Why did you not adopt your pet?

[ChallengingFigureANDUnrulyFlaps]

Hello all,

Our family has always had rescue cats as pets.

I can understand why families with young children would rather get a puppy than adopt a dog from a rescue which may have an unknown history/behaviour issues.

But when it comes to cats, why would anyone get a kitten from a private person rather than adopt a rescue cat?

I'm wondering if the reasons are:

• rescue deemed you not suitable for adoption, perhaps for an odd reason
• your friend's cats had kittens
• you wanted a kitten rather than an older cat (why?)
• something else?

Also interested in hearing though from people who ruled out rescue dogs and got a puppy instead.

Thanks

DCat1 came to us off the street, we took her for a chip check and she wasn’t chipped, we posted on Facebook, asked around and put up posters locally but nobody claimed her, and we’ve had her 10 years this year. She was a young adult when she came to us, so she’s probably around 12 or 13 now. She must have been someone’s cat as she was already spayed, our best guess is that she must’ve got into a delivery van somewhere. Without a chip though, it was impossible to reunite her. I don’t regret keeping her as she is the sweetest, most loving cat.

DCat2 we inherited when DP’s grandparents died.

DCat3 we fostered via a charity I homecheck for as an emergency, fell in love with her and she never left.

DDog came from the same rescue, he has been very hard work as he’s the first dog either of us have owned, but we adore him and have put a lot of work into training him and trying to undo the psychological damage done to him by humans in the past

We also have reptiles that we’ve rehomed from people who could no longer keep them.

So we haven’t bought any of our pets, but only two actually came from a shelter!

Rescues deemed us unsuitable because there is a main road nearby (far enough away that a cat would be unlikely to explore across it though). There are literally dozens of cats in the neighbourhood so clearly it isn't exactly a death trap.

We bought two kittens from.a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who only charged us a fair share of the bills for looking after the accidentally pregnant cat, and getting her spayed asap after she'd had the kittens. We were anxious to avoid getting kittens from anyone who seemed to be deliberately farming kittens for profit.

Because riding horses aren't normally available to adopt, you have to buy them.

DBIL wanted a cat and spent lots of time trying to get a rescue cat but having a primary ages child meant they weren't considered suitable.

They eventually got kittens from a local family selling them and ended up buying the mum too.

My first ever cat was a kitten from a family friend’s cat who thought she was spayed but she wasn’t. I loved him more than my own life and still miss him as an adult.

We have rescued all our other cats (both with my DM and as a couple with DH) but my dog was bred by a family member and I fell in love with him as a 3 week old puppy. I always plan to rescue but sometimes animals come into your life!

I had 2 great cats from the cat protection league.. had 3 rescue dogs in the past. 2 were very aggressive and returned, tried really hard with one for 2 years..lost a dog last year, tried rescues. Originally a 100 mile radius from home. Then phone showed England Ireland Scotland and Wales..we didn't want an elderly dog,staff, brachial face, apart from that,no breed preference.I live on the outskirts of a village near the sea,200ft Garden,5.5ft fences, not considered good enough. Every dog had behavioural problems, reactive to people,bikes,cars, other dogs,no visiting children,my grandkids stay youngest not quite 2.. I don't trust the "I'm heartbroken to have to get rid of my 8 month year old dog, haven't got the time"etc, been stung before,so it was a puppy.

When we were looking for a puppy, amd now we're looking for a kitten, we did look at the rescues but we have children and already have a cat and a dog. I didn't find a single one that could be homed with all 3, so we were automatically out of the running.

Firstly, I did adopt my cat, it was a weird situation and I didn't really mean to.. but 9 years later here we still are!

But.. I am looking into getting a dog and I really want a puppy. It's the same reason I don't want to adopt a child. I want them to have been with me since birth (or as near as damn it), and completely "mine". I am aware this is quite selfish, and am likely to look into adopting as young a dog as possible.

We adopted a dog and a hamster. Not at the same time!

Woman at the local cat shelter said she’d checked out our house on Google maps and discovered that there was a road outside it (?!). She, therefore, couldn’t give us one of ‘her’ cats. We live on a rural lane.

