Rescue centre adoption too difficult?

[vinegarqueen]

Ok I'll accept a little grilling here. Just been through the bruising experience of trying to find a rescue centre to adopt a cat from. I have found one now, but it's taken ages. I live abroad and one of them wanted us to put wire caging or plexiglass over every single window or glassed door in case cat got out. One said we had to have an indoor cat (fine) and then said they wouldn't let us adopt one because our particular island has too many snakes outside. One volunteer said we were just more of a dog family and wouldn't we like to see the puppies (DH doesn't like dogs). One said no children. Arg.


Throughout this I have had a little voice -my sister- saying ”you could just BUY one”. I just wonder how many otherwise good potential owners just end up getting frustrated and forking out for a purebreed, or worse, going on gumtree, because rescue centres are overly picky? I understand if you have an issue like allergies or another pet that is incompatible or whatever. But, ”more of a dog family”?? Really??

[CatchingBabies]

I was turned down for a rescue cat as my dog isn’t vaccinated. The fact the we nearly lost him a pup due to a severe reaction to his vaccinations and that the vet advised we don’t give him annnual boosters wasn’t a good enough reason apparently. The cats are vaccinated but that didn’t matter. We wonder why we have so many cats sitting in rescue!

[AwkwardSquad]

Blimey. So many hoops! Our first two cats were via private rehoming from a friend who’d taken in a pregnant stray, and our current cat came via the RSPCA. They were perfectly reasonable with us (even though we most definitely did NOT live in a mansion with unlimited outdoor space and no roads...) and the process was straightforward. Sounds like that’s rare.

[Jellylegss]

Personally I always try to find smaller rescues or recommend asking in at your local vet (ours lets clients rehome on their notice board)

Years ago I went to a big rescue and had the following issues.
1- I was young for the experience I had.. yep I grew up in a rural area with farms in the family so I’d indefinitely helped with more than 1 cat and had lived with 2 I could remember.
2- I lived in a flat, I wanted an indoor cat.. I was also not allowed to let the cat out..
3-I lived near a school so those pesky kids 5 floors down outside where the cat wasn’t allowed would obviously jump up like ninjas to harass the cat.
4- I didn’t know what gender or coat type i wanted.. really I didn’t care if it had long hair or no hair, balls or not. It was a cat for company it could’ve looked however it pleased.
5- I didn’t have an account with the vet.. well I didn’t have a pet, I hardly thought about taking myself in for some flea treatment being a human after all

I walked into my vet spoke to a receptionist who told me to speak to a small rescue in particular, I asked for the oldest/longest serving resident as all I wanted was a cat who needed a home, I left 20 minutes later with an elderly extremely over weight chap (still feline ) he only lived another year.. he was almost 16 when I took him on though so I knew he wouldn’t be around forever but he obviously had a much better year than in a shelter.

[RaisinRainbow]

Starry 'how would your cat feel loved?' What a bizarre question, unless of course you are a feline psychodynamic therapist?

[madmum5811]

I see kittens come up on my local FB page quite often. Try gumtree, or whatever it is called you can put your postcode in there to check for local kittens. I seem to think that kittens are scarce on the ground at this time of year.

[cheeseismyspiritanimal]

This thread has made interesting reading.

We're trying to adopt at the moment and are having such problems that we're not even getting to home visit stage at all. We started getting in contact with adoption centres back in September and kept never hearing anything back about cats we'd enquired about. Then it came up that our location was too far from one particular centre to do a home visit even though it's our nearest (but about 20 miles away). I get it's a distance to travel but it's frustrating. We're starting to consider buying but really wanted to give a home to a cat who needs to be adopted.

It's proving a lot harder than I thought and that's before we're even 'vetted' properly 🐱

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Keep a cat in for 12 months?! We kept Harry in for 3 weeks!

[chemenger]

She looks very well loved, you can tell because she is totally ignoring you while occupying the best seat. I think she might have felt more loved if you had bothered to keep the chair in the sun for her though. Poor cat slavery.

[MikeUniformMike]

StarryCat looks well loved to me. Merry Catmas! to her and Merry Christmas to you.

[StarryFleck]

I was told by a rescue group (that I approached as I knew they was struggling due to number of cats it had) that a cat (I wanted an adult rescue and was willing to accept a problematic one that nobody else wanted) would not feel loved by me and that I should try another rescue as they were less picky on who adopts 😧 I was gobsmacked.

Basically the areas I think I failed on were:
1 - I'd let the cat outside less than 12months after adopting it if I felt it was ready I.e it depended on the cats progress. She said but it would get confused and not feel loved (note: feeling loved was a recurring theme).
2 - She was unimpressed on my answer to 'how would your cat feel loved?'
3 - I wasn't able to specify the exact foods and feeding times I'd have other than I'd likely feed three times per day (breakfast, tea and supper) and possibly again if it asked for more and that it would always have water available. She sighed and waffled more about feeling loved ... Somehow this answer was not acceptable?!
4 - I live by a B road.
5 - I had never owned by own cat before was a problem. I explained I was in my late 20s (ie not an incompetent child as she was speaking to me as) and had been saving to get my own home before getting cat (ie being super responsible not that a cat cares if my home is rented or not!) but tut tut nope not acceptable.... She had no interest that I'd grown up in a house with cats so had experience of living with them and was now an adult with my own home with no other pets or kids.

