While you may feel like you have failed as an owner, sometimes re-homing a pet cat may be the best solution for both you and your cat.
Before you make a decision whether or not you ought to re-home your cat, think these few things through:
- If the problem lies with the cat, research on cat behaviour and try to understand the source of your cat's behavioural problem.
- After isolating the main causes of the problem, try out the prescribed means to solve the problem. For example, if your cat is stressed and excretes around the house, find out why, and how you can eliminate this source of stress. If your cat is making cat calls, she may simply need to be sterilised. If your cat is shedding a lot of fur, changes to his grooming and diet may be the straightforward solution.
- If the problem lies with changes in your household, for example moving to a new home, or a new job demanding more time, then research on ways to balance your situation with your cat's life. For instance, you may be able to simply place your cat for boarding at a cattery until your personal affairs are settled.
- After trying out feasible means to solve the problem, assess the situation to see if the solution is sustainable. For example, if your cat is stressed because of a new member of the family, assess to see if this situation improves after trying out means to integrate the new human with the cat. This could mean spending more time with your cat for instance. However, if your cat demands much more attention than you can afford (in the case of a new baby for example) then you may not find the extra time needed to be spent on your cat a long-term viable solution.
- If the solutions are not sustainable, the best solution will be to re-home your cat. The best gauge I feel to see if re-homing your cat will be better for her, is to compare yourself to another prospective owner and visualise which home will be better for your cat. If you can see your cat doing better in another home, then re-homing will very well be a good idea for your cat.
