To think rescue centres don't actually want you to adopt their pets?

[lurchersforever]

One of my cats had to be out to sleep suddenly in the summer and I would now like to adopt a young cat to keep us all company - me, ds and our remaining cat. I've only ever had rescue pets so looking at local centres. All have banners like please adopt/1000s of unwanted pets etc, but it is impossible to go and see any.

I have no issues with vetting and saying only certain types of households are suitable, but my issue is none of the centres are actually open. I've looked at about 6 near me and they are a mixture of not open to the public, don't answer the phone, say they're shut while Google says they're open, want you to fill in an application form and drop it off in person but you won't be able to even see a pet until your application has been assessed, don't reply to emails... The most success I've had is a centre that 'might' be able to arrange a video appointment to 'meet the cat' at some point and then I might be able to adopt 'when they open,' - no idea when that might be. This is for a specific cat they currently have - no sense of urgency to get her in a home. What on earth is the point of a video appointment with a cat?! What will it reveal that a picture doesn't? Just more time wasting.

I appreciate they are run by volunteers but this is ridiculous. Last time I adopted (10 years ago) you could go into local centres without an appointment and make the arrangements there and then. Obviously they weren't just handing them out to anyone but you could get the process moving.

At this rate I'll be on Gumtree, which I really don't want to be. What's going on?

Visiting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, we went to our local dogs home on an open afternoon and it was awful. All the dogs looked so sad but the staff/volunteers were really negative. They said 90%+ of people aren’t suitable to rehome a dog, inc us because two dogs already live near us (across the road, not adjoining).

Fate sent us two cats a few months later instead, took them for one night because the shelters were full and kept them when we couldn’t find their owner. They don’t bother going across the road where the dogs live because we have a good sized garden out back!

Sadly there are owners here who don't vaccinate (including against parvo), I was listening to one in the park the other day going on about a homeopathic 'vet' they follow on Instagram. Bemoaning that the (UK) breeder they had bought from had given vaccinations before the puppies left...

Whereas DDog was vaccinated before travel.

You get responsible and irresponsible owners, wherever they get their pet. The responsible ones ask questions and are selective - whether going to a breeder or a rescue.

I did ask the vet nurse at our local practice for her views when I ran into to her this morning - we both walk.our dogs in the same park. She said she hasn't seen any evidence of foreign dogs bringing in diseases. It might happen occasionally, but animals (of all sorts) are regularly transported into (and out of) the UK without problems.

😀I fear you are right. It's a perfectly respectable field of endeavour, but it does seem to attract a certain number of people who have a lot of time on their hands and would not fit well into the average workplace.

can you mention this charity publicly?
Asking people to DM seems unnecessarily secretive.
People make rescue so difficult in this country.

In fact, there are several dogs in our local park are regularly taken (mostly to Eastern Europe, e.g. Poland, Czech Republic etc) because their owners live here but have family there and they drive over to visit - taking the dog with them.

I know the lady who runs REAN. Very passionate and sensible about rehoming. Glad you had a good experience.

Using that argument people should never leave their own country for fear of spreading diseases.

There is a lot of health hysteria about importing dogs, but if you adopt through a decent rescue the animal will have had checks like a thorough blood test to check.

Diseases like leishmaniasis are not contagious anyway, and some British vets are just fear mongering and have no knowledge of Mediterranean diseases. I’ve had vets googling it during consultations as they don’t know anything about it.

You can’t adopt a dog as other dogs live near you, eh? How and why does that matter?

That’s crazy. I have a dog and so do both my neighbours. Makes sod all difference to our dogs.

People are a bit different to animals, most diseases that are caught overseas by people don't tend to be contagious especially in Europe, the likelihood of a human bringing in anything dangerous & contagious is almost nil and we can look after ourselves and go to the doctors. Dogs and cats can't! Vets cost an absolute fortune and one of our local cat rescues is forever having to remove cats from people who've failed to treat things like mange, fleas, diarrhoea etc until the cat has been in a very poor state. Your comparison doesn't work!

There's a difference between a pet dog that's visiting people and dogs that have been on the streets and exposed to god knows what, eating god knows what!

Yeah I think fostering is the way a lot of charities are now heading. Obviously they can live in a house/flat and get used to different family members or sometimes children or resident dogs and cats. Lots of cats hate a kennel environment as they can hear and see and smell other cats/dogs which can stress them out too. Plus most charities would definitely send pregnant/nursing mums and their litters into a foster home where someone will be around a lot more to monitor them/feed them meals throughout the day etc.

