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

Our current pair are from a rescue. My previous 5 cats (not all at once!) were from friends who gave them to me when they moved overseas (two sets of friends, three cats) or moved somewhere where they could not keep cats (one friend, two cats).

Our original cat was a farm kitten - we bought her after we saw a sign on the side
of the road offering kittens for sale. She passed away last summer.

Our current oldest cat was a private "rehome" for £10 via Gumtree. We already had resident cat and most rescues didn't want their cats to live with other cats, so we went down the purchase route.

The dog came from a breeder because again, most places wouldn't re-home to us as we already had cats. One place also rejected us because our garden was "too small" 🙄

The youngest two cats were both from separate farm litters - both completely spontaneous and unplanned additions. One came along during lockdown and the youngest we got last summer after OG cat passed away.

First dog was a rescue. He cost 30 quid and a massive bowl of scrambled egg! The shelter he was in was rammed with german shepherds and staffies and he was a lone jack Russell. He'd been in 14 days, the longest there and was next in line for the chop. We took him after 1 short walk.
Ex wanted a puppy jack Russell so she became boss of the first jack. Got them both to age 16.
Remarried and dh wanted a puppy. We looked at rescues but nobody would rehome to us as we both work full time( opposite shifts) I would adopt tomorrow if I could but as soon as you mention you work they're not interested.

For our cat, we wanted a kitten specifically because we planned to raise it as a house cat since we lived in a flat. The rescue cats and kittens we did look at all had all been outdoor cats previously and it seemed cruel to change that for them. We also wanted a specific breed which isn't often found in rescues. We wanted that breed because they're known for being very docile and affectionate, good with kids, make good indoor cats and we love their looks.

For our dog, we loved the breed and again they aren't commonly found in rescues. Since we were inexperienced owners who wanted kids in future, we wanted to raise a puppy from scratch rather than take on an adult dog with additional needs or unpredictable behaviour. All the dogs in rescues near us were either much bigger than we were comfortable with or explicitly stated they needed a cat and child free home, so we couldn't adopt anyway.

Sadly it seems quite hard to get a rescue. I have read it again on these very pages. Our history is that we bought our first cat from a petshop (would not recommend now, though she was fine), I rescued our second one from the street and the third which we used to chase away as it was eating our cat 's food invited himself in as it was fireworks day and he was terrified.

We bought a kitten because the rescues near us wouldn't let us adopt because we have an older cat and a child and so we're deemed unsuitable.

We adopted our older cat (and his now deceased sister) and even then had to "lie" to the rescue (rspca) and say one of us would be home most days (because apparently cats get lonely if their humans aren't with them all day 🙄), and that we were going to get a cat flap fitted in our glass door, otherwise they wouldn't let us adopt. (We didn't do that, and all our cats just "knock" on the door or shout when they want to come in/go out).

My first cat (71 years ago) came because my mother woke up to a terrible crunching sound coming from my bedroom, which was a mouse chewing the Lino. She asked around and acquired a kitten which was supposed to come for a line of good mousers. She was a good mouser ( when she was big enough, she was tiny when she arrived) but she was also my best friend and companion for the next 14 years. I presume she cost something, but she might just have been free to good home.

Our two cats as adults were bought from a breeder as we had to have Siamese, as there was a good chance they would travel, and we used to go to our cottage every other weekend. The senior cat chose me, her sister was in thrall to the two hours older cat, so that was that. They did travel brilliantly, although never in a basket, they sat on me( passenger) or on the back window shelf, waving cheerily at the other cars on the A40.

The senior cat brought the third cat home, he was a Birman who lived across the road from the cottage. He loved both our cats, he came round every Saturday and sat on the threshold until invited in. When we moved there full time, the neighbour said we might as well keep him, her son and the cat didn’t get on well. So I suppose you could say that the senior cat adopted him, not us.

I contacted numerous rescues before getting my puppy.

I had wanted a dog for years but worked full time in the office and never felt it was appropriate for a dog.

