Pets4homes

[KindergartenKop]

I'm sure I've heard negative things on here about pets4homes and I was wondering if it was directed at all the animals or just the young kittens/puppies that are potentially farmed?

When I come out of mourning for my recently deceased Dcat I'll be looking for a young adult cat to adopt. On pets4homes they have several that are being re-homed due to house moves etc and they are free and there are others charging £350 to re-home the cat. Why? Are the ones that charge dodgy?

Am following as Am interested in people’s thoughts

I wouldn't trust anyone on that site. Just go straight to a rescue

Some of the issues are

Puppies/kittens coming from breeding farms.

Sometimes when you give out animals for free , there is a risk they'd go to an irresponsible /Christmas gift owner or worse,be used as bait for fighting dogs. The lack of care of the previous owner as to where the animals go doesn't sit right with me.

You take someone's world about the animal's history ... you can't possibly know if the cat is rehomed due to a house move or because it's stressed out/ill and peeing everywhere for example. Or that a dog isn't aggressive ,hasn't had any training etc.

No checks if the animal is suitable to your home,family or lifestyle.

There's also a possibility of buying an animal that was stolen .

These are just a few of issues that come up with sites like these.

Pets4Homes is a cesspit of greeders and crap owners who hide the expensive / difficult problems their pet has to get shot of it asap.

Why not go to a local rescue centre? At least then you'll know they've been vet checked, neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and independently assessed for behaviour.

I do see adverts sometimes that look genuine. People with a beloved dog that's neutered (therefore have spent money on the dog). Some reasons seem to be that they want to check you and your home out personally and maintain contact with the dog. I can understand wanting to attempt to bypass a time in kennels and attempt to choose the right home.

I wonder about dogs being rehomed though, why are they being rehomed. I think some poor animals never have a settled home.

If i was desperately ill and couldn't look after my dogs what would i do? Not Pets4Homes but then rehoming via a rescue means a permanent loss of contact.

Thighthighofthigh in that circumstance a rescue would be ideal. Our local shelter often has dogs who are loved but their owners can no longer care for them (often due to old age) and they are rehomed locally by people who are aware of the situation and can offer updates on how the dog is settling in. The original owners know the new owners have been checked and approved.

Please steer clear of sites like these. If everybody did then they wouldn't exist for long. I have a rescue dog and it hasn’t all been plain sailing but its amazing to know that you are providing everything the dog needs and getting the love back makes it all worthwhile :)

I rehomed a dog from Pets4homes 4 years ago. It cost me £250.

He was 1 year old, neutered, wormed, fully vaccinated. Came with an expensive bed (which he still uses), a blanket she had knitted for him (which we still have), his vet booklet, 1 year worth of work/flea meds.

He was too young and bouncy for her. She had two older dogs who were incredibly calm, but this dog was just tearing around the house.

She was in hysterics when I left. I still update her via WhatsApp.

When we were looking for a puppy recently, a number of the KC registered breeders were also advertising on this site. I don't think its all dodgy at all. You just need to be careful.

Online classifieds just aren't a good way to acquire an animal - there's no regulation or way of checking the animal's welfare.

As with all online classifieds, there is a scam risk - in fairness, PAH do have a warning on the site not to pay money in advance, but where an animal is concerned there's a danger of being guilt-tripped into doing this, or getting carried away if you lose your heart to an animal and want to 'secure' the purchase.

People looking for cats and kittens to use in dog-fighting trawl these sites for free or very cheap animals, so I would never in a million years use them to rehome a pet.

There's no way of checking whether pedigree animals might be farmed; or if they are backyard breeders, whether health checks have been carried out.

If you buy moggie/mongrel kits/pups from the site you are encouraging people to breed them in a world full of unwanted cats and dogs.

Your best bet is to go to a reputable local rescue. If you want a pedigree animal, find a breed club and ask for recommendations for responsibly bred, health tested animals - and be prepared to join a waiting list for a litter.

Sites like this pander to the 'I want it now' culture and make it all too easy to buy an animal with little more than the click of a button, rather than giving proper thought to whether you can cope with the animal in your life (I am not saying this is you, OP, I'm talking about the culture that means these sites thrive).

You might be lucky and get the perfect pet as I am sure there are genuine, albeit naive, people using these sites, but you could end up with a sick or behaviourally challenged animal, or one with a genetic ticking time-bomb such as a heart condition.

My advice is to steer well clear.

I think it entirely depends.

We found our DPup on an advert on Pets4Homes but he is a pedigree and they are kennel club registered breeders (which we were able to confirm).

