Seeking Insight and Advise on Pets.

I IMPLORE you NOT to just let them outside...they are not wild animals, they are domesticated pets and would not fair well outside. How cruel..would you drop your kids off in the woods? Having a pet means making a commitment.
Sadly I live in a duplex area and people are forever moving and leaving a pet to fend for itself. I have 3 indoor only cats that I have "adopted" or have adopted me really, 2 were stray kittens when I took them in, one was a re-homed rescue. What is really sad is I feed 4 or more Feral cats daily...these are Not pets anymore, I cannot even get them to trust a human and as much as it makes me sad I would say each one of them would be better off being put down...a life outside is not a grand life.
You have done nothing to prepare your children for how to treat animals...I have a 3 year old who is on the spectrum for goodness sakes and he knows how we treat animals.
Big mom sigh for you...you have not been responsible, please be responsible now, even if it means taking them to a shelter. I will have you know I have found homes for multiple strays, one kitten already this year. Post on Craigslist or see if you have a local freecycle. There are MANY options.

**what my response was to the personal message I received calling me names and accusing me of Not reading the original post**
I read every word of what you typed and I even went back since you sent this and re read what you posted AND re read my response. I do not see how any bit of it was inappropriate in the least.
I do not think my response was nasty...you were irresponsible. You have not taught your children how to appropriately interact with their pets...I wish you no animosity, it is simply I am sick of animals that are totally dependent on their owners being mistreated.
I am not going to say that I am sorry for what I posted as a response. I wish you no ill will. I hope that you will not take my one response and think that mamapedia is not a good site because I for one love mamapedia and think it is an awesome site. I think you are being over sensitive because you feel guilty. I am not saying you should keep the cats, I just wanted you to REALLY understand what an awful thing it would be to turn the cats out...my concern was and is for the cats...not so much your feelings right now, you are an adult. Having a pet is expensive AND time consuming. I was not insulting your child more reproaching you for not taking the time to teach her how to interact with the cat.
I am not on here to make enemies, nor am I on here to insult people...if you have any doubt look up any of the number of responses I have posted, I do Care...but in this incident I am more concerned for the cats well beings as I am an animal lover and it breaks my heart to see animals abandoned. I went so far as to read others responses as well...everyone told you turning them out was the wrong choice.
I honestly do not understand why you think I did not read your post before I responded.
You have updated several times now...a Really nice update would be if the cats have been re homed.
Best regards...
B.

My first thought would be to call your vet - they may be able to refer you to a local cat rescue group who would be willing to take the kittens. Secondly, you might want to put an ad for them on petfinder.com -it is a website both for people seeking pets and people with pets they can no longer care for. Sorry it didn't work out for you, but please try to find them a good home!

It depends upon the shelter. They all have different policies. Just ask them -- they will tell you the truth of their policies. So try checking with your local shelter or humane society. If you have something like Craigslist in OH, try posting them there for a small fee to ensure a good home.

Please do not abandon them outside. Since they are not fixed, they will just breed more uncared for stray cats. You never should have taken them if you weren't commited to their care. You comment on how your children are "not good with them", but then say "poor girl" that your daughter has scatches on her face???? Unfortunatly, I think the most humane thing to do would be to take them to a shelter (whether they get put down or not). If you let them loose, it will just create more unfortunate cats in the same uncared for position.

Most shelters give them 7 days tops before they're put down. And they wont stand a chance in the wild especially in the middle of winter. One problem where I live is coyotes. Let the cat out for a little bit and they never come back or you find their remains somewhere near your house. The predators are already having a hard time finding prey, cats are easy pickings for them. Do not let them get ripped apart viciously. Sorry if that's to graphic but its the cold hard truth. Post adds, craigslist, petfinder, your local paper. Anything but dumping them off somewhere to frolick into the mouth of a wild animal.

Just wondering, What did the "poor girl" do to the poor cat to get those scratches?

I agree with Amanda W and would write the same thing (probably not as well :-). I'd like to add in our are there would also be a chance of them being killed/mamed by other wild animals or hit by a car. Isn't it pretty cold in Cincinnati right now? I think their chances are better at the Shelter than let loose outside. Yes they may be put down but it would be a humane death compared to what could happen in the wild for them.

There was no mention of your kids abusing the cat:) I think you should take things more objectively if you are going to continue to solicit opinions and advice. This is obviously a very passionate topic for some, as the welfare of live animals are involved in the discussion. You have to expect some people to be set off at the thought of those kittens being made to suffer to death in the dead of winter. I do think that some people may have interpreted that your choice was to let them roam the countryside, when you were really just asking what the best option was.

Anyways, I agree that taking them to any kind of shelter would be the most humane thing to do in the middle of winter.

Hope everything works out.

I'm glad you were able to find a solution, and I'm sorry some where giving you a hard time about it. First, thank you for taking the 2 in and giving them a home and good care! Second, thank you for taking responsibility to find them a safe place to transition to their new lives with another family.

Unfortunately kittens and little kids just don't mix well sometimes (and even older cats don't sometimes).

If you decide to get other cats in future, and want to adopt, go through an adoption program that does temperament testing on the animals--basically it evaluates the animals to help determine what kind of family they best fit with (kids or no kids, lots of activity or none, etc.). This can help it better a better match for the pet and the owner.