The short answer
Rehome her privately if you can. Listing on LocalPetFinder is free, takes about ten minutes, and your cat stays home while you pick the family. Charge a modest fee, disclose FIV and FeLV status in writing, and never post the words free to good home. If private rehoming will not work, SPCA St. John's takes owner surrenders by appointment for $30, with a long summer backlog. Before either one, book a vet visit if litter habits are the problem. That complaint is medical far more often than owners expect.
You Are Not Failing Your Cat
Most people land on this page at an odd hour feeling awful about it. Rents climb. A landlord changes the rules. A baby arrives and somebody in the house starts wheezing. A relationship ends and the flat that fitted two people and a cat now fits one. The volunteers who run rescue on the Avalon have heard every version of this, and the owners they actually worry about are not the ones sitting up reading about how to do it properly.
A careful, screened rehoming is an act of care. The cats who come off worst are the ones put out the back door to fend for themselves, handed to the first stranger who answers an ad, or dropped somewhere quiet by an owner who ran out of ideas at midnight. None of that is you.
First: Is the Problem Actually Fixable?
Not always, and no judgement either way. But cats have a habit of presenting fixable problems as permanent ones, so it is worth one honest pass before you list.
- Peeing outside the box. The most common surrender reason and the one most likely to be medical. Urinary crystals, a bladder infection, or sore joints that make a tall box hurt all read as bad behaviour from across the room. See a vet first. When it is not medical, it is usually box logistics: one box per cat plus a spare, uncovered, unscented litter, and somewhere she does not have to pass another animal to reach.
- Spraying or marking. Intact cats spray far more than altered ones, so if she has not been fixed, that is the first move. The SPCA's SNAP program prices a cat neuter at $100 and a spay at $180 for income-qualified households. Beyond that, marking usually traces back to a stressor: a new pet, a move, or a neighbourhood cat visible through the window.
- Shredded furniture. Not a reason to give up a cat, and declawing is not the answer anywhere in Canada now. Two tall sisal posts, a horizontal cardboard scratcher beside whatever she is currently ruining, and nail caps solve almost every case for the price of one vet visit.
- Allergies. Get an allergy panel from a doctor before assuming the cat is the trigger, because a fair number of suspected cat allergies turn out to be dust or mould, and older housing stock around the city has plenty of both. A HEPA purifier, a bedroom the cat does not enter, and weekly damp-wipe grooming buy many households years.
- A bill rather than a cat problem. Ask your clinic about payment plans directly, because plenty offer them and few advertise it. Phoning two or three clinics for quotes is worth the twenty minutes, since prices genuinely differ across the Avalon.
- A short-term crisis. A hospital stay, sudden travel, six weeks between leases. Ask friends and family plainly, and say the word temporary when you ask, because that is a completely different request than surrender and people answer it differently.
Your Options in St. John's
Option 1: Private Rehoming
You find the home yourself, either through your own network or by listing free on LocalPetFinder. You read the replies, ask the questions, and say yes only when you mean it. The cat leaves your house once, on the day you agree, and arrives straight into the next one.
Pros
- ✓ You choose the family
- ✓ No shelter room, no cage stress
- ✓ Free to list, no waitlist
- ✓ You set the fee and the terms
- ✓ Bonded pairs stay together on your terms
Cons
- • The screening work is yours
- • Typically two to six weeks
- • You feel the goodbye directly
Option 2: SPCA Surrender
SPCA St. John's at 120 East White Hills Road accepts owner surrenders by appointment for a $30 fee. It is a serious operation and the first shelter in the province to alter every animal before adoption, so a cat surrendered there leaves fully vetted. It is the right route when the cat genuinely has to move and no private option exists, or when she needs medical work you cannot fund.
Pros
- ✓ Professional handoff, they take it from there
- ✓ Medical work and altering done before adoption
- ✓ A large established audience across the Avalon
Cons
- • $30 fee, appointment required
- • July to October intake backs up badly
- • You lose all say in who adopts
- • Shelter rooms stress most cats
How it works: email info@spcastjohns.org with details about your animal and the shelter sends back a form. All surrenders are by appointment. Between July and October you may be asked to keep caring for your cat until a slot opens, because injured and sick animals take priority. General line (709) 726-0301. Full policy at spcastjohns.org. Never leave an animal at the building after hours; the SPCA states that this is illegal and unsafe.
Option 3: Foster-Based Rescue
Foster rescues place cats into volunteers' spare rooms rather than shelter kennels, which is the gentlest surrender outcome available for a cat. Heavenly Creatures works this way across St. John's, and Feral Felines Rescue and Rehabilitation runs trap-neuter-return alongside rescue work reaching from St. John's to Clarenville. Whether either can take an owner-surrendered cat depends on free foster capacity at that moment, so ask them directly rather than assuming.