Post COVID, we went hybrid working and so I'm only in the office 1.5 days a week.

Because I wasn't at home 24/7, I wasn't deemed acceptable for a dog from rescue, which I feel is very unfair. Dog is now 2.5 and he had a damn good life. I also have a cat (who is a rescue).

My current cats aren't adopted. Two are sisters that a friend bought but couldn't cope with so I took them off her hands. The third was given to me by a friend (massively inappropriate to just give someone an animal. Luckily, I love the little beast).

Prior to that, most of my cats were from the Cat Distribution Network 😉

I did look at adopting another from a rescue but wasn't allowed because of having other cats and young children in the house. If I have another, I'll end up buying one because of this. Ridiculously, the same rescue rehomed two 1-year old sisters to my grandparents in their 80s so I'll probably end up with them eventually.

I bought my dogs as pups and my cats as kittens. The reason being I wanted them from babies and getting little puppies and kittens from a rescue is difficult (at least locally). I also wanted specific breeds of dog. I didn't want to go through the long process of form filling and being inspected.

I wanted my children to have the fun of them being playful babies and with the dogs I wanted to know where any odd behaviours may have stemmed from. I wanted them to fully bond to our family from the start.

However, if I did decide to get another dog once I lose my current ones I may look at rescue. My reasons would be I'd be older so wouldn't want the work of the puppy stage, my children will be adults and I won't need to ensure they are safe from any unexpected aggression. Adult dogs past three yrs are much calmer overall.

A family member got a rescue cat.
First offered a kitten but then choose a cat.
The cat was anti social, meowed 3-4x through the night until it would go outside.
Never would come out from under the bed.
I was lucky to take a kitten in the same time from a person to a free rehome.
My kittens 6mths, happy, well adjusted, social, funny, adventurous.
The older cat will never act or be relaxed as its a natural feral cat
Cat has been returned to be rehomed, it is like it becomes someone elses problem with its unstable behaviour.
I was rung by the stressed out relative 6mths in exhausted while being woken during nights with damage to walls, window.
The animal would not go into a cage.
Where would suit this cat to live, let alone the cost of vet bills, mental fatigue of dealing with these animals.
I would rather have my cat de sexed at a cheaper rate than this senerio for any pet owner.
Given this cat adopter has had more than several ferals over the years, free neutering cats is the best option.

Out of our ten cats four have been through conventional rescues.
First cat arrived via the cat distribution network (stray moved in with me).
Cats two and three were free. Neighbours cat had kittens so we took 2.
Cats four five and six were farm kittens belonging to the mother of a work colleague. We were going to have two, ended up taking 3 (best £60 I've ever spent 😁).
Cats seven and eight were from Battersea 13 years ago (as kittens). Cats nine and ten were from Battersea as kittens 6 years ago.
Cats seven to ten are all still here.
I'm sure we'll go to rescues again (assuming we don't acquire a cat by chance instead).

Our rescue kitten cost us £90 for his adoption fee. Plus we had a home visit and then a panel of rescuers made the decision whether we would be a good match for the kitten we’d picked (couldn’t meet him before we went to pick him up).
You can get a kitten for free or £20 privately, with no checks. That probably has a lot to do with it.

I wanted to adopt a dog but my local rescue centre deemed me unsuitable as I’d never had one before. Totally understandable, especially as a lot of them had health and other issues.

I then came across a charity who rescues dogs from abroad but would help with training and settling in if you had no experience. Amazing. The first step was giving a tour of my home and garden. House is a decent size with a big back garden enclosed by a 6ft fence - all fine. But it was then made clear that the charity would be involved indefinitely and I’d be required to be part of a group chat with both employees and other people who’d adopted dogs from them. I could understand if it was for a year or so, or for the training period, for support but not forever. It all felt a bit suffocating.