That said, when we were looking and since then I've seen lots of pedigrees (same breed) on there from other breeders who are clearly over breeding/puppy farming.

I think whatever means you use to find an animal breeder you absolutely have to do your own independent research and checks on them.

I absolutely 100% would never buy a pet that was being rehomed or "free to home" on any website, always always go to a local rescue for rehoming!

It makes me sad to think of pets as commodities. They're such loving creatures and utterly dependent on your commitment. When mine eventually go they will have only had one home from 10 weeks to death. I think they'd be so bewildered to be rehomed.

Please, everyone, only get a pet if you're in it for their whole life.

Archie at Battersea has been there for a really long time

RSPCA or cat's protection would be my first choice

Thanks for the info, I'll stick to cats protection or Battersea.

I agree with the above. As you seem to be in London OP please consider Celia Hammonds: www.celiahammond.org

I've had a kitten and a puppy from pets4homes with no problems atall.
The kitten was a litter with its mum, I visited a couple of times before buying. She's a lovely cat.
The puppy was seen with mum and siblings, the breeder had them vaccinated, microchipped and insured for a month. she bought them all a present for their new homes. She started a file on each puppy with weights, flea, working etc.
she has meet ups with all the puppys and will look after them at the drop of a hat, she's amazing and genuinely loves the puppys like her own.

Thank you, I didn't know Celia Hammond existed!
I want all the cats. They're so cute.

we are getting a kitten soon from a lovely breeder that was recommended to us. Met her a couple of times- couldn’t fault her. Found her advertising on Pets4Homes. Think just need to be watchful, they’re not all bad.

Hmmm, my understanding is people who give away pets for free obviously dont care enough about animals and are therefore dodgey.

Surely everyone knows a animal lover will pay money for a pet?

I think people who do charge are genuinely looking for a loving home for their pet, the money is an insurance, making sure their pet is more likely to go to someone who will want it and not be used for fight bait.. which is much more common than people think.

Please dont give animals away for free :(

If you care at all about cat welfare you should never buy a moggie kitten (I don't agree with pedigrees either in fact, but let's leave that aside for now). If you buy a kitten you are encouraging people to keep on letting their cat have kittens, or even doing it deliberately. There are far too many cats in the country/world for the number of homes available, so everything possible needs to be done to get as many as possible neutered. If these irresponsible owners manage to get homes for their kittens then they won't see it as a necessity. There are thousands of kittens being born that can't get homes, and rescues don't have space for them all. Anyone allowing their cat to have kittens and selling them on sites like this is taking homes that could have gone to the kittens in rescues.

If you buy a kitten from sites like this then you are part of the problem. The only way to be part of the solution is to adopt cats/kittens from rescues (and of course to neuter straight away).

OP - I hope you're in our catchment area (we cover most of London except West) and the sooner you can come the better. This is probably the worst time of year for rescues - we're in the throes of the second litters of the year (cats have litters twice a year - in Spring and late Summer), and all the people who wanted kittens got the Spring-born ones, so it's always harder to find homes for the later ones. Added to that is the fact that most people wait until the end of the holidays to adopt as they are planning to go away. Consequently at this time of year rescues are bursting - and there are hundreds of thousands of cats and kittens out there that we simply don't have room for.

Also the second litters of the year tend to have a lot more black kittens than the Spring ones - and people don't want black. There are more black ones because it was the black kittens that were left and not sold on sites such as the one we are discussing and, as the owners who sell on these sites aren't the sort of responsible people who neuter (if they were then they wouldn't be trying to flog kittens in the first place) then those black kittens are now having kittens of their own and, as they are black, their kittens are more likely to be black.

I love Black cats, I went out of my way to find a black kitten. There wernt many about!

And rescue centres wouldn't let us have one (not that they had any black ones) as I had a 12 year old cat already
They are now best pals

We got ddog from a farmer advertising on it, we did our research, saw the parents etc. They can be genuine, just be careful

My beautiful floss.

Bought from pets4homes

I was however told she was a ragdoll.. she's clearly not, so be careful if you're looking for a specific breed. But all the same she was worth the money. I wasnt specifically looking for breed. But was looking for a black cat.

Statistically the reason there is a drop in sales for black animals is before they do not show up on photographs and dont picture well. So off to find a black cat I went..

My floss pictures beautifully and shes the most cuddly loving cat I could ever imagine.

Black cats are wonderful. I've heard the thing about them not photographing well, too, but I think it's rubbish - as the lovely picture of Floss shows.