We've been turned down as adopters of rabbits (but not of children!)

[Somerville]

Apparently, we don't meet the criteria for suitable adopters from our local bunny rescue.
I don't know whether I'm more annoyed or amused!

DH is definitely annoyed... he wanted to do the right thing and get a suitable pair who need a new home, rather than exacerbating, in a small way, the trade for baby bunnies.

I've barely talked him down from sending a very arsey email attaching all the approvals we gained for him to adopt my older children recently.

It boggles my mind when half these rescue centres can’t even keep their animals in the conditions they demand from adopters!

That's because it's just not possible, not because they don't want to. Do you know how many animals pass through rescue centres and how much it costs to keep them? The charity I foster for only provides a sixth of our annual costs. We have to raise the rest ourselves.Time in a shelter is meant to be temporary arrangement for an animal until an adopter comes forward, not a model for what the animal should expect from life.

(I'm shocked that Battersea doesn't do home checks though...)

The rspca shelter nearest to us wouldn't allow us to adopt cats - they wouldn't adopt to any household where all of the adults were working full time.

like cats give a crap if you’re out the house most of the day, as long as you feed them, they’ll tolerate you

That's a daft blanket rule, but some cats are not suited to being left alone and need company during the day. My current foster is very needy and nervous. She was my permanent shadow for three months. It's only recently that she's comfortable letting me out of her sight. Cats aren't programmed robots, they are individuals, and have individual needs. That said, a shelter should be able to determine fairly quickly which cats only view humans as regular food dispensers and poop clearers and which ones need more involved care.

Angels Sadly that is not always the case. The rescue I support has had animals that were adopted from them, returned in an awful state. In spite of the hoops.

And my cat simply sees us as food dispensers and very occasionally deigns to let us stroke him. Literally about once a fortnight. When we go away on holiday we joke about whether he will have missed us. The answer is always no.

This is why people buy the cute puppy/kitten/rabbit on fb/gumtree. You jump though all the hoops and get told no sorry your big enough garden isn’t big enough/insurance you plan to take out etc just isn’t good enough for one of our animals. The. Peiolego online and buy one for often less than the rescues charge.

We tried to get a rescue once but they where so obstructive before even getting to the homecheck stage we just brought a puppy instead, answered the breeders questions, showed a few photos of our garden, no doubt they google earthed the area too and done, that dogs nearly 10 now and still here with us happily wondering between house and garden sunbathing or chasing the hose pipe when she not napping right in the middle of the floor.

I do think animal shelters need to be more flexible with adopters. Our dog likes us to be up for a few hours in the day so she can get some solid sleep in, we’ve checked on web cams,when we’re home everytime I change rooms she gets up and follows and really tired. Other dogs like someone there all the time. Some rabbits are easy happy go lucky, others try and kill you if you walk within 2ft (these were littermaes I got at same time) one of our budgies loves to sit with us watching tv the other couldn’t give a shit about us apart from the fact we feed him, cats love people or hate them (with an indifferent tolerance where food is concerned). If they started to take this more into account there might be more adopted animals.

Bloody hell too many typos to try and correct but you get my drift

We adopted a guinea pig from the rspca.
This included a home visit and an interrogation into everything down to which direction the hutch would face. We had to sign a contract to say we wouldn't ever sell him on. This was on top of quite a hefty price tag for him. I know they have to be careful but it was very off putting.
I've had guinea pigs all my life without problems.

There's a cat rescue near us that never lets any cats go. They advertise them, get visitors, do home inspections but ultimately the crazy cat lady who runs it blocks any adoptions from happening. She'd be better off rebranding as a cat sanctuary or retirement home so she doesn't get people's hopes up and waste their time.

I went to the CatsOverProtection League two years ago.

We were accepted for a particular cat, and then they changed their mind (someone new had given us a cat too young, they wanted older cats).

I felt very rejected and cried and cried . It was like all the rejections in my life! It was the first time I'd lived somewhere with outside access! We have outside space (communal) and are a bit away from the road. But it wasn't enough for a younger cat they felt.

They messed us around quite alot generally and were strangely stuck up. The irony is I love cats and the cat we finally got (we bought as a kitten) lives the life of luxury, full medical treatment, the best food, and seems very happy. But actually I would have preferred a full-grown cat, rather than buy a kitten.

Nama Yes I noticed that - nearly all the abandoned dogs are staffies.

But I do support most of their decisions, that said . I believe cats do need outside access. Staffies shouldn't be with young children. And also cats do like company - there is a common misconception there. They are not loners - except when they hunt (which is where the misconception arose). Cats in the wild (Feral cats) usually live in colonies. So when my moggie comes in screeching hello, he's really saying hello to his colony friends! So its not always for food either

Last time I so much as looked towards the adoption reforming bit of PAH they practically forced a hamster in my hands with a cage and told he to take him home... no questions asked!
My children were thrilled, I was a bit aghast at their lack of checks, I could have been wanting it for nefarious means.

Now we discovered the ends day that hammy had a fuck off big tumour on its chest which is why I assumed they wanted shot of him but he still lived another year happily escaping exploring the tunnels we made for him.

My friend had two cats. Sadly one died. I have never seen a cat so happy that they were now the only cat.

And guinea pig hutches should be out of the direct sun as they can overheat easily.

Are rabbit really that hard?! Mine just sits in a cage in the kitchen and wanders around into the garden when she feels like it. Actually much easier than the guinea pigs in lots of ways. They are so much more messy!

More than one cat - they usually need to be brought up together and then they're fine. But they do like company of some kind, ideally human.

brownmouse To look after them properly so they live a happy and long life, yes. They need lots of outside space and to have more than one.

Hmm thanks crunchy. I adopted mine from a friend - she's always been alone but we have cats and other pets she interacts with. She has free range of the garden and house. She's 8 now and seems jolly enough. So soft....

That is a shame OP - I home-check for rabbits and dogs and have a couple of bunnies (aged 9 and 10) myself. You sound like great owners.

On home-checks I have had to deal with people getting angry that they want only one rabbit (completely awful for sociable animals), people who that think a 4ft cage is sufficient (again cruel) and people who would have a hutch stuck at the bottom of a garden with no shelter (imagine the heat of the sun at the moment) and people who would abandon the animal to the 'care' of small children. It can be difficult! Especially when they end the conversation with 'We'll just go to Pets at Home then' and you know another poor bunny from a horrible rabbit farm will end up as an unhappy animal with few of their needs met.

I look forward to the day when either people realise that rabbits are sociable animals best kept indoors (mine have the run of the boot room) or people stop keeping them and so fewer are bred. They are sensitive creatures and far more of a challenge to keep happy than, say, guinea pigs (which should also live inside imo).

Scrumpy I could not agree with your posts more.

Plenty of people are good parents but not good "pet parents". I'm not sure why you'd be puzzled by this, as surely you won't be planning to treat your kids and rabbits in the same way! I've had rabbits, and they need lots of space to run around all the time and not just be in a hutch. They also need to be warm in the winter and have company. They're really specialised, and I'm glad that rescues are being fussier than they used to be

A bit off thread but the same thing happened to us doggywise.
A few years ago we adopted an older dog from a local rescue. When he had to be PTS we tried to adopt another dog (no particular breed) to no avail.
We are now the proud owners of a beautiful 6 month old puppy but I still feel sad when I see the same dogs on the rescue website that were there 10 months ago!

Did someone say bunny?!