To think animal shelter charities push potential pet adopters towards breeders with their absurdly stringent adoption criteria?

[Thepeopleversuswork]

OK so I’m probably being grumpy about this because I have had bad experiences and maybe unfair.

But I have just been turned down for a third time in five years trying the adopt a cat, apparently (as far as I can tell) because I have a job and live in a city.

I’m a middle aged woman living in a quiet street on the outskirts of SE London with my own home and a teenager and partner. I have sufficient income to support a cat. I have a large back garden. I am an animal lover who has had cats before.

The last two charities I have applied to had ridiculously detailed diligence procedures including several home visits and a dodgy quasi isometric test. Another agency which imports stray cats from overseas required me to send videos of the traffic on every street within a half mile radius and character references.

After weeks of consideration I was told in each case that I couldn’t adopt due to traffic risk.

I get that the volunteers at these places become very attached to their animals and of course it’s only right that people are vetted before taking an animal, especially one that has been mistreated. But the rigmarole in the application process is ludicrously over the top and it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that they basically don’t want you to adopt a cat unless you live in a huge rural stately home and don’t have a job. As soon as they hear the word “London“ or any indication that you work outside the home they basically rule you out in my experience.

I’ve now gone down the route of getting a cat via Gumtree but it makes me sad and it seems so self defeating; these charities are putting well meaning and committed animal lovers off applying and making it far easier for unscrupulous people to breed and sell animals.

Can anyone who works for one of these charities try to explain why it’s so difficult?

So you chose to go dodgy online breeders who often breed these animals in appalling conditions, rarely health test, etc? Many of the poor animals they mistreat will if they are lucky end up in one of these rescues when they are of no use.

There's a reasonable discussion to be had about the rehoming criteria of some places but why did you go a route that fuels animal cruelty?

And it might be a pretty reasonable refusal based on nearby traffic. Given your willingness to just get a cat from gumtree are you the best person to have a pet?

I think the obvious disdain one particular poster has for anyone who has the audacity to want to rehome a pet pretty much sums up the whole problem.

Pointless thread full of people with no real knowledge, just peoples random made up thoughts because they were told they weren’t suitable and are annoyed.

Threads are usually started by people with no expert knowledge. That’s the whole point of a thread. I don’t think you have to have worked in a rescue to have a perspective on it. Any more than you have to have worked in the NHS to have a perspective on that.

I do think the fact so many people are finding working with shelters a frustrating experience tells you there are legitimate questions to be asked.

@WhatWhereWho

Given your willingness to just get a cat from gumtree are you the best person to have a pet?

I wouldn’t be willing to go to Gumtree at all if I hadn’t been rejected by multiple shelters on what I consider pretty arbitrary rules.

I’ve just read the whole thread and I think it’s obvious that there is one poster with experience of working at rescues trying to explain how and why they make their decisions and then there is everyone else who are varying degrees of pissed at not being able to demand they are given an animal. The second group are not willing to listen because it doesn’t suit their agenda.

So why did you not go to a more established breeder rather than some person on gumtree? Being turned down from a rescue does not mean going to gumtree does it? Cheaper and quicker I guess.

Whatever the justifiable criticisms of pet breeding in this country there are probably more ethical choices. You chose to go through something that is connected to animal mistreatment. Why?

Have you read some of the batshit reasons people have been rejected?

Finding something frustrating because you do not get the result you want, does not mean that the rescues are not doing what is best for the animals in not homing them near busy roads, to posters who work a lot and have little children.

I love animals. We have horses, dogs, cats and rabbits, but we only became owners when our lifestyle suited it. For years we worked out of the house, had little children and lived in a busy city quite near a busy road. As much as we would have loved animals, it wasn’t right for them. We did try to get a cat but in hindsight it was selfish and the rescues locally were right to refuse. Now our kids are grown up, we live somewhere quiet, I don’t work and my partner works at home most of the time meaning we are far more suited to having animals.

I’ve also read the explanations from the poster who works in shelters. They made sense.

Well you haven't read it very well then.

So why did you not go to a more established breeder rather than some person on gumtree? Being turned down from a rescue does not mean going to gumtree does it? Cheaper and quicker I guess.

I haven't interacted with anyone on Gumtree yet. It was a rhetorical point for the sake of argument. I'm researching various options.

But the point is I'm repeatedly being told by rescues that I'm not suitable for adoption. So the "ethical" avenues are not open to me.

This is the central point of my argument. If rescues make it so hard for people to adopt animals ethically, people are going to choose to look elsewhere.

Maybe I'm not the ultimate arbiter but I have thought long and hard about this and I don't consider myself to be irresponsible or unsuitable. I have a large house and garden, I work from home most of the time. I have had cats in the past and love them. I've gone out of my way to reassure the charities I've worked with that I'm committed.

There are a lot of animals who need rehoming and if people like me are finding it this hard to adopt (and clearly they are), then it may be people who review applications for animals to adopt to ask themselves if they are making the bar to adoption unrealistically high.

I have read it, with no bias. The poster made some good points.

