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?

What are people supposed to do when they already have pets? My parents already had a dog and a couple of cats before I was born.

This was not our experience at all! It was a really simple form I filled out that just wanted contact details, number and age of children etc. They looked us up on Google maps to make sure the area was safe and away from busy roads. No one visited us, I went to visit the cat! A week later she moved in with us. I'm starting to wonder if they are too lax 😂 maybe it helped that we went for a slightly older cat instead of a kitten, she did say they are much harder to place

I have faith in rescues because I’ve seen the good work they do in the ones I’ve worked with over many years, their huge bills for vets, trainers, behaviourists, late nights, early mornings, volunteers spending nights sitting next to dogs who have shut down etc and the effort that goes into rehoming. To see people who are annoyed that they didn’t get an animal, slag off rescues and throw their toys out of the pram, when they don’t have a clue as to the work that rescues do, is annoying.

I haven’t said people should only adopt, but it is difficult to find a truly responsible breeder, especially for many of the breeds that are popular at the moment. I have said that if multiple rescues turn you down, you should accept your aren’t suitable to have an animal with your current circumstances, instead of buying your way out of that because you your desire for an animal is more important than the animals wellbeing. People who buy a dog of gumtree and pick it up the following day, do you think that’s a responsible breeder?

How sad is it to say people that people can buy from bad breeders because we have law enforcement.

This is why things don’t change. Even decent people just have to have an animal if they ‘want’ one even if their circumstances are unsuitable. Humans are selfish creatures and animals pay the price.

Definitely NBU, I got rejected because I couldn’t guarantee that I will never - in the next 15+ years - be out of the house for 4 hours or more. I work 100% from home and live with my husband, usually the cat wouldn’t have been alone at home, but who can guarantee that they won’t spend an occasional period of 4 hours out in the years to come. Not to mention that I had cats all my life and they didn’t mind a few hours on their own occasionally.

I think it such a shame for animal welfare that zealots allow cats to stay in shelters rather than go to living homes because of this kind of silliness.

Totally. It seems so self defeating. The idea that a cat is better off living in a cage for the rest of its natural life than living in a loving family where both adults work is just utterly warped.

I’ve said it before but I think a lot of the time the number one priority of these charities is not so much the welfare of the animal but bringing money into the charity.

This is why things don’t change. Even decent people just have to have an animal if they ‘want’ one even if their circumstances are unsuitable. Humans are selfish creatures and animals pay the price.

It's so selfish to want to give an animal that's currently living in a pen a good, loving home isn't it. Surely a less than perfect home is better than a bloody cage

All the rescues round here say ‘can’t be left alone over 4 hours’ but we all have to sleep! Mine aren’t allowed to sleep with us. I don’t know how people ever get rescues and it’s no wonder we have problems with foreign rescues bringing disease into the country and unsuitable breeds.

I was answering a poster who was complaining about not being successful in adopting a dog because they already had young children.

I do despair at people that get a dog when they’re planning children soon though. However, if they have them, they have to supervise, separate and be prepared for more work than if they only had children or animals. Look after the number of threads on here where people have animals and then the baby comes along and the animals are just seen as a problem and they’re ready to give them up. We see it all the time and have animals surrendered to us every regularly because a baby came along. It’s heartbreaking. The dog’s often shut down and spend weeks not eating properly, crying, staring at the wall, not engaging with people. Time, effort and money is spent by rescues rebuilding the dog’s confidence, getting them to eat and play, getting them back to a healthy weight...is it any surprise that we don’t want to rehome with people with a young child or that are likely to have more babies? Spend a couple of months with a dog like that and I guarantee you wouldn’t do it. When dog’s are returned over and over, they become broken. 😔

This is crazy. What sort of lifestyles do people have if the never leave home for more than four hours?

I understand they hate the evil selfish capitalist folk who work full time!

But No nights out? No pub lunches than a walk? No visiting family or friends unless they live close by? No shopping trips?

if someone is housebound, surely they are not an ideal care giver for a cat in any case?

Most animals are in rescue for a relatively short time. Rescues should not settle for a home that isn’t suitable, when the animal will be in that home hopefully the rest of their lives.

I

We adopted our cat from Cats Protection in our area rather than the actual charity. They live in foster homes rather than rescue centres and the team seemed desperate to adopt the cats. We never got a home check. They already knew our street which is on a busy road and they wouldn’t let us adopt kittens but let us adopt an older cat.

I know, it seems really OTT. Mine are left 3 times a month, but have a dog walker and then I scarper home but they’re perfectly happy to chill at home once they’ve been out, they’ve been down and out since midday after an exciting walk in the rain!

In 2021 Battersea advertised for a Chief Executive to earn between £130-£140K a year.
Dogs Trust (2022) - £160-£170K a year.
RSPCA £162K (2021).

The dogs in Battersea are fed Pedigree - which quite frankly means they might as well feed them literal shit.

