For being fed up that some charities make it it impossible to adopt despite insisting that they are ‘inundated’ with dogs?

[GreekDogRescue]

A well-established dog rescue charity I used to fund neutering programmes for and supported big time are desperate for fosterers and adopters. When I moved to a house with a big (fenced) garden, I offered to foster 5 times (they put up beseeching posts all the time in social media) but they completely ignored me. I’m at home all day, am middle aged, retired, no kids visiting, have help but now foster and adopt from other charities as presumably they think I’m ‘not up to it’.

Then out of the blue 2 weeks ago they messaged to ask if I will foster a specific
dog; I agreed and said when would it be arriving from Greece. No response.

Now I see the same dog advertised on Facebook with no interest. Charity says they are desperate for homes but nobody is applying. Nice sister in law applied but was ignored. Go figure! The trouble is people end up going to breeders which compounds the problem.

Needless to say I no longer send them any money which I suspect was the motive for their message anyway. I now support rescues who have a pragmatic approach to rehoming.

But seeing this rescue plus others constantly posting about how desperate they are for homes while ignoring genuine homes is really maddening.

We fell in love with a cat... she had been listed for adoption for EIGHT YEARS. We applied and went to see her, the 'charity' was a woman's house, very clean but bursting with animals.

She introduced us to the cat, then dropped a previously unmentioned bombshell that we had to take her kittens too. Her kittens where adult half maine coons but there was only 2 so we agreed. She then said she actually was planning to give the cat we had gone to see to her friend but we should look around the others 🤔.

We did and they had a beautiful 'just rescued' cat that instantly took to us and was all over us. I recognized her skin condition because I had previously had a dog with the exact same one. I seemed to surprise them by knowing the name and treatment regiment. They told us she was 'unadoptable' due to her skin needing 'specialist treatment' (even though they knew I had experience, I'm also an ex-vet assistant).

They then rushed us out because someone else was looking to adopt the original cat and apparently on his way and she would 'let us know' (although it was very clear she was not going to adopt out any of these cats, she was acting like they where all her 'pets').

We tried chasing it for WEEKS but they just kept putting excuse after excuse as to why we couldn't have any of them. We ended up giving up and getting 2 cats that where being re-homed on Gumtree.

FIVE YEARS later they text out of the blue asking if we still wanted the original cat who was now 14 and still unadopted.

Shit. I wrote a big reply which I've lost but the summary is that there's been a big shift in thinking about feline welfare, needs and behaviours because of research in the past 10-15 years.

The type of cats you are describing would now be considered semi-feral and not for adoption in family homes as pets. They would go to 'working homes' ie farms, stables etc. because of the expectation of adopters who adopt a cat to be a 'pet' and part of the family.

Cats are not my area though. The cat rescue world is totally it's own corner of the animal welfare space.

I can't actually say what I think about this post as I would get banned from mumsnet. And probably fired from my job.

To be fair I support rescuers in Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria and it isn’t hard to rescue a dog as the strays are literally all around. You just have to go for a drive and dogs and puppies aren’t hard to find. And if they really wanted to adopt the dog gulags aka municipal dog ‘shelters’ are crammed full of dogs. There aren’t the crazy restrictions we have in the UK. It’s the Wild West. And once you factor in the transport fees, vets bills, neutering and vaccinations and prep for travel it’s not cheap.
inagree @thebellagio name and shame these people!

Me too and all the rehoming rules and sky high adoption costs are to justify the fact that they keep most of the animals! And of course the charitable donations pay for their pets.
of course there should be rules and not all rescues are like this but there are definitely some eccentric animal hoarders out there

All my ( many, over the years) cats have been Battersea or Celia Hammond cats.
I have to say, never had a problem with either, and I live near a fairly busy road, work out of the house 4 days a week and have a very escapable garden.

It seems absolute madness that these shelters are literally forcing people into the arms of unregulated breeders and puppy farms.

I was thinking of getting a rescue whippet, but can see now that it would be an uphill struggle at best!