So I got a cat from another rescue. Here is a photo of her enjoying the garden and feeling loved .... outside after only a few months 🤯😱

[tierraJ]

Rock bird it's taken ten months for Ebony to stop being nervous, she's affectionate now but hates being held & won't sit on laps. She also dislikes men!

I think rescue cats take a lot of work but I like the challenge.

My old cat was from rspca, they said she 'wasn't socialised', well basically she was feral.
But she ended up being the most loving beautiful cat ever.

If you can adopt from a rescue then it's worth it.

I worked full time when I got my old cat but I think the rspca gave me her because she was in her last chance bless her.

[Rockbird]

I'm not sure the CP matching is that effective tbh. I've bored enough people already about our cats but basically 3 months on, although better, they're still scared of their own shadows and won't let dd2 (nearly 7) go near them at all. Much as we love them, if we'd know just how much work was needed to get them to even stay in the room with us we would have waited for different cats. They really needed someone experienced. And we still don't have any paperwork for them

[viccat]

MikeUniform Think of it more as a matching process to make sure the right person is matched with the right cat and vice versa. If you are reasonably flexible and open to their suggestions, it should be fine. Charities want to find homes for cats, after all, they are looking for reasons to approve your application not to reject it.

[MikeUniformMike]

Thanks. She looks like a cat who knows her own mind.

[tierraJ]

I got my cat from the local Cats Protection- it was quite easy but basically there had been zero interest in the cat I chose.

I do own a house with a garden but as it turns out my cat wants to be an indoor cat!! She's terrified of going outside, I've had her for ten months & she still refuses to go out so I won't make her.

[MikeUniformMike]

I want to give a home to a cat, but don't want to go through the vetting that rescue centres seem to need. Basically, I don't want anyone telling me I am not fit to have a cat. Any suggestions please?

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

I actually lied to the rescue when we adopted Harry. They were worried that we both worked full time so I told them DH worked part time. It wasn't a complete lie as he's self employed and obviously only works when he has a job but at the time he did full days.

[SmellTheGlove]

The first charity I tried to adopt kittens through recently didn't even reply to my application. When I eventually emailed ( I realise they are staffed by volunteers so very busy) they said they had looked at my application form and saw that i lived on a street near the corner of another street so 'i probably wouldn't pass the home check'. Seriously? It's a London based charity rehoming to London homes, my road is really quiet, barely any cars day or night. I'm not sure where they wanted me to live????we have a secure garden, someone at home nearly every day all day, privately owned house, one child age 10. Pretty good potential owners I would have thought. But they just looked on Google maps!!!! Went with another charity in the end and got 2 older kittens who had been mistreated and abandoned and have now very much landed on their feet! So a happy ending but it did annoy me.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Unlike a lot of other shelters Battersea don't turn away an animal so sadly they are going to have to PTS more animals. They were brilliant when DM was looking for a cat, happy to let me sort everything out and very patient with DM. Unlike the rescue that Harry came from who wanted me to guarantee I would take in DM's cat if she couldn't look after him.

[RaisinRainbow]

Earlier this week I was looking to adopt from a small charity. I felt emotionally exhausted reading the adoption questionnaire. They were asking for three personal references, and all manner of questions. It felt invasive. I understand the need for diligence/duty of care, however this seemed over-zealous.
Many were the type of information that would arise naturally during a homecheck, which I am always happy to oblige with.
But I found the form so offputting I decided not to proceed.

[madeyemoodysmum]

RSPCA told us we couldn’t adopt a kitten because we had a gerbil. I’m an ex vet nurse I kept the gerbil in a separate room from the rest of house and no other animals allowed in said room. I’m very strict. I’ve kept gerbils and cats in happy co existence for over 10 years and not one has meet a toothy end.

Really pissed me off but it’s more the attitude they have.

[Sallygoroundthemoon]

Blimey Doggy. Glad I got my little one there then.

[whatswithtodaytoday]

scienceforthewin Again... have they met cats 😂

[Doggydoggydoggy]

sallygroundthemoon I am sorry to inform you that Battersea is also the pound for the whole of London and they euthanise thousands of healthy dogs and cats every year!
They are in no way shape or form a ‘no kill’ charity.

[Allergictoironing]

Insurance (many different types), council tax, salaries, vets, micro chipping & neutering, inoculations, vehicle/machinery updates & replacements, general maintenance, cleaning equipment & products.....

Oh and the number of animals available for adoption won't include the animals who are being treated for anything, or pregnant etc.

Not that I particularly approve of Battersea for the various reasons given above, but there are loads of costs over & above the food & bedding of the animals.