Pet Adoptions: Tricks of the Trade

Not all rescuers are alike but some people are making a living out of selling kittens under the guise of rescue and adoption. They give really good hearted people a bad name. They sound as if they know what they are talking about but often they have been doing this for so long they believe it themselves.

They get many of the services for free and pass the cost to you as an adoption fee. I was an Adoption Representative for one such group and I saw the testing and vaccinations being done by an unqualified person, sometimes a moonlighting vet tech, this is not hearsay. Many times the volunteers are the ones who are really doing the work because they want to help the cats.

One way to discourage this practice is to look at the medical files that you should get when you adopt.

To discourage the practice of forging these files be sure you are getting an Original from the vet’s office. This will also guarantee that your newly adopted cat or kitten was seen by a veterinarian.

This is another way of knowing whether the Cash Payment they ask for is really going to pay for Medical Fees. What Medical Fees? Pay with a check or credit card.

In one van in Park Slope they get donated spay/neuter certificates and use the mobile van for free spay/neuter and rabies shots and then include this in their adoption fee as if they paid for it.

Don’t enable them. 501(c)3 non profits are supposed to be reporting this to the IRS not putting it into their pockets for rent, their own food or their own utilities. If the group is not a non profit guess where the money is going?

The following articles and forms should help you clear all the hurdles of adopting healthy kittens without being fleeced. They include forms with questions you need to ask and tricks of the trade used by the unscrupulous rescuers and more.

Read first, adopt later, and be sure you pass this information around. How do I know all of this? Read my story on http//mysite.verizon.net/vzeyfg4f/kittycatfosterpitfalls