescue or shelter route, please offer to make a generous donation to help cover the expenses of caring for your cat.

Contact the shelter you got the cat from if your adoption contract require you to surrender the cat to them or if they're a no kill shelter.

Otherwise, try some foster based or no kill rescues. You may have better luck offering to foster the cat in your home until they can find a home for it (if the need to rehome the cat isn't an urgent, needs to be gone yesterday kind of thing). In that case, they'll take care of the screening/advertising for you but you will still care for the cat in your home until it is adopted.

Try Fancy Cats.

Take your cat to the local rescue. Each county or DC has one. Please be completely honest with the people at intake. That way they can help your cat if there is a medical problem and make any future home aware of past problems.

call the place you got her from and every other shelter within driving distance

also ask at your VETs sometimes they know of someone looking for an addition to their pet collection.

Anonymous wrote:We just can't keep her anymore. I looked up tips on the Humane Society's website (which is where I got her), but aside from advice about what to watch out for on Craigslist, it's just a bunch of links to shelters, none of which have any info about rehoming. Anyone know how to do this? I don't want to post online myself and have to deal with a bunch of strangers, especially if they have bad intentions. I figured a shelter would be the best place since they screen new owners.

P.S. Spare me the judgmental comments about a "fur-ever home." It's not working out and I want to do the right thing.

You must be a real peach. Reaching out for help but offering your own judgments to those you want help from.

Return the cat to the shelter you adopted him/her from or call local rescues. But, it's going to be tough. Lots of people give up cats and there is often little space. I speak as someone who did rescue work for 10 years. Good luck.

We got our cat off our neighborhood list serve.

If you are straightforward and honest about what kind of home the cat needs, you might luck out.

This won't work for a cat that say pees all over the place, but for a different situation it might.

When I adopted from a shelter, part of the agreement said that if I ever had to get rid of my cat, I had to offer it back to the rescue group.

Where are you located? There are lots of cat rescue groups in the DC area.

Anonymous wrote:Check with the Humane Society where you got her. Often they want you to return the cat to them.

absolutely. Yes, ideally, pets are forever. But sometimes there are situations beyond your control or it really isn't a good fit. Finding it a more appropriate home is completely different than dumping it.

What's going on with the cat?

Why isn't it working out with the cat? Maybe we can advise solutions.

Check with the Humane Society where you got her. Often they want you to return the cat to them.

I'm not sure what you can do except call the shelters listed to ask about rehoming options and then just go with your gut.

We just can't keep her anymore. I looked up tips on the Humane Society's website (which is where I got her), but aside from advice about what to watch out for on Craigslist, it's just a bunch of links to shelters, none of which have any info about rehoming. Anyone know how to do this? I don't want to post online myself and have to deal with a bunch of strangers, especially if they have bad intentions. I figured a shelter would be the best place since they screen new owners.

P.S. Spare me the judgmental comments about a "fur-ever home." It's not working out and I want to do the right thing.