So not having a spare room is a good reason to be turned down? Or wanting to keep the cat safe by not allowing it to roam? I have no kids, I work from home at the moment and DH is retired. We go on holiday a few times a year and get a cat sitter in a couple of times a day, we're willing to give references. I'm not sure what else we can do. None of the reasons we've been given make sense when we had our last adopted cat for 15 years.

I work from home in a flexible job, love walking, no children at home, live on my own, absolutely loads of great walks just over the road, have had a dog before and am realistic with the dogs I’ve expressed an interest in. But according to a lot of rescues I’m completely unsuitable as I don’t have a private garden. Makes no bloody sense to me.

@Thepeopleversuswork you have only been turned down 3 times in 5 years. You have been told that different rescues have more flexibility. Why not keep trying different rescues?

I lost count of how many applications we made before we got our first cat and dog.

It's ridiculous and no wonder many don't get rehomed. I lost a dog 4 years ago and want to take on a rescue dog (as he was) to live with my remaining dog and my cat. This is where the problem lies. Cannot live with a cat, must be an only pet, cannot live with other dogs. Seriously? They can and will do if introduced correctly. The best one was 'must be a detached house as dog is sound sensitive. I never hear my next door neighbours and if they really are sound sensitive then surely anything is better than a concrete cell with barking and yapping all day long!

My adult children have left home so it's just me and my husband (and our dog and cat), so very quiet household. One of my children is a qualified animal behavourist and we are still not good enough for their criteria!

@AlwaysRoomForMoreDogs

I’ve just read the whole thread and I think it’s obvious that there is one poster with experience of working at rescues trying to explain how and why they make their decisions and then there is everyone else who are varying degrees of pissed at not being able to demand they are given an animal. The second group are not willing to listen because it doesn’t suit their agenda.

The poster with experience of working at rescues had explained clearly why they make their decisions and I'm sure is committed and knowledgeable. I just think the criteria she and others apply are unrealistic.

I don't think anyone posting here has "demanded" an animal. I know I haven't. I've gone out of my way to explain I fully understand that rescues need to do their diligence. But after long experience of applying (and discussion with other people who have had similar experiences) I've come to the conclusion that the agendas of the animal shelters are frequently very unrealistic.

And that's a problem for animal welfare because people who can't adopt animals ethically will do so from less ethical sources. And frankly there are a lot of people who want animals who have far less concern for their welfare than I do.

I read the explanations given by the poster about spare rooms and roaming which made sense.

You could take the net off your garden but I think you refused. If I have the right poster?????

The poster said they don’t have problems finding homes so it’s not unrealistic. 🤷🏽‍♀️

If people adopt from less ethical sources, then to me that these people don’t have the animals interests at hear as they are willing to be part of the problem of bad breeders and irresponsible ownership.

heart

You do have the right poster and yes, I did refuse because I don’t want my cat getting run over, getting into fights or pissing off the neighbours. Sorry if that makes me a bad cat owner 🙄

The other poster also suggested my home may be chaotic, hence needing a spare room. Nice of her to make assumptions but it really isn’t. I’ll be working from him until I’m made redundant and the only other person here is DH. I’m not sure how chaotic a 49 and 69 year old married couple can be.

I’ve no idea how my previous cat made it to 18 with such an inadequate owner and poor living conditions 🙄

The thing is, if having a dog and young DC had been a disaster for us or for the dog, I hope I'd be sensible enough to say, 'Yeah, the rescues were right, and we fucked up.'

But it wasn't a disaster. It wasn't even bad. We had a human-social, dog-neutral terrier with half-decent recall who got plenty of exercise, an interesting life and lots of company (I was a SAHM, because the DC were young, and when I did work, it was from home). She had a long and happy life, and everyone benefitted, dog included.

But, according to a couple of posters, we did the Wrong Thing. We should have meekly waited until the youngest was 5 (or, per one rescue, TEN) before getting a dog.

Yeah, no.

I adopted my cat after my neighbour died and I took him in. He tends to go out on a night and sleeps on my bed during the day. I work from home 3 days a week and he literally sleeps all day and pops up for his tea when I'm finishing work. I find it hilarious that a charity would think cats need someone there all day. Also we had cats and dogs when I was a young child. Lots of children are fine and respectful to pets. These rescue centres are crazy. No wonder people don't bother with them.

I believe true animal lovers would re frame their thinking. It’s not about you, it’s what is best for the animal. If you believe it is your right to have an animal, even if you’re circumstances aren’t good enough, you’ll never understand that. That is the issue. People start from a place of ‘I want an animal and I’ll do whatever to get that’. I don’t agree with that thinking.

This stood out to me. When we tried to get a cat when we had little children and lived by a busy road, we were thinking about ourselves more than the cat, as much as the cat would have been adored. We were being selfish and the rescue were right to refuse.

I actually think it’s sad that so many rescues have a blanket ban on rehoming to families with children. I loved spending time with our cats and dogs when I was growing up and it taught me to love and respect animals from an early age