How to List a Kitten or Cat for Adoption in Canada

What criteria should you set for cat adopters?

Write criteria for the cat in front of you, not a generic checklist, and apply the same list to every applicant.

• Home: indoor only, or supervised outdoor time in a secure enclosure; Calgary, for example, requires cats to stay on their owner's property.
• People: children's ages, and whether a shy cat needs an adult-only home.
• Other pets: dogs, other cats, small animals.
• Time and budget: daily play, grooming for a long coat, and vet care for a senior or a cat with medical needs.
• Kittens: whether you place them only in pairs or with another young cat.

How do you prepare a cat before listing it for adoption?

1. Book a vet exam, vaccines, deworming and parasite treatment, and get a written record.
2. Spay or neuter if the cat is old enough. Montreal requires it, and a microchip, for cats over six months unless a vet gives a written medical reason.
3. Microchip the cat and register the chip, ready to transfer.
4. Vaccinate against rabies where required; Ontario, for example, requires it for cats over three months.
5. Note behaviour in a home setting: litter habits, scratching, handling, and reactions to children, dogs and other cats.
6. Keep kittens with their mother until at least 8 weeks; Quebec prohibits separating them earlier.

How much should a cat adoption fee be in Canada?

A fee covers part of the vet work and discourages impulse and resale replies. These figures help you set one:

A lower fee for a senior or a cat with medical needs can help it find a home. Avoid listing any cat as free: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says animal frauds often start with free or cheap animals, and free cats also attract people who resell or breed them.

How do you write a cat adoption listing?

• Basics: name, age, sex, colour, spay or neuter status, microchip and vaccines.
• Personality: in plain words, with an example, such as sleeps on the bed but hides from visitors for an hour.
• Health: any condition, medication, special diet or dental work, and what it costs to manage.
• Home wanted: your criteria from above.
• Process and fee: application, meeting, any home check, what the fee includes, and your city.

When it is ready, post your cat for adoption, and look at other cats and kittens for adoption near you to see how detailed profiles compare. Applicants reply through PetzLover's messages, so you can screen them before sharing your address; keep your phone number out of the ad text.

How should you screen cat adoption applicants?

1. Ask every applicant the same written questions: household, children, other pets, landlord permission, past cats and their vet.
2. Talk by phone or video with the best applicants about the cat's needs and anything you disclosed.
3. Call the vet or a reference if the applicant has had cats before.
4. Arrange a meeting with the cat at your home or the foster home.
5. Do a home check or a video tour to see where the cat will sleep, eat and play.
6. Decide, and tell unsuccessful applicants kindly.

What should a cat adoption contract include?

• Names and addresses of both parties, and the date.
• The cat's description, microchip number and the health issues you disclosed.
• The fee and what it covers, and a spay or neuter deadline if the cat is too young.
• Care standards: vet care, indoor or supervised outdoor time, and no declawing. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association strongly opposes elective declawing; its 2022 statement lists it as prohibited in eight provinces, and Quebec banned it in 2024.
• A return clause: the cat comes back to you, not to a stranger or a shelter, if the adopter cannot keep it.
• Permission for follow-up contact.

If you place cats often, have a lawyer in your province review your template, since contract law is provincial.

What Canadian rules apply, and how do you follow up?

• Criminal Code: wilfully causing an animal unnecessary suffering, or failing to provide suitable and adequate food, water, shelter and care, is an offence.
• Provincial welfare law: Ontario's Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019, for example, sets standards of care; report animals in distress in Ontario to 1-833-9-ANIMAL. In Quebec, a shelter permit is required as soon as a cat is in a place that takes animals in for adoption.
• Imports: the CFIA requires cats 3 months or older to arrive with a vet certificate showing rabies vaccination.
• Licensing: remind adopters to license the cat where they live; in Calgary licences cannot be transferred.

Message the adopter after a few days, a few weeks and a few months, confirm the microchip is in their name, and take the cat back promptly if the placement is not working. Adopters may read how to adopt a kitten or cat; owners placing their own pet may prefer how to rehome your cat responsibly, and breeders can read how to sell kittens and cats.