These charities/rescue centres do not care about the animals, as OP has said, or potential adopters. They care about themselves. The fact people on this thread can defend any animal charities (and particular the big ones) is mind boggling.

Also, if you’re in London try Goldies Oldies and Wisteria Cat Rescue. Both are slightly out of London but do adopt to Londoners.

Plenty of people can provide a home that the animal is rarely left for more than 4 hours. Retired people, SAHMs to older children, people with adult kids living at home, people who work from home, people who don’t work. It’s quite common in my circle of friends and we find plenty of people like this to rehome to. And if you can’t commit to that because you’re busy and out a lot, then certain pets aren’t for you. People just ignore that and buy one though. 🙄

You think you’re going to get a CEO work for £30k per year? What do you suggest. Their skills are needed to run a big organisation. I think some people hear ‘charity’ and think everyone should do these jobs out of the goodness of their heart because....charity.

Yes, I gathered. I respectfully disagree. The DC were reliably good with her, and have all grown up into massive dog-lovers, and the dog in question got two walks almost every single day of her life - including one in the evening, with me, whatever the weather, once the DC were in bed, to ensure she always got some off-lead time.

My parents weren't planning kids, they thought they couldn't have them. There was no separating either, the cat used to sleep in my pram with me and I used to lay on the floor with the dog, obviously closely supervised. When the dog died we rehomed another one, I can't remember a time we didn't have one. It was the same with cats, we always had at least one. Thankfully it was different back in the 70s and 80s.

How do you judge whether people might have more babies?

But for everyone responsible owner like you, there are a lot more irresponsible ones. Rescues go on what they see, which is dogs surrendered to them because people can’t cope with their dog’s and their children. Over and over.

I think our Ambassador to Ukraine earns less (about £30K less than the lowest figure above). Tell me that is reasonable?

Someone good could do that job for half the salary that CEO's at animal shelters are paid. No one is saying they need to earn £30K. But someone could easily do the job for £60K or £70K. £130K is not justifiable in any way, shape or form.

You keep defending animal shelters and arguing with every person on this thread but you're not convincing anyone here.

So are you telling me that enough people don’t leave their house for more than four hours at a time to home all the cats and dogs in the uk - it hate doing that awful emoji but I feel like doing it back!

SAHMs to older kids never go for lunch and then do a grocery shop? Drive to kids to a football game, stay to watch it then drive home? Go to pizza express and then a move? I know a lot of retired cat owners - they do leave the house regularly for more than four hours!

I obviously know some people will have life limitations that mean they can’t or won’t leave the house often - but the majority of people surely do this fairly regularly?

we clearly have very, very different social and cultural references.

I think people lie to shelters and say they don’t leave the house - but if a friend of mine told me he or she rarely left the house for more than four hours at a time I would be asking why.

People on the thread have said they were asked if they were ttc. The rescues I’ve worked with just don’t home to families with young children.

Just guessing but in most cases when people have kids of say 13 and 11, it’s more unlikely they’ll have more kids I suppose. Some may hope that when they say the dog’s can’t be around young children that the adults will be honest for everyone’s sake. It’s not an exact science.

I wasn’t alive in the 70s but my memories of dog’s in the 80s were them roaming the streets alone and eating scraps from human dinners. I think you’ve got your rose tinted glasses on. At least there weren’t so many bad breeders though, although lots of strays and dog’s/ cats not neutered from my memories.

We had the same thing, we live close ish to a motorway junction so it was no from two rescues. The third wanted to know whether we were going to have kids. We lied 🤷🏻‍♀️ We now have cats and kids and no problems at all. The cats have a wonderful life.

The big problem with the big charities is that they are focussed on a Goldilocks home for each animal and will not allow less.

But that means animals in noisy, stressful pens being fed cheap crap and getting little interaction. It's not a coincidence that cats who've spent a significant time in rescue centres have shorter lives overall (and no, I don't have the references handy).

We were turned down for cats when I asked if we could have a virtual home visit instead of a physical one because my DCs don't do well with strangers in the house (autism). Another said no because I have kids home all day (we home ed), plus they have SEN so can't be trusted with animals. Another said no because it's all yards near us instead of gardens. Yet I've never seen any dead cats on the road here, but plenty in the rural area where I used to go.

We wanted one as a companion for my DD. We were prepared to take an older cat, an indoor cat, any breed or sex, my kids are gentle and quiet, we've experience - but no. In the end I asked around on fb and got two kittens from an oops litter for £30 each.
Incidentally our first cats were litter mates and adored each other. Our current ones are littermates and utterly loathe one another. You can't tell.

We went to Celia Hammond first and were approved but when we went to meet the cats they only had 4 they wanted us to meet. We actually fell in love with two of the cats they didn’t show us but for some reason we couldn’t adopt them. They weren’t ready. At the end of the meeting we were asked “which one do you want?”. We weren’t even allowed to stroke the cats so we had no idea if they would be a match for us and the volunteer had almost no knowledge of the cats she was showing us.