Certified Pre-Owned Cats: Inspected, Detailed, Better Than New!

[Are_grits_groceries]

The problem: thousands of sweet, cuddly, adoptable adult cats languishing in shelters. People gravitate toward tiny kittens, which are plentiful in the summer months, leaving adult shelter cats without humans to own. A possible clever solution: Clever marketing ploys. Which is the origin of the Michigan Humane Society's Certified Pre-Owned Cats campaign.

With $0 down and 0% financing, you can bring a brand new (to you) cat home today!

Of course, a car metaphor applied to companion animals would have to come from Michigan.

The key part of this promotion is that the shelter is charging no adoption fees for adult cats—hence the "$0 down, no payments" gimmick. The idea is to get more cats into happy homes, and shelters have found that with careful screening, waiving the adoption fees doesn't affect the quality of homes they're able to find, or the rate of return.



Remember, savvy consumers, when shopping for a pre-owned cat, be sure to get its FIN (Feline Identification Number) and request a CATFAX® report before finalizing the adoption. Nobody wants to take home a lemon. Cat. (Or you could just talk to shelter staff about the cat's personality and medical history.)


http://consumerist.com/5340459/certified-pre+owned-cats-inspected-detailed-better-than-new

Great idea!! A lot of pets are being turned into shelters or just abandoned because of the economy.

[tanyev]

1. Cats for Clunkers!

Just kidding. We have two beautiful pre-owned cats that we adore. :)

[KittyWampus]

9. Aww, you made me smile.

:hug:

[Berry Cool]

15. I joke about trading in my cats for new models under "Cash for Clunkers"

but of course I never would. I love them too much...even if they are getting "up there" and are so "fuel inefficient" that they don't get around much anymore.

[roguevalley]

23. I wish I could have cats. I always did but I grew an allergy to them.

I would be the crazy cat lady if I didn't. *SOB*!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. When I go to my Petsmart, I avoid the area where they have adult kitties for adoption.

I have 3 of my own and cannot have a 4th. Yesterday,I went with my son and his girlfriend and of course they visited the kitties. It is heartbreaking. There were about 6 totally beautiful older ones who deserve a better life than being in a cage.

All of my cats came to me as kittens except for Jack (his pic is in my sig line). He came to our doorstep at about the age of 4 or 5 and he is a spectacular friend. :)

In the far future (I hope), all I will ever do is bring adult cats into my life.

[SharonAnn]

21. We just adopted an adult cat from the PetSmart location. She has just

the personality we wanted, a real lap cat.

We've usually obtained cats as kittens. Some of them turned out to be great pets but others didn't. When they're kittens it's hard to tell what their adult personality will be.

So, after a couple of loners who didn't want to be part of the family, we decided "no more kittens".

And Melinda is turning out to be just right for us. Very friendly, loves to be scratched and petted, likes to lap-sit.

I vote for adult cats!

[Warpy]

3. I've rescued two adult cats

a year apart. One was neglected, the other had been abused.

Both came in and were shy and untrusting for the first couple of months. It was funny to see them start to bond, it was like a switch tripped inside their heads that told them "hey, man, I'm HOME!"

Both came in knowing what "no" and "get down" meant, although other things for one of them were best said in Spanish. He did eventually learn the English equivalents, but he always responded better to Spanish.

My Spanish speaking cat died a couple of years ago at the age of 17. The remaining kitty is now 16 and when she goes, that's it. I don't want to leave a homeless animal behind when I go.

However, if I crack and fostering doesn't do it for me, I'll look for an elderly cat sitting on death row in Kitty Auschwitz. Kittens are fun, but adult cats are much more rewarding in the long run.

[murray hill farm]

8. I adopted two beautiful adult cats...

from the local humane society just a few months ago. They were pretty nervous...even around each other...and hissed at each other..one chased in a very agressive way my grown aussie. It was funny to watch. After just a few monthes, they love each other and the dog. Very rewarding to see this happen. They know they are "home".

[Bill McBlueState]

4. de-tailed?