Pros
- ✓ A real house rather than a shelter room
- ✓ Behaviour observed properly before placement
- ✓ Careful, match-led adoptions
Cons
- • Intake capped by free foster rooms
- • Volunteers reply in days, not minutes
- • You lose say in the final placement
“Everyone Says They Are Full”
When the SPCA says the next surrender appointment is weeks out and the foster groups say they have nothing free, that is the system being full. It is almost never a verdict on your cat.
The arithmetic on the Avalon is unforgiving in summer. Colonies persist year-round under decks, wharves and outbuildings around the city, which is why kittens arrive here in waves rather than steadily, and those litters take priority over a healthy adult with a home to sleep in tonight. The SPCA says openly that from July through October it may need you to keep caring for your pet until space opens. Foster networks can hold exactly as many cats as they have empty spare rooms. Well-loved cats get turned away every week purely on space, and their owners hang up convinced they have run out of road. They have not. A shelter place is only one route to an adopter, and it is not the fastest one.
Cat Intake in St. John's (Quick Reference)
| Organisation | Owner surrenders? | How to enquire |
|---|---|---|
| SPCA St. John's | Yes, by appointment, $30 fee. Backs up July to October | spcastjohns.org / (709) 726-0301 |
| City of St. John's Humane Services | Municipal centre, around 65 cat spaces, largely committed to strays. Phone and describe your situation | stjohns.ca / 709-576-6126 |
| Heavenly Creatures | Foster-based, capacity depends on free foster homes. Ask directly | heavenlycreatures.ca / 709.739.0077 |
| Feral Felines Rescue and Rehabilitation | Colony and TNR focus, some rehabilitation placements. Ask about your specific cat | feralfelinesrescue.com |
Capacity changes week to week and this table is a starting point rather than a promise. If everyone says no, the next move is private rehoming.
Skip the waitlist: rehome her privately
A LocalPetFinder listing takes about ten minutes and costs nothing. Your cat appears alongside rescue cats, in front of the same St. John's adopters already browsing the shelters, without waiting for a room to empty.
Start Your Free Listing →How to Rehome Your Cat on LocalPetFinder
Submit Your Listing
Fill out the rehoming form: name, coat type, age, sex, altered status, litter habits, indoor or outdoor history, FIV and FeLV status, how she is with children, dogs and other cats, and at least one clear photo. Daylight, eye level, face visible. Honesty is the whole strategy. The listing that says shy for two weeks then a lap cat forever finds the adopter who wants exactly that.
We Review Within 24 to 48 Hours
Every listing gets checked for completeness, photo quality and red flags before it goes live. Once approved, your cat appears alongside rescue cats on the St. John's cat listings with an Owner Rehoming badge, so adopters know exactly what they are looking at.
Adopters Contact You
Interested people reach out through the platform and your email is never shown publicly. You decide who to answer, who to meet, and how quickly to move. Your cat stays home the whole time, which takes the pressure off saying yes to the first message that arrives.
Meet, Transfer, Done
Cats do not do neutral-ground meetings the way dogs do. A carrier in a park is a terrified cat, so hold the meeting at your home, then visit theirs or ask for a video walkthrough before the handover. When it feels right, hand over the records, the food, the litter and the blanket, take the fee by e-transfer for the paper trail, and update the microchip registration. Most rehomings here finish in two to six weeks.
The Cat-Specific Things You Must Disclose
Dog rehoming guides talk about bite history. For cats the equivalent list looks different, and getting it wrong is how a placement fails in week three.
Indoor or outdoor history
A cat used to going out will try the door of a new house, and a cat who has never been out will panic if the new owner assumes she wants to. Say which she is. If she has had outdoor access, tell the adopter honestly, and be aware that keeping her in is safer here anyway. Wind, driving rain and fog roll in fast on the Avalon, downtown streets are steep and busy, and a disoriented cat in an unfamiliar neighbourhood is a poor bet. Our indoor versus outdoor guide covers the safer middle options.
Litter setup and any history of accidents
Tell them how many boxes she had, where they sat, which litter she uses and whether she has ever stopped using them. If a vet ruled out a medical cause, say that too, because it is reassuring rather than damaging. Send a scoop of used litter to the new box so the smell carries over. That one trick prevents a great many first-week accidents.
FIV and FeLV status
Disclose it in writing, and hand over the test results. An FIV positive cat is far more placeable than owners fear, since they live ordinary lives indoors and often live safely with other cats. FeLV is more restrictive and the adopter needs to know before they introduce her to a resident cat. If she has never been tested, say untested rather than implying negative.
Bonded pairs stay together
If two cats groom each other, sleep touching and search the house when separated, they are bonded and they go as a pair. Splitting them produces two anxious cats who often stop eating or start soiling, which is how both end up back in the system. Advertise them as a pair from the start. Some adopters specifically want two, because a bonded pair settles faster and keeps each other company through a working day.
Age, health and what she costs to keep
Dental disease, a thyroid condition, a special diet, arthritis in an older cat. Put the ongoing cost in plain numbers, such as a monthly medication figure, and let the adopter budget honestly. Seniors and cats with a managed condition do get adopted here. Cats whose conditions surface on day four get returned.
