Rescue cat- is this reasonable

[MandyMiceDavies]

We are hoping to adopt an adult cat from a rescue. I thought we were a pretty good bet (no small children or other pets, enclosed garden) but apparently not.

I spoke to the organiser just now and she said we would need to commit to having safety locks on all windows and a guard across the hall to ensure the cat cannot run out of the front door (we live on a very quiet road), plus contracting never to have the cat rehomed or PTS without permission of the rescue.

Is this normal for a rescue? Seems a bit extreme- we've had cats for years without window locks and guards. I don't mind committing not to rehome but in an emergency if a vet said the cat should be PTS I would not want to wait for permission.

Am I being too lax?

Reminds me a bit of this:

We have rehomed loads of cats over the years from both local rescues and CPL and had home checks for each-nobody has never said any of those things!

What sort of guard across a hall would stop a cat anyway?

I have a rescue cat and nobody specified anything about window locks and guards. Ridiculous. The bit about rehoming back to them is pretty standard and I think the PTS bit is probably if you couldn’t afford treatment that would be considered reasonable and you thought PTS was your only option. But I certainly wouldn’t be asking for permission to PTS a cat with a terminal diagnosis, or who’d been severely injured in a RTC or whatever.

Those are bonkers conditions. Do they actually want people to rehome their cats?

Guard across the hall my arse. Unless it’s floor to ceiling, the cat is jumping over that.

Makes me sad when rescues impose silly conditions. Of course they need to have standards and not rehome with just anyone, but they prevent animals going to good homes.

Honestly feel some rescues dont want to rehome cats/dogs and then complain they have too many.

Is there a reason why (I assume) this cat is being rehomed as indoor-only?

Seems excessive. I've only rehomed from one small, local to me charity and they are realistic about the homes their cats go to.

We went to a small local shelter that was well run and had ties to the local vet. My DF adopted a middle aged cat, they asked a bit about where he lived and so on but that was it.
They are very happy together! Makes me sad to think of all those pets denied a loving home because they set such strict rules.
Of course they need to do some checks and stipulate if the cat likes dogs/kids etc but some have gone too far.
I would look for something similar and not the larger services.

I assume this is an indoor only cat for whatever reason? Still completely unreasonable

Our local rescue has rules about railway lines that they obviously haven't twiged rules out the whole city.

No. Cat rescues are a bit batshit in my experience. I get the rigour with people who've never owned a cat as more high risk of handing them back but anyone who's ever owned a cat isn't volunteering to rehome 1,2, even 3 of them without knowing the fun and games of being owned by one!

Thanks, all. No, it's not an indoor only cat- they just want to be sure the cat can only exit the house by the back door into the garden rather than onto the street.

That's mental. So it can walk around your house to the front, but not leave through the door?!

How ridiculous! Do they know cats can jump and climb? Try a different rescue

Tell them it's OK, you'll only give him the back door key, not the front 😆

To be fair, I had a cat who never figured out the connection between the front and back of the house.

Yeah that's batshit. Look on FB. There's tons of smaller rescues, and they don't all have crazy rules.

Cats protection just wanted a video of my garden which they were happy with.
local rescue off FB wanted a FaceTime just to see how my garden was and how busy the road was (mainly as I was rehoming a cat that had lost a leg in a RTA previously and was known for sitting waiting for cars 🙄) so they wanted to check it out. I picked him up the next day.

This is crazy, I have never heard of anything like this before. Cats can scale fences and jump pretty high, no rail is going to stop them! They also can't open closed windows.

I have only ever been asked if they have access to outside and how busy the road is. Also how old are my children. Does this cat need to be prevented from going outside unsupervised for some reason?

As for the vet thing - that is completely abnormal and I would just lose contact with them.

WTF at the gate in the hall. How would that work?

I wasn't asked anything like that by the rescue.

I’ve had many rescue cats over many years. Frankly this charity sounds bonkers..

I've just advised Dotty that once she exits the house via the cat flap in the back door she is specifically not allowed to tease next doors dog by walking along their back wall, or stroll down the alley round to the front. Neither is she allowed to chat up the next door neighbour and try to gain entry to theirs.
Are you sure they are actually a cat rescue, as they seem to know nothing about felines?

That sounds bonkers, try a different rescue.

A cat rescue in London told my friend she had to child proof all her electrical sockets and cupboard doors before they would give her a cat. It’s batshit.

We've got one who thinks if it's raining outside the kitchen door it may not be outside the front door! 😂