Has anyone rescued a cat from overseas?

[Careersytype]

I'm looking at a rescue cat. We want an indoor cat, and found a site that specialises in cats from Cyprus that have ' special needs'.
Has anyone had experience with this?

Why would you? There are hundreds of needy cats in the UK without importing them.

I have a cat from spain. I found her out there and brought her home with me. I wouldn't say she has special needs, but she is an extremely nervous cat, has a deformed hip, so doesn't walk too easily, but luckily she stays inside most of the time because she is full of fear. She goes into the garden a couple of times a day, but she's never left alone out there. She has a painkiller for her hip and that's about it. I understand that you want to help by giving a home to an animal from another country where they might struggle to find enough homes. I volunteered at a dog rescue centre overseas, and many of the dogs went to homes in different countries.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

@QuestionableMouse
Are there?
We've been checking charities constantly.
We live by a busy road, so need a cat that has to stay indoors. I don't want to make a cat be an indoor cat if it is used to going out. No local charities seem to have any that need to stay inside.

We can't solve other countries problems with strays by bringing them over here. We have enough of our own.

Have you looked into FIV cats? They need to stay indoors.

Hi OP. I live in Cyprus, which charity have you been in touch with?

A word of caution that there are scams operating in relation to adoption of animals from overseas. Basically, you are scammed out of loads of money to pay for shipping, vaccinations etc. and the animal never arrives. They rely on people developing an attachment to the animal.

My local centre are always looking for homes, whereabouts are you OP.

My friend rescued 2 cats from Cyprus. She volunteered at a cat sanctuary over there and bought the cats home with her. She was over there though so met the cats and fell in love with them. Unless you're travelling there, I agree with other pp's that animal rescue centres here are also overflowing with poor homeless cats desperate for a loving home. Our own gorgeous kitty and my mums cat are from a local rescue centre.

Where are you based?

TheCatNeuterer works at a at sanctuary, I believe. She may be able to help you.

IMO any rescuing cat ( or any pet ) is better than encouraging breeding more animals than we can house .
I would go very careful about adopting from abroad , I know someone that was duped out of just over a thousand pounds for a cat that they never got ( from Portugal I think )

As PP said you could adopt a FIV cat ,
read this thread that I started ( under a different name ) it may give you a idea as to what to expect , it has a ending though .
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/3717320-To-take-on-a-cat-with-FIV?msgid=91289689

If you let us know roughly where you live or can travel to we could recommend some rehoming places .

Any cat can be an indoor cat. Cat protection has hundreds of cats looking for a home. The Blue Cross has 157.

Worth looking at at least before you go to the expense (and stress, for the cat) of importing one.

It’s not uncommon at all for a rescue to say indoor only. If you’re prepared to consider rescuing from abroad why wouldn’t you look beyond local U.K. rescues. A country wide search would turn up loads.

My 3 cats are rescue cats well kittens would have had an older cat but have a dog (kittens who grow up with a dog get on better than an older cat whose never seen a dog before). Contacted a local rescue and waited for some suitable kittens. Also asked for a black one as they are harder to rehome.

Whereabouts are you - I’ve seen lots of cats at rescues near me that have to be kept indoors, sometimes because of FIV, sometimes other needs. Even if there aren’t any like that now, there may well be within the next month or two, new rescue cats come in all the time.

I have a friend who rescued from Greece and have also spoken to a lady fostering kittens from Greece but in both cases they have a friend or relative there who was responsible for the process. And in the second case the kittens had an awful journey over here in bad conditions that led to a couple of infections - the fosterer was really cross about it.

I wouldn’t do it without a friend or trusted contact in the other country tbh.

Found an almost dead abandoned kitten in Bulgaria.

To get it to uk cost £1000.

Lovely he was, sadly was killed by a car last year, only two years old 😞

Would do it again

Hi
I'm in Hampshire.

We have been scouring the charities looking. We've called, we've emailed... nothing.

The charity is Special needs Cats ( or similar)

You bring up a good point... the fee is £100, and I'm meant to pick it up from the airport, but I'm not sure if someone from the charity is there as well. Wouldn't want to pay unless I actually have the cat...

You’re not that far from the @thecatneuterer

She works at Celia Hammond, I think. Maybe she can help you.

One issue with adopting from abroad is that you have no recourse if things don’t work out. I adopted from a small local rescue and they insisted on a trial period to ensure the cats were a good fit for our family.

What about a breed like Persian or Ragdoll who are indoor cats by nature, there are specific breed rescues.

I forgot to say that we have a dog , which has narrowed the field considerably.

Thank you @BlackCatSleeping, I'll give them a try...
Toddler- I my sister had one of those, so I may see if there is a breed rescue as well

Thanks
😊