Rehoming shelter threatening to take cat away - what are my rights.

[CatLadyLegal]

Residing in Scotland. 2 weeks ago, I rehomed a cat from a registered shelter/rehoming centre. I paid £85 adoption fee and went off on my merry way with the cat. Cat settled in quickly and was happy and affectionate, but sadly, quickly, it became apparent that my husband and toddler were highly allergic to her, to the point my husband had an asthma attack. We have another cat here and everyone is fine around her, no allergies.

So, fast forward to present day, we rehomed the cat to a family we know well in our street. We did not take any money for this and I decided to let the shelter know because they had not yet transferred the chip details to me for her microchip,
So I explained the situation and advised of the new owners. I then got a call from the owner of the shelter and got grief on the phone. She could hear I was upset, but carried on hounding me. She said we should have given the cat back to the shelter instead, but I didn't want to put her through the experience again and she's already really settled and happy in her new home.

I accept responsibility I may have handled this wrong and I hold my hands up for that, however, the shelter have made contact with the new owners and told them they are going to their house tomorrow to take the cat back!

Where do we stand with this? I thought as money was exchanged with me and the shelter, that a contact was entered and I am now the legal owner of this cat, so it's my choice what to do with her. There's nothing I can see in the paperwork that they can take her back etc, so I just want to see where we stand please! Can she take the cat back or am I actually the legal owner still and can stop this? Insurance is in my name, it's just the chip which was still to be transferred. Their argument is because the chip is in the shelter name, she is still their cat!

Thank you ❤️

You're right about the not making profit on the cat, I was clear when telling the shelter that too that I didn't take anything for her as then that could look bad. I even gave the neighbours her brand new litter tray and toys, so it definitely was not about making any money, I just wanted to see the cat go to a loving home which I know she will be.

I do get why the shelter are annoyed, but that does not give the owner any authority to speak to me the way she did, then hound the new owners as she did earlier on the phone. I'm honestly so drained after it all today. I'd never speak to someone the way she did with me.

Put it this way, the first time she was in the shelter was because she was being attacked from her mum, second time she was in, she ran away and they trapped her and brought her back a third time, then I met her. Not one of those adoptions of her had a home visit carried out. Not even for me. When I sent them a follow up message the day after I brought her home, it was ignored. So to now demand that she sees where this cat is and to "rescue" her when, in my opinion, she's failed to do any checks, is just trying to chance it.

She phoned the new owners up and was proclaiming that she loves that cat so much and snapped at them when the new owners called her by their chosen name "Her name is XXX!!!".

I feel really bad for my neighbours in all of this too as well as the cat.

Oh and I was offered money from my neighbours many times and I've refused each time. It's not about the money.

She sounds unhinged. What's she going to do, storm the house? Just tell the neighbours to put the phone down on her if she calls again and not answer the door to her. I'd do the same if I were you.

You are going to struggle though getting the microchip details switched over. You should have got the details changed to yourself before rehoming the cat. But bit late for that now. That would be my only worry. If she is an outdoor cat and anything happens to her the shelter will be informed not the actual owners.

I've rescued both dogs and cats for years. They are usually explicit in rules re rehoming. You can't just give the rescue creature away as the shelter will want you to do their own suitability assessment. Maybe the neighbour can ask to be considered for the cat and go through the process?

Yes, they did ask to be considered but she said no, the cat lives too close to me and that the cat will have bonded with me and will be in distress and want to get to me if she hears my voice.... funny that she didn't act like that when I was round my neighbours house earlier! She was too busy sleeping under the coffee table!

I've advised the neighbours to not allow her entry to the house. She won't get a foot in my door either.

If your neighbour can provide a good home then the shelter would be a bit odd to not let this lie, but it sounds a bit deranged to not just be saying 'lets talk about this'. They have no way of being sure you were offering a better home than they would.

Poor cat

I would think that if the new owners tell the shelter to piss off, there would be absolutely nothing they could do about it.

Yeah, this. 90% of the posts on this thread have nothing to do with the law.

Of course a shelter does not retain ownership of animals it has given to someone else, unless explicitly as a loan/foster situation. A shelter giving you a cat is no different from someone whose cat has had kittens giving you one. Can the kitten-donor take the kitten back at will? Of course not.

I suggest advising your neighbours to record what happens on their phone, if the shelter does turn up. Assuming you’re in the U.K., this is perfectly legal.

It sounds like you have rescued the cat from the shelter rather than the other way around @CatLadyLegal !
From your description of the calls it sounds like a small privately run shelter rather than a big organisation like Cats Protection?
There are often threads on The Litter Tray section of Mumsnet about problems with shelters and rehoming issues so if you post on there you may get some good advice, but I would lead with the poor state of health she was in when you got her and the vet's comment about her being traumatised, which seems to show the shelter was not helping her, including that she was able to run away from the shelter (if I read that properly) which would show she wasn't physically or emotionally secure there. People can be a bit flamey on there but there are definitely very experienced cat folk over there!
Edited for typos

If you don’t have the microchip number get the new owners to take the cat to the vet, get her registered and health checked and ask the vet to scan for the chip to give them the number. They can then go online and change the registered owner details, it’s very easy to do.

