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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Would you tell a lie to rescue an animal?

33 replies

FuckNugget · 01/08/2013 19:38

Following on from the thread I started yesterday which brought up some interesting points about rescue centres that put (apparently) overly strict rules in place that would prevent potentially good owners from adopting:

would you lie to get around their rules in order to adopt a pet? If you wouldn't lie and you couldn't adopt, would you buy a pet instead?

I'm not saying I would do this by the way, just thought it would be an interesting discussion.

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issey6cats · 01/08/2013 22:52

no its not worth lying as an example say you had a girl adult cat at home, we would not let you have another girl adult cat as generally speaking not a good combination,

so you lie we let you have a girl adult cat and they hate each other, two weeks later you are at the end of your tether and the new cat ends up back at the rescue,

cue one sad cat, one sad owner for failing and one more cat left longer on the waiting list, the reason that rules are in place is to try to find the best home for the cat, not pander to whims of potential owners, or put cats in dangerous situations

ie cats not good with kids in a children full house, better to be honest as that way you end up with the best cat for you , may not be the one you came for but more rewarding for you and cat ,

rant over sorry have seen people do this and senses tingling at the time but cant do anything have seen the poor cat brought back, volunteers time wasted, and person slinking off not been very popular

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ChippingInHopHopHop · 01/08/2013 23:02

It would depend - which I suppose means 'Yes I would' but only in a few situations, mostly I think the 'rules' are there for a good reason, but if one rescue had a stupid rule that others didn't and I wanted a specific animal they had, I'd lie if I was sure it wouldn't be detrimental to the animal.

Would I buy instead? Same applies I think... I guess so, but I can't think of a situation where they would refuse to allow me to adopt an animal yet I would think it was OK and so buy one.

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FuckNugget · 01/08/2013 23:51

Thanks for the replies.

That's interesting issey, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. The kitten I have just bought is a girl so I would be better with a male?

chipping, I got to thinking about this because there is a kitten I like at a centre that has very strict rules and they won't adopt to a house with children under 5. I have a 2.6 year old and she is very gentle with my mum's cats, we have taught her how to be kind and gentle (shame it doesn't work with her sister ). Ultimately I know I'm being selfish wanting this particular kitten but I could give him a home but for their rule that isn't flexible to consider that I would never let my children hurt the kitten and I don't think they would anyway. I couldn't lie though, I guess they have their own reasons for setting the rules.

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cozietoesie · 02/08/2013 07:18

I suspect it's for the protection and sanity of their own volunteers. Who knows but that they might have found not that it never works just that it usually/often doesn't work - but have brought in the rule so that they aren't faced with difficulties when people are wanting a cat for an unsuitable household. Having a seemingly inflexible rule would make life more straightforward.

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Sparklingbrook · 02/08/2013 07:48

They would probably rumble you at the home visit stage anyway.

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Tigerblue · 02/08/2013 09:52

In the eyes of the rescue centre, the law of averages dictates that most under fives will be lively and not always think about how to treat an animal. Like yours, my daughter was fairly good with the two we already had, left them have their own space, was told to leave them alone if they'd had enough, but often when we had little friends they'd go tearing into a room the cat was in scaring it. If the cat couldn't get away, they then had little hands trying to get to them which they didn't want. The children weren't doing anything wrong, but cats are sensitive creatures.

By the way, I have a boy and a girl and they don't get on particularly well. The boy tends to go out more (even though he's done), so I think she sees the house as her territory and she will regularly swipe and hiss at him on his return. He doesn't care unless she actually gets him and then he wins the fight.

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tabulahrasa · 02/08/2013 09:55

No.

There's no point lying about your family situation or you might end up with one that just isn't suited to your family and if I fell foul of some random arbitrary condition I'd just go to another one. Sadly there's no shortage of rescues.

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D0oinMeCleanin · 02/08/2013 10:02

No it's not a sensible idea. As a fosterer I only suggest rules on homes for a good reason i.e the pup who needed an experienced home with children over 10 only, still needed a lot of training and would guard contraband on his bed, meaning if a younger child went to retrieve their shoes from him, they might end up with a nasty nip.

The one who needed hours and hours of exercise would only have been suited to an active family with no younger children because if he didn't get at least 90 mins off lead running, he'd have eaten your home.

I don't want to keep the dogs longer than necessary, but sometimes restrictions need to be placed on potential homes for the dogs safety and the adopters.

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thecatneuterer · 02/08/2013 12:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LingDiLong · 02/08/2013 13:52

No I wouldn't. Firstly, you'd be found out when they do a home visit, and secondly most rules at most rescue centres are there for a good reason.