That sounds painful!

[Robb]

18. Zing!

:D

[Uben]

5. I have a hybrid

It runs on cat food and dog food!

[Omar4Dems]

6. Pre-owned pets are the best!

Got three of 'em now, and all of my previous ones were pre-owned, too. Not a single lemon in the bunch. :)

[Bluenorthwest]

7. This is Day 20 for our newly adopted Shelter Kitty

And she's just as sweet as a wee slice o' pie. She's almost a year old, very happy to be with us, more entertaining than a Marx Brothers film fest.
Our local Shelter was running a special as well, although not Cats for Clunkers! $35 dollars was her 'bail'-this included microchip i.d., 3.5 pounds of Science Diet, a carrier, one month of cat Insurance and a free vet visit! Such a deal! Oh, and she has a tattoo. They ink on a small S for spayed near the incision so future people know the cat is spayed. A tattoo, so very modern for a cat!
We are happy, she's happy, and I join the OP in saying go on down to the Shelter and spring a pet or two!

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Great ad campaign! As a dog person, I just have cats pop up at my house. I now have 3

feral/stray cats. All males. I've had each of them neutered and vaccinated and de-wormed. I'm a dog person! But these guys just stay on and want 2 meals a day!

[MuseRider]

11. LOL, I love it!

I have 3 pre-owned cats, one pre-owned dog and 6 pre-owned horses. This is very clever and I hope it helps them find those loving homes.

[yellerpup]

12. Our pre-owned babies bring us so much joy!

My little girl (about 6) is a delight with impeccable manners and was obviously well trained by someone who loved her. His boy (about 2) spent most of his life in a cage and thinks that "no" means "carry on." They are both beautiful and affectionate. I'd recommend adopting a pre-owned cat to anyone with a heart! Thanks for your compassionate message. K&R! :kick:

[formercia]

13. That looks like my Baby.

She was five when we brought her home. I swear she never stops purring.

[dgibby]

14. I was recently adopted by a pre-owned kitteh.

He just came in with my cats one day and never left. I tried to find his people, but no luck. There are 5 houses on my block for sale, so am wondering if he was just left behind. He's very loving, acts like a dog, likes my dogs and cats, and is very well behaved. I call him Ripley, as in, Believe it or not, there's another cat in this house!

[Jennicut]

16. I adopted an adult kitty and I love her. Her name is Daisy and she is an orange tabby cat.

She makes me very, very happy.

Please adopt a kitty if you can.

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. I have had my 2 kittehs since 1997.

A vet tech found them in a dumpster when they were twee little things. They were able to eat okay, but I had to go the grocery store and get one of those aluminum pans for a litter box.

They were so tiny that they couldn't get into a regular one.

Now they are so big, they could probably sit on the john and not fall in.

[Jennicut]

19. Aww, I love saving kitties. Mine was very disturbed being in a house at first.

Ran in a small hole in a closet of our bathroom. It led behind our bathtub and she would not come out for almost 10 days, only at night time. I left food and kitty litter out for her. She is very loving now, she just needed to feel safe I think.

[notadmblnd]

20. I adopted both of my adult cats from the shelter years ago

my son was 3 or 4. I got them because we had a mouse problem and I didn't want to put poison down and risk my son getting into it. He's 16 now and the male has passed on, but the female is still going strong. Personally, it was easier to adopt adult cats and not have to deal with everything kittens get into. As it was my two would have cat parties when I was gone. I came home once to the television being knocked off the shelf and broken. I can't imagine how wild things would have gotten with young teenage kittens.

[jberryhill]

22. "A lot of pets are being turned into shelters"

I've heard of people doing that with camels for desert survival, but you'd need at least a dozen cats to make a decent tent.

[Maru Kitteh]

24. I love my pre-owned adult kittehs. Jack and Bud were over a year old

Maru was just a teeny fry though. I didn't rescue him from a shelter, I rescued him from behind a the rear driver's side tire of a car that was getting ready to back out of a dark driveway.