Rehoming inherited cats

[derxa]

I have inherited two cats. They live in my dad's old house. My son and I are living there atm but we will have to go back to the family home quite soon. I know I have to rehome them. Trouble is my son has taken a shine to them and would be heartbroken to get rid of them. I'm not a cat person.
House is in the south of Scotland and we live in SE England. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Not really useful, but my OH isn't a cat person at all. As the rest of the family really are, he learnt to be cat-tolerant.
No chance you could?
The age, temperament and health of the cats will affect their rehoming chances, as well as superficialities such as colouring. Contact the local shelters and see what they sugges.

Is there really no way you can give them a home, derxa ?

Seniorboy came to live with me when my Mum died and he's now very much my cat. I was lucky, though, in that I had a vacancy at the time so the whole thing was fairly automatic.

My DH wouldn't like it cozie. They scratch on the furniture and are not outdoor cats.

Are they specific breeds or moggies?

If moggies, then the cats protection league or other local no kill rescue would be the best bet, but they may have waiting lists. If older or unusual colours the cats could then have a lengthy wait for a home.

Whatever you do, avoid gumtree et al. People acquire animals on there for horrible purposes.

The kindest thing really would be to keep them yourselves. My dad was quite resistant to getting cats many years ago, now he utterly dotes on them and has two of his own!

*Or not unusual colours

scratching the furniture can be cured by buying scratching posts or flat cardboard scratchers and indoor cats can be turned into outdoor indoor cats is easier than other way round, i inherited a 16 year old cat who had never been outside within four weeks he had become a cat who went outside and came back in again just like the other cats in the house, but if you really have to rehome them put them on waiting lists for rescues

Honestly if you keep the cats they will work their magic on you and your dh. They're amazing like that. I've known so many people be converted just by living with them.

Just left a message with CPL. It's all very difficult

If scratching is the only issue, then you can discourage it by spraying them with water when they do it (not nice, but nicer than rehoming them). They also dislike citrus smells, so I spray the back of our sofa with water with a dash of lemon from time to time which seems to help. What is your house like, is it in a quiet road? you could gradually introduce them to outside, then they will probably prefer scratching on trees and fence posts anyway.