I don't like seeing adoption fees reduced either, and also worry about the kind of homes cats adopted "on sale" are going to. The sanctuary where I volunteer reduced their adoption fee last month by 50% for seniors, and this month for black cats. Since I adore black cats, this always hits me hard and I'll never get used to the unpopularity of black cats in the U.S. They are as careful as most shelters in assessing potential adopters, although they don't check references or do home checks. Sometimes I see cats up for adoption with them who have been found as strays and had originally been adopted from that shelter. There are no guarantees that any adopted cat is going to be in a home for life, or even that people will be responsible enough to return them to the shelter - who will take them back immediately, no matter how crowded they are. Even cats adopted from Best Friends, in Utah, who do run a background check and make a home visit sometimes end up as strays.

The spay/neuter units that go out into the community have been a big help in reducing the cat population, and there are plenty of low-cost spay/neuter clinics through shelters or rescues. But, as we all know, there are people who find even that too much trouble.

I'm about to start fostering, perhaps a little adoption, FeLV+ cats in the downstairs area of my home and I've corresponded with a few people out-of-state about the cats they have advertised as needing homes. I contacted a woman in Indianna about 6 kittens who came from a mother cat who was positive and she's assuming the kittens will be positive also (she's probably right.) I thought, don't judge, don't assume she simply let her unvaccinated, unspayed cat roam but it seems that's what she did and now she's looking for good homes for the kittens without having the resources to test them or even take them to a vet first. They are gorgeous brown tabbies with pixie-like ears, it's an awful shame.

Perhaps I'm wrong about the east coast having more unadopted cats. Perhaps the east coast simply advertises more, shouts for help more.