I honestly take great offence at this statement!! I'm really sad to think this is how you would view all the amazing people I know who pour their heart and soul into helping animals in need. I'm a qualified vet nurse and I've been fostering for 2.5 years now and it's been amazing but really hard work at times. I certainly don't hoard animals and I'm not thick!

I tried to adopt a rescue cat and was told it would take some time as the list was long. Six months later I had heard nothing so did what everyone advises against - got one from Gumtree. I was lucky - I now have a fantastic pet who is healthy and happy. Sometimes trying the more ethical route gets you nowhere.

Would have loved to get one from the UK- impossible!

Which is why they need to be properly screened, vaccinated and treated before they travel. And responsible owners-to-be will be checking that the overseas rescue has done that before getting a dog.

Just as they will ask breeders in the UK about what screening and health care has been done before buying a puppy.

https://www.roxiesrescue.org/ is in Leicester and I've heard good things

Absolutely agree OP.

We have been looking for a dog for ages - years. None of the big rescue centres within 2 hours of us let you just go and see the animals. You have to fill in an application form for a specific dog on the website first and 9 times out of 10 they don’t get back to you. And if they do, in our case at least, we are never successful despite the fact I take care to do a good application, I WFH so a dog wouldn’t be left, and we have an enclosed garden and lovely walks on our doorstep.

The only callback I’ve had in the last couple of years was to see a dog with considerable additional care needed for a skin condition - probably because he would be harder to rehome.

I am so frustrated with it and can see why people pay extortionate breeders’ prices for animals or turn to Gumtree - but then get slated for it and not going to a rescue!

Of course humans could bring contagious diseases to the UK. Why do you think the borders were shut down during covid.
What a strange post.

There are plenty of pets being rehomed by owners on gumtree and FB.

There is always a way to rescue an animal if you are determined enough.

I agree it shouldn’t be so difficult though.

I adopted through Greek ResQ, a very sensible UK/Greek charity who are utterly pragmatic about finding good homes without all the nanny state requirements.

Stay away from Greek Animal Rescue which is a nightmare trying to adopt from.

I knew someone would have to be silly and mention COVID! A Pandemic is an unusual event and accordingly borders closed and people had to test so you've actually endorsed what I've said that it's super rare and not generally a problem for humans to ever bring in anything contagious. And as I've said the vets are stating that not everyone is screening dogs for diseases and it's causing problems apparently.

But what I'm questioning is, is it regulated, is everybody that's bringing dogs and cats in a professional whose doing all the due diligence in regards to health screening or are just assuming they are all above board! As I said before who is checking the owners are suitable? You seem to put an awful lot of trust on prospective owners and there are plenty of rubbish ones about.

We’ve just had a really positive experience with the RSPCA in Leicester- https://www.rspcawoodside.org.uk
it was with a puppy rather than a dog but I can’t speak highly enough of everyone who works there and supported us.
It is initially a foster until you return for the second round of vaccinations but then it goes to adoption. It’s just to ensure that all pets are responsibly vaccinated.

Certainly there are rubbish owners, but there are plenty of rubbish owners who acquire a dog in the UK.

'The vets' - who exactly do you mean by 'the vets'? I am sure some vets are saying this. There will always be some who take an extreme position. I suspect most wouldn't say animals should not be imported into the UK, but that there needs to good health and welfare standards. Such as being vaccinated before travel (which is recorded in the pet passport), which can then be verified.

My parents and Grandparents adopted all their pets and I decided that this is what I would also do once we owned a home.

What an awful 18 month search period it ended up being. No centres open to view dogs, apart from one which says you can view all their pets, yet not the dogs - no, they are kept away in kennels away from visitors!

We were forbidden from adopting as we have 2 children and one was under 5 at the time, have a cat, live on a fairly busy road, and we both work full time and both of us used to work outside the home back then.

I found so many dogs I was desperate to rehome and would be devastated with every lack of response or rejection, and I’m referring to the few dogs that could apparently be rehomed by a family like us.

We ended up buying our dogs from responsible breeders in the end, and I know so many other people who have felt resigned to do the same.

We recently tried to adopt a third dog, I thought I might stand a chance now my children are older and I work from home part of the week, but no, they didn’t respond on Instagram or Facebook, nor did they pick up the phone, but the bothered to post a photo of her after she had suddenly been adopted! I was totally livid.

It was not like this before Covid! You could visit centres and view the dogs (and donate), and they tended to pick up the phone/reply in social media.

How many rescues did you try though?
I know it’s much too hard but there are sites on FB and gumtree where owners are trying to rehome pets. And plenty of recommendations on threads like this of rescues who take a pragmatic approach.

mI’m not sure that ‘responsible’ and ‘breeder’ belong in the same sentence tbh, given that breeders are breeding their dogs for profit.