You've got to consider that as good as your 2.6 year old might be with cats there are still things about a 2.6 year olds that might stress a cat out - just normal loud playing or tantrums could really upset some cats. You can't just assume the centre have said a particular cat isn't suitable for under 5s for YOUR benefit in case it scratches your child. It could be that it's for the cat's benefit.

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 16:18

Thanks everyone for your really interesting input on this.

I think in my situation, it's not that the shelter are trying to match up pets with particular people, rather that there is a blanket ban on certain families, like those in rented or with young children. The kitten I am interested in may or may not be good with children, but they won't consider us regardless because we have a child under 5. If the rule were legible and it was just a case of matching the right animal with the family, then I think this is different.

I have sent all my details to the rescue now and explained that our DC are very used to cats and have been taught how to handle them. Hopefully they will be flexible with their rules and allow us the chance to adopt but if not, I will go through another shelter that is ok with us having young DC.

I will update when I know more, fingers crossed that we can adopt him though .

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 16:21

*legible=flexible

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lljkk · 02/08/2013 16:29

I would probably try to find a pet thru local free ads instead, word of mouth type thing.
I do think most rescues are too strict. We had similar problems getting a cat when my youngest was not yet 4yo, too. CPL were fine to let us have them once they had a homevisit. So I dare say try a different cat rescue if no joy with first 1.

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 16:33

Spoke too soon. Just received an email from the shelter to say we don't meet their requirements on 2 points, too close to road and we have young DC . Obviously there are so many people wanting to rescue kittens that they can turn people away for fairly minor reasons (IMO).

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lljkk · 02/08/2013 16:35

Put a wanted notice on your FB.
How busy is the nearest road?

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Sparklingbrook · 02/08/2013 16:36

Was it Cats' Protection FN?

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 16:53

sparkling, no it was an independent shelter. I've contacted cpl and they were meant to call today but didn't.

The road directly outside is quiet. It's a private road and we live opposite a farm with loads of fields. There is a road further up that is busier but it's not that close? Not sure which road they meant. Interestingly the house I am in now was the house I grew up in, many cars have lived here and all died of old age, never injured on the roads .

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 16:56

*cats obviously not cars. Stupid phone.

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lljkk · 02/08/2013 17:17

Definitely try another shelter, we had to shop around because of the 3yo. My cats have the most fantastic life.

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FuckNugget · 02/08/2013 17:21

I'm really annoyed about this even though I was expecting it. I feel like emailing and saying that I think they are being unfair. Come and meet us and look at what we have to offer a kitten before saying no, I would be fine with that. I know it's nothing personal but I also feel it is unfair in some ways to the cats/kittens they have. Unless they are unique in some way and have 100% adoption rates but with rules like theirs, I really doubt it. They must be denying perfectly good homes to the cats that they have if they'd only look beyond their ridiculous rules .

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thecatneuterer · 02/08/2013 17:46

Are they saying it's just kittens that would be a problem (which I do understand), or does that cover adult cats too?

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confuddledDOTcom · 02/08/2013 17:47

It depends on what. If I could have my time again I wouldn't have told them that we took on the cat that died because his brother was killed in an accident. It was nothing to do with us, we took him on because he needed the extra attention that we could give. Saying that, I wouldn't have given up the two we got that we wouldn't have otherwise.

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lljkk · 02/08/2013 17:48

Don't despair, their loss!!
When I had rescue rats (yes the sort of animal most people would rather take a shovel to) I had to sign loads of forms promising to take care of them in such-n-such way. And basically they weren't my property, they remained property of the rescue.

Funny part is when I got in touch to mention when a rat died they seemed disinterested, I didn't even tell them when last few who died. They didn't chase that up; high ideals not put into practice.

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LingDiLong · 02/08/2013 17:49

It does seem daft. We recently got a rescue cat and they basically match the right cat to the right family so some aren't suitable for under 10s, some are ok for over 5s. Some need to be somewhere quiet, others are ok by a busyish road. I live near a busy road and childmind but the rescue was fine with that.

Although our local rescue is absolutely drowning in cats and kittens at the moment, they have 40+ kittens plus older cats. They're having to use fosterers and private catteries to house them all.

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lljkk · 02/08/2013 17:57

And no offense to people (fosterers & rescuers) doing a labour of love for no other recompense, but a lot of time, foster conditions aren't great. Before we got them, our kits were kept in a pen in the garage 23.5 hours a day. CPL gushed about what a wonderful foster carer she was, so that was obviously fantastic conditions as far as they were concerned. It feels like a mismatch with the very high standards some rescues seem to expect of would-be adopters.

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