The idea for this post is a photo and text from a Reddit user who said that she had been dumped by her partner. She went to a shelter and adopted the first cat who sat on her lap and stayed there. Good ploy by the handsome boy. And he is a handsome and smart cat.
User u/Rose_en_Quartz posted: I got dumped so I went to the humane society and chose the first cat that sat in my lap and stayed there. I’ve never met a sweeter boy. Names? Here he is:
THERE ARE SOME MORE ARTICLES ON ADOPTION AT THE BASE OF THE PAGE.
My advice to shelter the cats if they want to get adopted asap is to go up to an adopter in the room where they meet the cats and sit on their lap and stay there. You might purr a bit at the same time, just to add to the effect. You should look admiringly up towards the person’s face. If you can do it, you should purr with a little trill at the end so you sound like a baby. This is sure to trigger the ‘baby response’ in a woman in particular. But make sure you don’t knead their knees because it will hurt them a bit. I know that you will have the urge to do it because you’ll be too excited about living in your new human caregiver but you can’t stick your claws into their knees. Sorry about that.
And you might gently lick their index finger for a short while but don’t overdo that either because if you lick a human finger or the back of their hand for too long it gets a bit irritating. It can hurt a little bit too after a while. And if you sit on this lucky person’s lap facing away from them and they stroke you don’t raise up your bottom which I know you want to do (as all domestic cat do) because it will mean that you stick your bottom in this lovely person’s face. That’s not going to help your chances of being adopted.
You’ve got one chance so you’ve got to be a sweet boy. And I think that if there is a gender bias among adopters at shelters (and there might not be) women prefer male cats and men prefer female cats, but less so. So, if a woman is thinking about adopting you, and you are a male cat, you are off to a good start, so make the best of it.
And when they come into the room to meet the cats you should be the first one to go forward towards them. You should seem confident and while you’re walking towards this lovely woman you should be meowing in anticipation with a little touch of a purr thrown in for good measure. Your tail should be vertical. Humans like to engage with a confident cat. They like to communicate with domestic cats too. If you can instigate that conversation so much the better. You will catch their eye and they will almost certainly adopt you if you can put this package of behaviours together.
And when you are finally successful and you go back with her to her home, you need to be friendly with the resident cat if there is one. Put away the idea of retaining territory and share it instead. Your role is to be a companion to your human caregiver and on occasions to entertain her. Do that and you will live a long and happy life.
SOME MORE ON ADOPTION:
