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.

I’ve contacted a few local charities over the last year looking for feral cats, most have ignored me (whilst still having posts up on SM about the need for good homes for feral cats), the one that did get back said we weren’t eligible as we don’t live on our plot of land, even though we have animals there and visit twice a day every single day.

Can’t believe no one’s posted this yet…

Haha 🤣

Reading all these stories is heartbreaking. I volunteer for a small local cat rescue and our waiting list is ever growing.
We don’t have ‘head office’ policies telling us who we can adopt to, we are totally led by the individual cats requirements. We match the cats we introduce with the home environment.
Yes there will always be homes we turn down, like very elderly people wanting kittens, houses on roads we know have high rta’s, single kitten homes etc.
If you are at work all day that’s fine we just won’t match you with a Velcro cat, have loud children then you need a cat used to kids…etc
The real issue we have, is we prioritise the cats other rescues won’t touch, so we end up with lots of older, poorly, timid, long term health condition, behaviour issues and feral cats. Many adopters won’t be looking for this sort of cat. But we still want people to apply as we never know sort of home the adopters will be able to provide, and it could be just perfect for one or more of our residents. We are fortunate in that we are also a sanctuary, so our cats won’t be caged or kept in small rooms if they can’t find homes, they can be released into our onsite family. Even if they end up living on site, it doesn’t mean they can’t be adopted if the right home comes along.
It’s really upsetting to hear other rescues being so stringent, which means there are less spaces overall to help other cats. All I can suggest for anyone wanting to adopt, is to try all your local rescues. Not all independent smaller rescues will be so picky, some of us really want to do the best for the cat being adopted and make more room for the next unfortunate sole who needs our help and sanctuary.

Are you able to name the rescue or does it have to remain a secret?
It is so helpful to hear about flexible rescues to save people the time and heartache of dealing with the computer says no variety.

Follow the money in some cases. They get donations, move dogs, euthanise, seize rehomed dogs. I almost donated to one as it copied the name of another, it was only when I asked who ran it that I got blocked!

The only reason I am not naming the one I volunteer at, is because it could be outing me, if I post anything else on here not connected to the rescue. I can say catchat.Org lists all your local rescues and is where I would suggest you start if you are looking to adopt.

👏 👏 👏

Some friends have been desperately trying to adopt a dog for months. They work 4 days but have family that would let the dog out a few times during those 4 days and they have a large secure garden. They're really fit active walkers and a dog would have a brilliant life with them but they got turned away everywhere.

They've just got a dog from a local romanian rescue co-ordinator. No questions asked, money handed over, no home check and dog taken away same day. They've got no medical history, don't even know if it's seen a vet. I think they're mad.

Its frustrating definitely! They have so many hard and fast rules and won't seem to look at a case by case basis. There's absolutely no way a rescue would let me adopt because I work full time. My dog has the best life though, he has a dog walker who comes every day while I'm at work, we hike every weekend, he goes swimming, competes in obedience, does scent work classes and mantrailling. He needs the time home alone to rest from all of the activities we do. Im sure he does way more than most family pets but a rescue would not entertain me because I work which means I'll only ever get puppies from breeders who will go on to have amazing lives with me despite the fact I work full time

I'd be interested in the name of the group. We have always had dachshunds and lost 2 last year. We now have an elderly male and a young female. This might be an option for us 😊

Avoid Broken Halo rescue UK, and AA dog rescue
horders and charity beggars with no love or compassion for dogs and horses at all.
rival scum

Rival as in they hate talk about each other whilst behaving in exactly the same way
they are both scum

For anyone who can get to Essex, I recommend The Scratching Post. No hoarders, sensible rehoming criteria, and the animals are kept very nicely. They have dogs and cats.

The cat rehoming place near me is the opposite, they’ll only rehome their cats as indoor cats. I’m not sure how they check up to see that your cats haven’t gone outside once you have brought them home though 🤔

My mum applied for a dog and was turned down because the dog she was interested in didn't like other dogs. They turned her down because I have a dog.
Odd thing was, he was on foster in a home with other dogs. Rescue kept posting on social media that he had had no interest. Total lie!

Rescues do have to be careful. They don't turn down people with small children because they don't like families. They don't want dogs returned (and they do get returned for reasons such as pissing indoors... all rescue dogs need time to settle in).

The lady who runs the place my own dog is from is strict, as she does not want dogs bouncing back. She finds a home for the dog, not a dog for a home. She gets a lot of abuse from people who feel entitled to a dog. It was really sad, but she had to turn down someone who was terminally ill (less than 6 months to live) and their family gave her so much shit for it.

@ohsuzannah its called DMT Dachshund rescue and support group.
Have a look at their FB. Here’s a pic of Albi.

it's mad how ridiculous some of these places are. it's just takes a little common sense when talking to prospective adopters.

when we were first looking for a cat, (dh had one already he taken in from a friend of a friend) at first most places seemed to dismiss us straight away, because of been a young couple in a flat. We then got intouch with our local cats protection league. She took the time to talk to us extensively about us our circumstances, our relationship, our flat, our future plans, even asked what would happen if we spilt up, she came out looked to at our flat and own cat, our flat was ground floor with a big sash kitchen window opening onto the back garden, which our cat used to get in and out. her quizzing did feel really intrusive and 3rd degree. But she made the decision to allow us to adopt. We kept her undated on how the settling in went, and over the years adopted a further 6 cats from her. we moved house twice and when we were out of her area we still went to her because she knew us. All our cats were older or had medical issues. She was a lovely woman but quite Ruthless and a little scary when she was first assessing us, to the point we nearly walked away.

When we were looking for a dog, we were in the hardest position possible, 2 young children 6 and 8 year olds, with 2 cats, DH worked full time and I worked part-time. We were flat out refused from nearly every charity, no asking any further questions of us. But then one place again talked extensively with me and found that I was flexible with my work, had great knowledge of a particular breed, knew how to train them, understood their nature.(I wasn't actually looking for that breed, just something that would fit our family) came out for home visit met the kids and cats. We ended up with a 1 year old of the breed I had experience with (that they actually had stated needed to go to this breed experienced home)
we've had our beautiful girl 14 years now, she has/had the best life, she adored both DC griwing up and played endless with them at home and walking. kids are grown up and she now old and enjoying her quieter more laid back life.

I'm not sure it's worth mentioning the name of charities we have adopted from because our last rescue was over 10 years ago and there could have changed now.

I agree re adopting animals from abroad. Most of these dogs are unsocialised strays with behavioural issues which the rescues happily pass off once they’ve cashed in.

As sad as it is most of these strays would be better being euthanised than brought over here.

Yes the rescues over here red to change their criteria but the answer isn’t to take on the strays of the world. And how many of those strays end up in afore-mentioned UK rescues because of their imported behavioural problems.

And no, it is nothing like imigration but fwiw I don’t agree with international adoption either and it’s illegal to adopt from a huge amount of countries now because it’s not just about giving a child a home, it’s become a money making exercise for a lot of countries with poor welfare.

I have never understood all the strict criteria for adopting cats. Friend who had a cat or two for decades was given so many conditions to meet that she gave up. In my experience cats are pretty self reliant, they don’t need someone home all day, most like to get outside and roam
a bit and are adept at getting their owners to conform
with their wishes. My current tom
cat (neutered) spends the entire day snoozing in the cat nip and the evening on the settee trying to wheedle one more Dreamie out of us. He loves children, visitors and a good drink of puddle.

We tried to adopt twice and we’re turned down . We did meet their criteria, but they kept changing the goal posts.

The last time they turned us down because we both worked full time - fair enough on the face of it, but DH runs his own business from a converted barn on a farm, with a secure outside courtyard and miles and miles of fields and woods to walk in and would take the dog to work with him. He did with our old boy and does with our current girl. They came out to check his business premises but turned us down because the farm is off a main road - the main road was a mile away up the farm track!

I know someone who runs a local cat rescue - she’s an animal hoarder. She constantly posts on FB begging for people to adopt or foster, ‘adopt don’t shop’, etc, but in reality she just wants donations so she can continue hoarding more cats

I have dealt with cat charity (also very big) - they not only would actively prevent people from rehoming cats (like people upthread said, would look for ridiculous reasons to refuse) - they would also put "defective" cats down on the basis that "no one would want them".

I also tried to rehome a dog, which was rubbish - apparently a massive London charity, a lot of dogs - only suggesting large dogs that have to go to a home with big garden, no other pets, no kids and owner always at home with them. Good luck with that.

I actually reckon a lot of them are money-laundering fronts for organised crime. I am not even joking!

If you read through the lengthy adoption process on dog's Trust you will see that they are searching for a "perfect" home for each of their dogs. Surely a happy, loving caring home would be more important than getting turned down by a bow checking exercise. And who decides what constitutes the perfect home???? Not the dogs, that's for sure

Drives me mad. I have a big garden securely fenced, a field, work at home, no children etc. But I have cats (who are used to dogs) so have given up on adopting.

I gave up on private/charity rescues years ago. There are a few good ones but the vast majority are run by animal hoarders I suspect. The good ones ask questions and make sure your situation is appropriate. So no apartments/flats for a border collie puppy. Not a house of 5 young kids with a snappy elderly dog. In the home visit if you said you had a fenced yard/garden you have one.

In the US and my state we have Humane Societies. They are luckily sane and you can actually adopt. They ask you a few questions make sure you aren’t totally unrealistic and you walk out with a pet.

Mine also has a great program that adopts out ‘working cats’. So cats that aren’t opposed to a ‘home’ but aren’t cut out for a house and family. So they are adopted out as working cats for barns/farms and warehouses. You provide food and shelter in return they leave you alone and hunt.