I know $175 sounds like a lot but they have had several rounds of vaccinations, wormed, deflea’d, neutered. That all adds up. I bet a lot of the people looking for the $5 cat will not do all that, especially spay or neuter even if it is low cost.
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Meanwhile, idiots on Craigslist are “adopting” out kittens (in reality, they’re selling) for less, so people will use that as an excuse for paying less. SMH.
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Our county shelter DOES do all that, spay, shots, worming, and deflea. When you adopt there the kitten/cat is up to date on everything. I hope they can continue as this is a big money loser.
But it has made a big dent in the underlying problem of too many kittens. They do the same with puppies and dogs.
I adopted my purebred GSD there for $10. freshly neutered, deflead, all shots. The county just completed a new shelter building/facility so they’re on the right path in animal control. They also take in farm animals which they auction off monthly.
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Clearly those people are not doing the math, since their future neuter, that I would guess the cheap CL kitty has not had yet, will end up costing them more than the higher priced rescue adoption fee was to start with.
The shelter in the city nearby is having a super discount special this weekend. They run them fairly regularly. All already neutered, etc. This one is subsidized by Bissell.
My vet spays for $65 and neuters for $45. On cats, anyway; dogs are more, I think. That does include pain meds. I realize this is a lower cost of living part of the country, though. An office appointment is $35. They did charge me $45 to work in Rascal urgently recently. It was just under $100 all told for appointment, UA, and meds.
Wow @dressagetraks, that is crazy cheap for a vet to do neuters/spays. I think the TNR program here is $50 right now and I thought that was crazy cheap.
A couple years back I priced a neuter at my vet for a feral that was hanging around (the next appointment with the TNR program was months out), and it was almost $400. (Which I was going to pay to get this cat fixed, but he was so sick we decided to euthanize instead.)
I know $175 sounds high initially, but here in coastal so cal it is pretty reasonable. When I adopted through a city shelter 3 years ago it was $160, so its not like the private rescue is gouging.
Woody and Buzz got picked up by their new owners yesterday. They really are the sweetest couple. They drove up from over an hour away, and even gave me a thank you card with some cash since I held on to the boys for 2 weeks for them. SO sweet. I guess one good thing about the stringent adoption process is that I won’t lose a wink of sleep on worry that these babies are in a great home. They are going to be so happy.
Another kitty got adopted this weekend… We adopted Jessie!! When the time came for the adoption event I just couldn’t send her off. Since we had to put Artie to sleep in July, Mr. Batcoach and I decided that we would keep one of the foster babies. Jessie started to make it known that she really wanted to be our kitty and darn it if she didn’t get her way.
She turned on the snuggle engines and spent her first night in the house purring all night sleeping with us in bed. The elder statesmen of the house are a little grumpy about the new addition taking their spot in bed, but I am sure they will adapt. We are bouncing a few new names back and forth since she is growing into less of a rowdy cowgirl, and more of a glamourous starlet.
Our little fruitbat Celia got her glamourshots done for her petfinder ad:
and then we all collapsed on the couch in a cuddle puddle. All four of these babies had their purr engines running. It was pure bliss!
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Congrats on Jessie!!!
Yay for Jessie to be your forever cat! And Celia is quite the little model. I hope she gets her forever home soon.
So happy for Woody and Buzz and I’m glad that you’re keeping Jessie. 
I like the brown spot on her head. Nice pics of pretty Celia.
I’m wondering if Uncle Milo is secretly pleased about one of them staying behind. 
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I think he will warm up to it. Right now he is pretty jealous. In his mind, playing with the kittens in the living room does not equate to him being ok with her trying to sleep with him in the upstairs bedroom. He is certainly enjoying sneaking bites of her yummy kitten food (trust me, he needs not the extra calories!)
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He’s a beauty and so lucky to have found you.
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ready for some fun? The foster kittens had a costume party! Mike loved getting dressed up the most. As he ages, he is turning from wild boy to snuggle puss. Celia found her new forever home last Saturday. I am so happy that she got adopted! Now we are just down to 3.
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Oh my heavens … the amount of cute in those pictures is off the charts!!! Bravo 
my favorite is the bat pic!!!
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its the role she was born to play! our nickname for her was “little fruit bat” haha
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Love them! If I tried this on my cats I’d be in the ER immediately! 
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PS @BatCoach. Chester says hi! And he loves your little kitties!
How’s your adopted kitten doing? And your colony? Have you seen the 2 Mama cats around ?
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I have no words for those costumes… but when I need a belly laff I’ll come back and peek again.
too, too much!!
HI Chester! looking good as an indoor boy!
I see the mama cats (and at least one daddy cat!) daily. Its a little blurry, but here is a pic of mama Daisy canoddleing with a tom with the exact color and coat pattern as the tabby sisters (bo peep and jessie) He is totally their papa.
Jessie, The kitten we adopted is a superstar. We decided to name her Gemma since it suits her better. She’s just the sweetest, most loving sassy-pants and we adore her. She is slowly but surely making the older kitties love her. She just ignores their hisses and dirty looks and insists on cuddling. 
She sleeps in our bed, plays fetch at a championship level and generally is adorable. I really wish we could keep Bo as well, but hubby insists that we have a 4 cat max. - I keep hoping for an exception
On a harder note, we had a household discussion Sept 1st and decided that Oct 2nd would be the end of our fostering journey. If it were up to me, I would keep the babies until they found new homes, (hell if it were up to me we would basically be a 24/7 cat hostel) but the other 2 members of my household are done.
Bearing in mind that we started this as just trying to TnR the parking lot colony in April, then were told we only had to house the 2 pregnant cats & their litters for 6 weeks, then got the fostering contract when the kittens were 6 weeks old since no one else in the rescue could take them. Its now September and the guys feel like they have been pretty patient for a cat-housing situation that they were told would only last 6 weeks.
The foster contract does have a clause that states that if you can’t foster anymore the rescue will take back the kitties w/ 2 weeks notice. Its also very clear that the kittens are property of the rescue and they are 100% responsible for finding kittens home and controlling the adoption process. In earlier posts I mentioned how insanely selective I feel this process is, and I know that at least 1 of the remaining kittens would be adopted, but the rescue rejected the application on grounds I didn’t agree with
Its frustrating since I feel like if I give the kittens back I am letting them down, but at the same time I need to respect the opinions of the other 2 people that I own the house with since the kittens effect their lives too.
I’ve done everything I can to advertise these kitties, making accounts on nextdoor, CL, reddit, FB to bring attention to their petfinder adoption pages. I’ve given up every Saturday to go to adoption events. I’m honestly surprised that these 3 kittens haven’t been adopted yet (I might be biased) but my husband and BiL have made it clear that we can’t keep them forever, and their line in the sand is Oct 2. I’m not looking forward to this conversation w/ the rescue, but I got us into this, so its my job to end it. Give me strength COTH friends! You have been on this journey with me from the start - and I really want it to have a positive ending.
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