Don’t let this put you off. We have to keep trying for the animals sake and besides there are good reports about whippet rescues on this thread

I won’t name and shame simply because I think it would put me if anyone recognised me on here. But it was the local branch of a national charity.

my family member would have been utterly heartbroken if he’d known what had happened to his dog. She was his utter life.

luckily she’s now living a very happy life in a loving home.

It did make me think though that I need to update my will so I can determine who will take care of my dog if something happened to me.

I do get cross when people are so judgey saying you shouldn’t buy puppies, you should adopt not shop. Yet while also saying you should research the breed carefully first… and also refusing to acknowledge that many people have to buy puppies because rescues are so strict and would prefer a dog to remain in their kennels than with a loving family

If anyone is interested in rescuing please look at high hopes dog rescue in Kidderminster . They offer lifetime support and have dogs that can be rehomed with children and cats etc . They are happy to home to first time dog owners .

Also look at Niall.harbison on social media. His aim is to halve the number of stray street dogs. Really heart warming but also sad stories .

Personally I think that people who import stray animals from places like Greece or Romania are unhinged.

So many rescues still run on the idea that they're doing pet owners a favour by allowing them to take on one of their dogs, and that because they're all volunteers, it is fine to run the thing poorly.

So you get poor organisation, poor communication, offers of help, fostering, adoptions etc ignored, people not thanked for donations etc etc.
Unfortunately, they won't learn until all the old committee die of old age and the new, forward thinking and sensible people take over. Or they just wither away and everyone gives up.

Not all rescues are like this, but its an absolute pain in the bum that so many still are.

Big local scandal regarding a local rescue place. Rehoming interviewers had been around for ever and were clearly enjoying the power and being able to refuse people - hardly any animals were actually adopted because of this. Poor animals were left languishing when homes were available.

How ridiculous

With these overseas rescue operations how do they work? Do they go and buy a load of dogs/cats then come here and sell them on again?

Have you visited any of these countries and do you have any idea of the problems they are facing?
Are you anti human immigration as well?
Countries like Romania need all the help they can get in sorting out their stray animal problems.

Countries like Romania need all the help they can get in sorting out their stray animal problems.

That's as maybe, with a rehoming or neutering or whatever programme IN ROMANIA. Importing the problem to the UK is crazy.

And dogs/cats aren't people so your immigration comment is equally unhinged.

You are so right.
I used to donate to Greek Animal Rescue but the rehoming is completely controlled by control-freak power-mad elderly ladies who turn down homes for spurious reasons. It gives them a feeling of power and control they don’t have in other areas of their life. No homes in London, near a road, railway line, large body of water 😳 and NO SHARP-EDGED COFFEE TABLES. Dog must be able to sleep on the bed. Fences must be at least 6 ft high even if the dog only has 3 legs.
And this is only page 1 of the home check manual 🤣

I don't know anything about it - why do they have so many stray animals? Do vets go out there to neuter them?

Yes rescues and charities organise spey and neuter programmes, I fund some
myself, but it’s a huge problem. These are vast countries with very different attitudes to animal welfare than the UK. I honestly don’t think people here understand the magnitude of what they are up against.

You are coming across as a bit Little Britain. Many people including myself are funding spey and neuter campaigns in Romania and many animal lovers in the UK and Germany and other wealthier countries adopt from Eastern European countries where pets are very unlikely to find a home.
Ireland has a big stray problem, do you wish to ban English people from adopting from there?
If you’re that anti dogs coming from abroad perhaps focus your anger on the European puppy farmers who flood the UK market with unhealthy inbred puppies.
They would not be so popular if rescues adopted a less intransigent approach, which is the purpose of this thread.

It was a breed specific one

Oh my gosh some of the criteria for adopting pets are absurd. I love animals - but at the end of the day, they are animals, not humans, and even foster children are often not assigned such unbelievably rigorous criteria. For example, being the only pet in the home, in an area with not too many other animals of the same kind, requiring owners who know the breed's "body language", in a house where there are never any children.

Isn't a slightly imperfect home better for these animals than staying in a shelter forever?