To think they should refund

[Tinkerbelle97]

I messaged a local rescue page about a cat I was interested in. They told me she was 3 years old and was a surrender. They said I can reserve her for £30 and do a meet and greet. They’ve said that this is because they have people arranging to meet cats and then not go ahead. Met her at the weekend and it went well and I was all set to adopt her and pick her up at the weekend. I went out and bought all the things needed for her. Now they’ve just messaged and said they have requested vet records for and she’s in fact 8 years old. I’ll probably be flamed for this but I now don’t want to go ahead as I am looking for a younger cat personally due to our home life which can be sometimes busy and I have a 5 year old DD. I asked if my reserve fee can be returned and now they’re ignoring me I think. Should they refund me?

No idea what your busy home life or your DD has to do with a cat being 3 or 8.

You do realise there's no biological difference between 3 year old cat and an 8 year old cat? If you wanted a kitten or a "teen" it will be wildly different to a 3 year old.

I agree that it wasn't done on purpose, it's extremely difficult to tell an adult cat's age until it gets to super old age. A lot of the teeth related stuff is genetic or due to environment and can be wildly off as it's just a guess.

If you liked the cat you liked the cat, a 3 year old cat will turn into an 8 year old cat anyway.

If you aren't going ahead you should leave it as a donation for your time wasting. Asking for a £30 refund from a charity is about as low as you can get.

Your post is so off I don't even know where to begin. Yes, the charity got it very wrong. However when you knew the cat needed to be PTS, you returned it like you would a faulty dress. That poor cat experiencing such upheaval and lack of kindness in her final hours. I would have taken her to the vets, cuddled her and given her as much love as I could before she was PTS.

Your whole post is about the cost to you and no empathy for the cat at all

Her reason for changing her mind and wanting a refund are completely relevant in this situation

@sandrapinchedmysandwich

whoa!

firstly, i was very upset about the cat being so ill and needed to be PTS. my children were very upset too as we had taken time to get to know her with a few visits before taking her home.

she was returned to the rescue at their request as they wanted their vet to handle it. the cat came from my home, to my vet and to the rescue. i didn't think bringing her home (where we already had a cat who was a lively kitten at that point) to cause her the stress of this when she would have needed to return again to the vets the next day or so to be PTS was in her best interests.

the thread is about refunds and rescues and getting ages wrong so i kept my response focussed on the topic, not going into how heartbroken my youngest was or how emotional i felt for the poor little thing who ultimately was let down by the rescue who were running a bit of a shoddy set up. having never dealt with one before i hadn't realised.

in my view and of my vet, who had dealings with their cats in the past, the rescue knew they were letting us take a very sick cat and probably hoped we would just take him and not realise incurring all the costs or care and treatment.

and as far as only caring about the money, well our much loved cat who has developed multiple health problems is costing us a complete fortune each month in medication, specialist food and insurance costs but all this will ensure he has a happy healthy life. we love him to bits.

it must be so windy high up there on your enormous perfect pedestal!

8 years old is officially senior for cats. I adopted a 9 year old cat some years ago and her age clearly showed. She sadly died less than three years later. Also, it's impossible in insure a 8+ year old cat.

And many charities wouldn't be so tight for cash if they didn't pay their CEO's such ridiculous salaries. Futhermore, I've adopted from charities over the years and none of them charged me for a "meet and greet". Sounds pretty dodgy if you ask me.

WHAT????

You can only go by what someone types and your post was very cold. Saying you were devastated or felt for the cat would not have detracted from the topic at all. But you didn't. Not did you mention that you were asked to return the cat. You said you arranged to return her which suggested that you instigated it.

This is reminding me of someone recently who introduced their 6 month year old child

i think that's very sad your first reaction is that a cat rescue charity is trying to scam people out of their money by lying about the cats ages then refusing to give deposits back!! I foster for a small local cat charity (UK) and I pour my heart and soul into my voluntary work (plus a lot of my own money) and the lady who runs it works full time at her regular job as well as running the charity in all of her spare time. Often we take in strays and a neighbour will tell us 'oh they're about 2 years old I think' and then when we book them in to see a vet for a health check the vet will try to give a more accurate age based on the condition of their teeth/body etc. It's not a fool-proof method especially when cats hae been living outside as strays they will be in a much worse physical condition then a plump house-cat and may appear older than they really are.

Asking for a refund of £30 from an animal charity? That makes you look very tight.

Bloody hell!! you do know that most cat charities do not actively lie about cats ages to the general public! They often just don't know or when someone hands them over as an unwanted pet they believe what that person tells them.

Your reply is a bit OTT. They informed the OP as soon as they found out .Thats hardly conning her. Rescue cats are difficult to age .

It's £30, let it go - the rescue place did honour your reservation and, meet and greet. They also made it clear the cat was a surrender, it's not their fault they were misinformed. Have had cats for over 45yrs there's little difference between a 3yr old and 8yr old cat - an older cat will be more tolerant. You wanted the cat until you found out it's 8 not 3, did you tell them that age was important? Most cats live up to 16ish many live to 20.

If they did that in the first place why did they bother telling her the truth at all. They've really honest once they found out themseves. I think the OP should just leave the £30 and ask for a, chance at the next 3 year old. I also agree that the difference between 3 and 8 in a cat is not a lot.

They are required to refund the reservation fee by law that said you will find that her age is unlikely to impact your DD in fact the bond maybe better as the cat has matured already, I have a degree in animal behaviour I also have 20plus cats some feral others pets some hand reared I also have a DD who’s 5 who interacts more with the older than the younger ones any issues are always the younger ones and not always the tinies

0 years - 3 years? 12 months = 1 year, so they were right.

You may not see the reasons as important, but you are not the OP. How can you tell her what is relevant?

You are very late to the conversation and completely misunderstood what I was saying

Could this be the reason they do meet and greet to get money and then not refund. You are paying to meet the cat. But they have provided incorrect info before you met as you wouldn’t go if they told you the cat was 8.

you can ask for a refund but they probably won’t get one. So leave a factual review on their social media or wherever you found out about the cat. Sounds harsh but may make them find out age of cat in future as you would think that most cats that are rescued are given the once over by the vet if the charity is run properly.

I get why you want a younger cat as you kid is young so they will grow up together and the cat will reach their natural end when your kid is a teenager rather than still young. They will be sad but have more maturity. My cat who I had before my child died when my kid was 9 and they were so upset.

I think her attempt at sarcasm would’ve worked out better for her if she said something like 18 months and 26 months or whatever so that’s a 1 & 2 year old but obviously some idiots have an issue with people using months up to 2 years or just said 0-2 year old and was give a 12 month old and 18 month old instead so it would’ve made more sense to people. Was mainly the fact she again confirmed 12 months and was no sarcasm in her replies and she hasn’t said anything since so maybe you’re giving her way too much credit and a get out of jail card now to claim she was trying to be sarcastic 😂 But she really does need to work on her attempt at sarcasm in posts to make sure they’re clearly amusing