Screening Adopters Without Apologising For It
Charge a fee, always
Somewhere between $40 and $150. The number matters less than the fact of it. A fee filters out the impulse takers and the people who collect free animals to flip, and it tells anyone reading that this cat is loved rather than surplus. You can waive it quietly for the applicant who turns out to be right. If keeping the money feels wrong, hand it to a local rescue.
Ask the questions that actually predict outcomes
Who else lives there, human and animal. Whether they own or rent, and if they rent, whether the lease allows cats in writing. Whether the household intends to keep her indoors. Which vet they use, and whether you may phone for a reference. What happens to the cat if they move next year. Good adopters expect these questions and are reassured to be asked. Anyone offended by them has told you something useful.
See the home, or see it on video
You are looking for the obvious things: an open balcony ten storeys up, a house full of animals nobody mentioned, a story that does not match the messages. A video walkthrough is a fair compromise for somebody driving in from Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South or Torbay, which is normal and worth encouraging, because the metro area is your real audience rather than the city proper.
Write it down
A one-page agreement, signed by both, keeps everyone honest. Cover the cat's name, age, microchip number and coat description, the transfer date, the fee and how it was paid, what went with her, the FIV and FeLV disclosure, and a return clause: if it does not work out within 30 days, the cat comes back at no cost. Add a first-refusal line if you want it, saying that if the new owner ever rehomes her they will offer her back to you first. You do not need a lawyer. A signed text document is adequate.
Red Flags and the Free-to-Good-Home Trap
Walk away from any of these, however keen you are to get this finished:
- “I will take any cat you have.” Real adopters are picky about age, temperament and household fit. Generic interest is a collector or a flipper.
- Anyone who will not show you where the cat will live. A video walkthrough is a reasonable compromise. A flat refusal is not.
- Pressure to hand her over today, especially from someone who found the listing an hour ago.
- Wanting a free mouser or barn cat with no other questions. Some working-cat placements are genuinely good. An indoor pet dropped on an outbuilding in a Newfoundland winter is not one of them.
- Offering well over your asking fee, particularly for a kitten or a cat that looks purebred.
- Vagueness about who else lives there, or answers that change between messages.
- Refusing to give a vet reference despite claiming years of cat ownership.
- Any handover pushed to a car park at night, with no address and no follow-up contact.
Free-to-good-home posts on classifieds sites such as Kijiji are the single biggest source of these encounters, and cats are targeted more than dogs because they are small, quiet and easy to move on. That is the whole reason the fee matters. If you post anywhere else alongside your listing, treat every reply with the scrutiny you would apply to handing over a car, and remember you are allowed to say no without giving a reason.
St. John's-Specific Practicalities
The cat licence
St. John's licenses cats, which surprises nearly everyone who has owned cats elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. The fee is $15, the same as a dog. Point the new owner at the City's pet licence page or humaneservices@stjohns.ca so they can sort it in the first week, and let your own registration lapse once they confirm. Note that a licence is separate from the microchip registry, which you update directly with whichever registry holds the chip.
Timing the listing
If you have any flexibility, avoid listing an adult cat at the height of kitten season, when every shelter on the Avalon is full of litters and adopters are spoiled for choice. Autumn and winter are quieter and your listing carries further. Build slack into handover plans for a fog day, because visibility here genuinely cancels things, and never move a cat during a storm if the date can shift.
Who to contact
SPCA St. John's, 120 East White Hills Road, (709) 726-0301, info@spcastjohns.org, for surrender enquiries and the SNAP spay and neuter program. City of St. John's Humane Services, 81 Higgins Line, 709-576-6126, humaneservices@stjohns.ca, for licensing and animal control questions. Heavenly Creatures, 709.739.0077, for foster-based cat rescue. Feral Felines Rescue and Rehabilitation for colony and semi-feral cats.
Wider reading
The American Veterinary Medical Association publishes a practical guide to rehoming a pet responsibly, covering the screening and handover questions in more depth than any single article can. If you are on the other side of this and thinking about taking a cat in, our guide to St. John's cat rescues covers who has cats and what they charge, and the dog version of this guide handles the same process for dogs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I rehome my cat in St. John's?+
Is rehoming the same as surrendering?+
How do I surrender a cat to SPCA St. John's?+
Will the City shelter take my cat?+
Should I charge a rehoming fee for a cat?+
Why is my cat suddenly peeing outside the litter box?+
Do I have to tell adopters my cat is FIV positive?+
My two cats are bonded. Do they have to go together?+
How long does rehoming a cat take in St. John's?+
What should I send with the cat?+
Does the cat licence transfer to the new owner?+
What if I cannot afford my cat any more?+
Related St. John's Guides
Ready to Start?
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List Your Cat Free →New cat? Start with these care guides
Everything a new adopter needs to set up a safe, happy home.