So, I bit the bullet and bought a puppy and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. She’s utterly fabulous 😁

Tried to adopt a dog in two countries:

1. There are a grand total of 14 on the whole island I live on, and they were all large dogs - which made no sense living in an apartment, or cute small ones - but with the caveat they were 16 years old, terminally sick, and about to drop dead.

2. Turned down because I work four days a week at home - and one in the office where we’d have had a dogminder/relative dogsit after the settling in period. And because we live in an apartment (though we have a large garden out back and it’s a 2 minute walk to a big park, a farm, and 5 from the beach.)

It seemed pointless, they’d rather let the dogs sit there waiting for a ‘unicorn home’ than somewhere nearly perfect.

I ending up buying my little dog from a reputable local breeder, and we’ve had a great time in 4 years.

We have a rescue cat. We got him aged 1. Most of the cats at RSPCA weren't suitable for young kids. We were open to a young cat, not necessarily a kitten and it's been a great fit. Lovely boy - he's now 8.

When I lived with my parents, they were rejected for rescue cats because of the main road 50m from their house.

How could anybody tell if you were a "good match" if you hadn't met though?
When I adopted my current two kittens my ds was six so we were very careful to get cats who could match and be comfortable with his energy.
We were allowed to spend time in a little room with a few different cats and kittens and some who seemed perfect on paper were a bit hissy and nervous of ds in real life.

Our local rescue only homes kittens in pairs and we only wanted one.

Rescues won’t allow you to adopt a pet if you have a young child. They insisted we couldn’t have a pet and a 3yo because it was dangerous. Despite the fact that until a few weeks earlier when our pet died, we had a pet and a 3yo.

So in the end we went “fuck you, you can’t tell us we can’t have a pet” and we bought one.

My childhood was a perfect example of the cat distribution system. A mixture of official rescues and ones that just turned up in a variety of ways.

Paying money for cats was entirely alien to me. Then I married a DH who loves cats but is genuinely allergic to your average moggy (not life threateningly but quite uncomfortably enough). Like many people in his situation he doesn’t react to Siberian cats who produce much lower levels of the relevant allergen.

So we have two gorgeous, adored and very expensive furballs. If Siberians were regularly available for rescue I’d be more than up for that but very few are.

I do understand rescues hesitance to rehoming with small children, but it’s also a shame as it’s amasing for children to grow up with pets. My children were always gentle with our cats and their best friends really.
My recent experience with rescues was poor as I felt I really had to stand my grown as it were to get the kittens i wanted as they were trying to push cats on us and we didn’t really get much opportunity to meet with and bond. I think this is why people hand pets back to the rescues.

We had small children/a newborn and just wanted a tame, healthy kitten that had been raised by a tame, healthy mother in a family home.
£40 no fuss, picked one and took it home.

Of my three most recent cats - one I rehomed from a colleague whose small child turned out to be extremely allergic, the other two were from friends whose cats had had kittens.

Out of the 6 cats we've had over the years, 3 were rescues as kittens, 2 were free from a neighbour we knew well and the first one we got was advertised in the local paper for £10 (he was nicknamed Tenner as a result!). I don't think I'd get a kitten from a rescue now as I'd be worried they might have a disease lurking (one of ours had FIP and died after a few months with us). I would definitely adopt an older cat.

Battersea had changed the process between our two sets of kittens.
13 years ago we registered when we went for a visit, talked about what we were looking for, and a few weeks later were contacted about a litter, allowed to play with them and we chose our cats.
6 years ago when we visited, we went on a waiting list, and then were phoned telling us they had allocated two black kittens to us that we could come and meet (I.e.see them in their cage). It was generally a much less 'friendly' process than the previous one and one that gives the person 'adopting' less choice and control. As an aside I had expressed a wish for anything other than black kittens, as we already had a black cat. - I think they saw me coming 🤣.
Sadly the site (Old Windsor) wasn't reopened for casual visitors after Covid, so I've no idea how it works now but can only assume it will have got even more impersonal.
I do think this is counterproductive in the long term as it pushes people away from rescues.