I found a cat or kitten? What do I do?

Do you know during "kitten" season (February through October) Planned Pethood can receive as many as 100 calls and e-mails each week to take in cats and kittens. So when you call it might be a little while until we can return your call. Please remember, we are volunteers and we try to help as many cats and kittens as we can.

Please know we want to help you! If you found a cat or litter of kittens, contact our FIXX line at 419-826-FIXX (3499) and leave a message on the approproate mailbox. We will try to help you. If we cannot help, there are many local organizations that might be able to help. Unfortunately they are as crowded as we are. The Toledo Humane Society may also be able to help you. They too are usually always overcrowded with cats and kittens. If you surrender an animal to ANY rescue group, please make sure you inquire with any rescue group/humane society what might happen long term if your cat/kittens do not get adopted.

The ultimate solution is spaying and neutering, even the stray you found, so they cannot produce more animals to suffer needlessly.

Planned Pethood only takes cats and kittens into our adoption program from the Toledo OH area.

(ask our cat coordinator to define if you have a question).

I have to get rid of my cat!

We hear this statement over and over again.

We do want to help if we can. But there are also 72,000 free roaming cats and kittens in Lucas County that need us. The best advice we can tell you is to please do whatever you can to keep your cat. Can a friend or family member take it in? If you are having behavior issues, we can offer the advice you need to hopefully correct the issue. Many times just spaying or neutering will help with MANY behavior problems, like suddenly marking furniture.

Call our FIXX line with your surrender questions at 419-826-FIXX.

I want to adopt a cat I see on your website-what do I do next?

On our available cats page, you will find pictures of most of our cats and kittens that are available for adoption. You can immediately fill out an online adoption application and the foster will get back to you to discuss whether your home might be the right fit for that particular cat/kitten. We suggest this as your first step towards adoption.

You can also go to one of our many adoption events. See our cat adoption event schedule. In addition, you can contact the foster by phone or email. Phone numbers and sometimes email addresses are within each cat's online listing. Fill out the online application, then call or e-mail the foster mom.

Remember, several of our cats and kittens can be seen anytime at the Petsmart in the Spring Meadows Plaza on Airport Highway and at the Petco on Washtenaw-Arborland in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Is there a discount for adopting two cats or kittens?

Yes! If you adopt two adult cats, you can save $10.


We do offer a discount for senior citizens when they adopt an older cat. Ask our cat coordinator for details. You can call her at 419-250-7925.

I need to return my Planned Pethood cat. What do I do now?

Taking your adoption as a serious commitment and understanding that a cats life could be into their mid 20's could be the first step in keeping your cat long term. But things happen and we understand there may come a time where you would have to find another home for your Planned Pethood cat. Serious illnesses, terrible financial hardships and more can sometime make it impossible to keep your animals.

If you are having behavioral issues, DON'T WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE PULLING YOUR HAIR OUT. Contact us now before you even get near the point of returning and we'll be glad to try and help you with whatever change has taken place in your cat's behavior.

Please call our FIXX line at 419-826-FIXX (3499). We will need the original name of the cat, as well as the original/current vet records.

Please note when you adopt a cat or kitten from Planned Pethood, you have signed a contract that the animal must be returned to us to help place into another home.

Why in the world do I need to spay my INDOOR cat? I don't understand.

We have seen it happen time and time again. Cats that are in heat will do ANYTHING, A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G to get out of the home. That means trying to slip by you at the door (and they are crafty--don't think it won't happen to you!) and ripping screens out of the windows during warm months. Spaying/neutering is the only way to solve this. So many people call us and say, my indoor cat got out by accident and is now pregnant, help me.

But they are the lucky ones, usually once the cat gets out, they don't come back, only to be hit by a car or lost for good. Cats cannot take care of themselves and IF they survive, they become just another free-roaming cat getting pregnant over and over and over again.

Also spaying your cat GREATLY REDUCES cancers, including breast cancer and pyometra in females and testicular cancer in male cats.

Do what is right, spay or neuter your cat now.

I'm pregnant and have to get rid of my cat, don't I?

NO! That is an old wives tale. What is true is that pregnant women need to take precautions during their pregnant months when it comes to taking care of your cat.

You should either wear gloves while cleaning the litter box/touching litter or just have another family member take care of the cat's litter box area while you are pregnant.

Also, something we hear all the time is that the cat will lay on the new baby and might hurt or suffocate it. Not the case and you don't have to worry about that.

Babies grow up around cats all the time. Don't trade out your cat baby for a human baby. Be smart, take precautions and all will be a-ok and you'll have a happy baby and happy cat :)

What is wrong with giving kittens away free in the newspaper or by postings?

If your cat had kittens and you can't find help from a rescue group because they are full, what is wrong with giving them away free by placing an ad in the paper or posting flyers? Everything!

Responsible people are more than willing to pay to adopt a cat or kitten from a reputable rescue group, particularly one that spays/neuters prior to adoption. These are the type of people you want providing loving homes for your cat/kittens.

People who are looking at "free kitten/cat" ads usually are financially challenged and do not provide vet care or spay/neuter for their new pets. In addition, many of these "free kittens" end up as live feed for reptiles or dog fighting bait (don't take their word the kittens will get good homes--they look like "normal" people).

We are often told that it's got to be a good home if there are children involved. Ah, that's not always the case.

The so called "free kittens" are usually the ones that are eventually kicked to the curb as they are not spayed/neutered and usually have behavior problems as a result.

I can't keep my cat. Can I just leave it in the woods to take care of itself?

Imagine putting a puppy, a human baby or a child in the woods to fend for themselves. A cat or kitten is just the same. This statement couldn't be farther from the truth.

By the time Planned Pethood rescues some of these kicked to the curb cats, they are sick, emaciated, injured and we have to spend thousands repairing broken limbs, removing terribly infected eyes and medically treating. We can go on and on.

Also most of these cats just end up freezing and dying during the colder months, hit by cars or end up being food for birds of prey and coyotes.

Do you adopt to us out-of-towners?

Sure we do!

(That was easy!)

Do you hold cats?

No sorry. It clogs up foster space and disallows us to continue to save more lives.

Even if I pay for it to be boarded until I can take it?

No, sorry again! We truly believe these cats have been through enough and we don't want to have them put into yet another cage waiting.