No dog shelter would let us adopt because we had children under 10.

We had always had rescue cats and one of them had been a Burmese blue which was the most loving and beautiful cat we've ever had.

When our last rescue cat died we just really wanted another Burmese so we got a kitten from a breeder. We then realised he needed a play mate because Burmese cats are happier living in pairs so we got another one from the same breeder. I've had 7 cats in my life and only the current two were bought from a breeder.

Skippity pap for you.

We've had both bought and rescued cats and dogs.

The bought were particular breeds we like, which are not available for adoption. We wanted them due to their character when our dc were very young, then fell in love with their personalities and have had others of the same breed once the original ones died.

We have also rescued an insane number of feral cats, some of which we went on to adopt. Our first cats were the only formal adoption from a rescue.

All our adopted and rescued cats have been much loved, but in fairness none of them have been as lovely as our breed ones. Some breeds are just fabulous.

@RickyGervaislovesdogs I've literally just shared a meme about Ricky speaking up for animals. I love his humour and intelligence and he helped me sort out my conflicted thoughts on religion. I luff him and if he ever found himself single and in need of a blowie or a shag, I'd give him one, just to say thanks for the above!

Because it is surprisingly difficult to adopt a cat! Even though the centres are full of them! I understand why they are careful. But it's almost impossible when you have kids.

I grew up with Siamese cats in the 70s and 80s. Over time, 3 cats from 2 different breeders. Beautiful cats - all very different. So, as an adult, I decided that I would like Siamese again. I tried for a long time to adopt through one of the very few specialist Siamese rescue charities. I was declined several times for a multitude of reasons. In the end, I adopted successfully. After he died we adopted twice more. So we now live with Siamese Rescue 2 & 3. It was much easier because I was trusted.
But Rescue 1 was easy - happy to be outside. Rescues 2 & 3 are indoor only. Totally different. The extra work involved and chaos to the household has been very stressful. The cats are damaged by their previous lives. Juggling that and the extra work has been quite stressful and I'm not sure I want to do that again. But I wouldn't buy a kitten. There are too many Siamese needing help.

My daughter's friend cat had kittens and needed homes so we adopted one.

My husband use to be a dog handler so we paid for the working dogs (due to bloodlines and breeding).

This thread went weird. Who dreams of giving Ricky Gervais a blow job 🤢

Having volunteered in rescue (the staff dealt with the adoption side of things), people can get really weird if there isn't a suitable cat for their home, it's not the rescue being difficult, it's making sure the adoption works out.
It's an adoption centre, not fucking Amazon.

Because I contacted a lot of rescues about dogs they had advertised because I totally believe in adopting, not shopping. I know they get a lot of applications but none got back to me or even suggested other alternative animals if the one I was contacting them about was taken by someone else. Or invited me to come and meet the dogs they had in the shelter. I don't know why as we're a good home set up for a dog. Eventually we gave up and bought two puppies from a reputable breeder. They have the best lives. We could have given that to an adopted dog but the rescues are actually responsible for us not having done so.

I always have two or three dogs at a time and I alternate rescue dogs and puppies from a breeder.

It's much easier to train a puppy from scratch (on average) but I want to be able to home homeless dogs.

It's a balance that works.

Tried the two or three local cat rescues but there weren’t any suitable for our family with children at the time (my youngest was 6) so got a kitten from a friend of a friend.

Your first option - Because we got turned down by rescues for stupid reasons. I really wanted to rescue but they made it too hard. So we bought two kittens from a registered breeder instead.

I bought my first cat completely randomly. I was walking through the market and went to see the cute kittens in the pet shop area. He came and started licking my finger through the bars. When I went to leave, he began meowing loudly and that was the day I found out I was soft when it came to animals because I bought him and everything he needed right then and there and brought him home 😅

My other cats since were 1. left with me when the owner never returned for them after I was cat sitting and 2. the only kitten which survived the litter that cat had, as I was told she was spayed and she wasn't.

However my question is, if everybody rescues and nobody buys, then what happens to those that don't get bought? Do they get put down? Sent to rescues that are completely full and can't cope? Abandoned on the streets?

We bought two kittens in lockdown as the rescues were closed.