When I adopted my cat the shelter asked us to leave them as the contact as they had too many instances of cats details not being updated with new addresses/phone numbers when owners move and they would e re at her the cat ended up back with them for a higher chance of reunification. We did this until our vet pointed out that details on the microchip can be use to prove ownership and advised we changed them to our own details. In England animals are considered property so technically you had every right to rehome the cat with your neighbours.

Also the fact you adopted a cat with no written agreement, no home check or follow up plus the extreme behaviour of the woman you dealt and the poor condition of the cat with makes me think this isn’t a very reputable and safe place for animals to be. Is this a formal shelter or an independent/home based re homing? Sounds like this woman likes being a martyr to her cause for the feel good factor, not actually the welfare of the animals involved.

Just stop engaging with them. If they come to your door don't answer. Block their number on your phone. If they're rehoming animals in that condition they're not a good shelter anyway, which is backed up by the hysterical way they're handling this.

Some shelters are nothing more than animal hoarders with a huge reluctance to let any animals go, even though they don't have enough funds to properly look after all the animals in their "care".

Some have daft standards that almost nobody can meet. Preferring the animals to live in small areas without the love and attention the animals would like (because the staff don't have time for that even in the best places), just because available homes don't meet their excessive and exacting conditions. Yet the same people can go out and purchase a pet and look after it just fine.

Others are lax with checks and healthcare because they're running a shoddy shelter that's little better than the homes the animals were removed from in the first place.

I'll bet the real reason they want the cat back is so they can charge another adoption fee for it.

The only thing you've done wrong is telling the shelter what happened. You should have let the chip change ownership and then transferred again to the neighbours.

The way theyl shelter is behaving is ridiculous and unprofessional. The cat is safe and well, which they'd know if they bothered to look into the situation, and better off where she is than back being semi-neglected with them. You haven't got any paperwork stating that the cat remains the property of the shelter, which means they most probably haven't either. They themselves stated they were "transferring ownership" to you. They're not going to take you to court. They're trying to bully you into backing down and doing what they want because they know darn well they haven't got a leg to stand on legally.

You fucked up but as long as they don't open the door there's not much the shelter can do.

I thought everyone knew it was expected to return the animals if the adoption doesn't work, not just sort out a side adoption to any Tom Dick or Harry.

We've had our cat from kittenhood , she's now 11 and initially from an animal rescue. In all those years we've never had a follow up call or check .
I'd stop engaging with them , surely if the cat is safe and happy and well looked after and loved where it is , then that is what matters most.

You have to give the cat back to the shelter.

Imagine if you could get someone else to adopt a cat for you. They do strict checks for a reason, you can't just give them away after 2 weeks.

The point is though, they never did any checks at all..

I have a copy of the chip number but I can't just go ahead and do it. I've taken a screenshot from the chip website.

This.

Also you mentioned that the shelter didn’t do a home check when you originally took the cat, so it’s not as if they can be worried about the lack of home check with the neighbours.

Also the same reason why the chip hadn't transferred straight away too, they said to keep it with them for a couple of weeks as she ran away from her last home so they have the resources and experience dealing with a runaway.. I believed that to be in good faith.

I adopted a cat from a rescue centre.
Unfortunately it will not get in with my existing cat (also from the same shelter)

We really tried to settle them together but it was like war everyday. My existing cat went on hunger strike.

We re-homed the new cat with a neighbour. They love her and she settled immediately. She is only 4 doors down and we see her all the time.

The rescue centre did offer to take her back but did not insist on it. They were satisfied that she had a new home and trusted my judgement.

That number is cats protection. I had a run in with them they can be batty.

Your neighbour takes cat to vet and chips cat. Don’t answer the door.

You really should’ve handed the cat back, too late now.

The shelter are claiming that she is too close to me and my house, and the minute the cat gets outside and gets a smell of my scent, she will be back over at our door begging to get in and so confused. They kept saying "she's too close to the cat, that's why we never rehome in the same area".

The cat lived in my house for 10 days. She was mostly in the back bedroom as we have another cat and we were following the proper introduction methods, so she's not had run of my house, she's not scent tracked all over my house, she's not had access to outside or the garden all for this reason.

I say neighbour and she's not next door. She's one side of the estate and I'm at the other with around 20 houses between us.

I've said up thread that I was round the house last night for almost 2 hours going through the paperwork to make sense all of the wording etc and she was under the coffee table. At not one single point did she come running to me and begging me to take her home. I peeked under the table and she was sprawled out snoozing, had a yawn, popped her head out to me to stroke it, then she came out and went for tummy and bum scratches from the new owner.

Also the shelter said she will only wander around 4 gardens as she's not a strayer..... the new owners would be keeping her inside for at least 4-6 weeks as you do with an outdoor cat if you were moving etc, so she's more than 4 gardens away from me. She has free rein of her new home and will be scent tracking that.

For goodness sake just tell the neighbours to refuse to allow entry to the property and call the police if they try and steal the cat.

Legally they don't have any rights, you've checked the contract.

Cat centres can be nutty.

She's already chipped.