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?

I agree I’m very cynical about them in general and think that they are potentially in it for the funding first and foremost.

It's very variable. Last cat I got from a (non national) rescue centre, I sent an enquiry in as they'd highlighted him in their own communications, and they RANG me about 15 mins after I'd sent the email to ask if I'd like to come in and see him. (He's been snoozing on my lap this morning 😺) That was proactive cat rehoming! I'm not in the East Midlands unfortunately.

have you looked online at your local car rescues? Totally agree some rescues make it impossible to adopt a pet, but there are quite a few car rescues near me (West Yorkshire) that have all their cats in foster houses. So you can see what they have available on their Facebook page, fill in the application and they do a home visit (mine was via zoom call the day after I applied), then I went to the foster home to meet the cat and brought her home a week later. It only took that long as she had just been spayed.

I'm in the SE and adopted 2 kittens (brothers) earlier this year from the Cat Protection League. The problem seems to be that the turnover of cats/kittens is very quick, and they tend to be fostered in a lot of different places rather than all in one place. So visiting foster homes is difficult unless you've 'reserved' a rescue, as they may have been adopted by the time you get there. It took me 3 or 4 goes to find the kittens we have.

This is our 4th lot of adopted rescue cats, and the process has definitely changed. Previously we've gone to an adoption centre to see the cats before choosing them (or being chosen by them). These days, you view cats by photos online, then ask to reserve them before visiting.

Good Luck.

Millwood Cat Rescue - they’re on FB

I agree about some of the ones run by individuals as opposed to organisations. There is one near me that says on their website that they do not judge when it comes to people needing to rehome their cat, and yet posts loads of judgy things on their FB page about the people surrendering cats to her. She basically just lets you have a cat if she likes you as far as I can see.

That has not been my experience. Most of them are caring and keen to get their kitties adopted. They are also volunteers with real lives and can't drop everything for a visit at your convenience on the off chance that you might adopt one of the cats they have.

I found exactly the same when we got our current cat three years ago. I’m 67 and have had cats for at least 60 years of my life. My last two cats lived to 20 and 22 respectively, so I think we know how to give them a good life. My husband is retired and I work part time from home, so there is almost always someone at home. We live in a house with a large garden in south London, and we have no children living at home or other pets. When we decided the house didn’t seem right without a cat after the last cat died, I contacted 6 local cat rescues to find a new kitten, and filled in the questionnaires for each. Two of the largest rescues decided that we weren’t suitable for any of their cats - these were Battersea and Celia Hammond. I ended up getting our current cat from an ad on Gumtree because it was the only place I could find a kitten who needed a homw. 😳

Deemed too old at 70 to adopt a dog?!!
That is both ridiculous and depressing.

We were able to adopt a cat easily. I understand not being able to go and see the cats because having strangers in and out is distressing for animals. Also having people who know the pets assess what is a suitable home for them is also sensible, the rescue explained that people often get set on an animal that is not a good fit for them. We put in an application of what sort of cat we were looking for, got a phone call not long after with a suitable cat, were allowed to then visit the cat, and got her a while later.

Absolutely ridiculous trying to rehome from a rescue. I tried many times when I was looking for another spaniel without any success due to the fact I had a child and a cat. Child is a very very dog savvy teenager who trains Gundogs with me and cat is very very terrifying to most dogs and lives outdoors anyway! I was happy to take a spaniel with issues/training requirements and anything under the age of 6 and wanted something to train to work on my team so would’ve been suitable for dogs that perhaps were harder to rehome to pet homes. Nope! I bought a pup in the end. Potentially facing the same dilemma really in a few months too.

Have you tried Leicester Animal Aid in Huncote? We adopted our Ddog from them 7 years ago and we found them very well organised. We visited on the Sunday, all details taken, home checks, trial runs etc completed in the following few days and by Thursday he came home permanently. This was pre-Covid though.

Looks like they now have an online form you fill in.

Agree . We were declined a rescue cat as we lived to near a road in their opinion.

many issues with that .

firstly most people live near a road- it’s how you get to your house from other destinations 🤣

secondly, it’s not really a main road…. Not even a bus route on it .

thirdly the road is a good distance from us

fourthly we have had several cats over the past 20 years in this house- none have been run over

5th lots of cats live in the area and seem to manage

and my favourite one …….. we actually wanted to adopt an older indoor cat, so the road was irrelevant

I can only assume that we had not lived up to their expectations 🤷‍♂️ and that was all they could think of .

Our local rescue were very good at taking donations of goods but gave me the brush off over adopting a cat(s).

My experience of a lot of small TNR/rescue groups is they are run by groups of women who love raising kittens and cats themselves and by calling themselves a 'rescue' group can seek lots of financial donations from kindly souls in order to finance it.

The groups near where I live all seem to have very little intent to ever let people adopt kittens unless they are ones with major issues they dont want themselves.

They post on social media near daily, with heart wrenching stories of pregnant cats/starving, sick kittens that might not make it unless someone helps with their huge vet bills /buys and sends food/sends cash to help.

Lonely cat lovers set them up direct debits, send money, run fundraisers, all so these groups can carry on enjoying raising a load of cute kittens without having to pay for it themselves. I suspect quite a few dont work and somewhat support themselves this way.

I think its an absolute scam.

Dogs Trust are the worst. We were interested in a specific dog but when we got there, another family was in the process of adopting it. They kept trying to get us to adopt a different dog that was a complete lunatic and totally unsuitable.

A couple of years later I applied for a dog that would have been perfect and was immediately told “no”, with no reason given.

I think it depends, we were turned down by the RSPCA even though we had a cat because we had a 4 year old child (the other child is older) and we had a cat flap. It was unbelievable as at the point the "vetter" was sitting in the living room and saying that basically the cat flap was not appropriate (we live in semi rural area not near a main road and back onto a wooded area) the cat we do have came and sat in the middle of the floor! Smaller rescue centres are different I think and it depends. I must say it did change the way I think about the charity.

I can only think of one reduce locally who seem to get rid of their cats/kittens. They even hold open days in village halls and you can leave with your cat there and then.

But the rest are ridiculous. Years and years ago we tried to get a dog from a rescue and they had such restrictive opening hours it was impossible. Without all the millions of rules. We purchased a puppy instead.

Anyone tried the Pet Rehomer website?

You’re not wrong , that’s why I ended up getting my 2 from Facebook adverts, about a year apart. Apparently my local rescue was also ‘ struggling with lots of kittens’ however that didn’t translate to actually parting with any.

I am same area @lurchersforever and honestly its a bloody farce.

I have a 200ft long garden, but only 12ft wide....not big enough to allow me a dog

Dd gas grown uo with animals...byt at 12 she is too young they only rehome with over 13yo kids

I have a terraced house and door is too close to the road

It's crackers.

.

Maybe give Thornberry Animal Sanctuary in Sheffield a try?

100% agree, on top of always being 'closed', the vetting process is mental. From what I see, it's as bad for dogs.

Have you tried Woodside animal rescue in Leicester? We’ve visited them quite a lot and are open on various weekdays and weekends to view the animals. I’ve always found them very approachable and friendly https://www.rspcawoodside.org.uk/

There's one by us that always seems to have kittens, but will only rehome in pairs. Which is ridiculous.

The better one gets you to do a form for a specific cat, but will then contact you and tell you that they've found a few you might like instead. They are happy to rehome to children, but prefer to send confident kittens there. They also re home to dog families. Again, if it's the right cat.

We've had 2 from there over the years.