Can I just have a rant about gumtree?

[brogueish]

I've posted before about trying to adopt an adult cat through the rescues and not getting anywhere. We've now gone down the Pets4Homes/Gumtree rabbit hole and I'm just astounded by the way people are behaving.

Found a cat that sounded perfect, local etc - after several long calls we agreed to pay the (insane) £300 for an unspayed moggy, got there to pick her up and she's covered in ringworm. "Oh she's perfectly healthy, it's just a bit of stress grooming because I've been packing her stuff up, only happened a few days ago...". Walked away.

Today, another unspayed moggy being sold as a Bengal/BSH cross for £700. Had a chat with the sellers and they'd bought the poor cat from a kitten farm last year (had been told it was 3 months old and a boy, their vet reckoned closer to 7 and definitely a girl). I explained that I'd be happy to make an offer and asked them to think about it, and they then sent a message about how insulted they were and that I was looking for a "cheap cat"!

It infuriates me that people who can't even be bothered to neuter their cats that they claim to love and adore are then trying to charge ridiculous sums when they've had enough, and other clueless people will pay up and then get bored, and the cycle goes on. Or worse, someone will think "ooh that unspayed cat will have kittens and I'll get a great return on the investment". I just really can't believe what's going on. These are cats not inanimate objects and the blatant greed is disgusting. Urgh, rant over.

I’ve had friends recently looking for dogs and it’s similar. Massively awful adverts saying stuff like “lovely dog just too busy now we are back at work to give him time. Payed £1000 as a puppy looking for £900”.

Like it’s a brand new bike they’ve barely used, and not a living member of their family. Awful.

It is abhorrent but other people would pay and so it continues.

You should need to have a licence to breed, £2k plus and anything not bred with a licence gets taken into a shelter.

You should report the sellers you’ve seen to HMRC, their not going to be declaring that income.

I hadn't even thought of reporting to HMRC, that's such a good point. Trading standards had crossed my mind!

That's awful to hear about dogs too. I really hope when lockdown's finally over this all stops.

There’s a huge black market going on by my reckoning, you get 6 kittens easily in one litter £1800 income. Their not going to be doing regular vet checks or dna profiling like breeders do are they?.

You could easily get 3 litters a year out of one female.

Fatty and Snorg were originally advertised on gumtree, I believe, along with four other cats. Only 3 of them had a happy ending, the others died.

Everyone (however well meaning and however much they profess to love cats and care about their welfare) who gets a cat or dog or any other animal from these places is part of the problem though, even you OP.

There are very, very few living situations that aren't suitable for the right cat from rescue, even if it means a wait.

May I ask if there's a reason why you are not getting anywhere with the rescues?

I got nowhere with big rescues as have young kids and live near a busy road, but was able to have a cat from a small local rescue.

@Coffeefirstthing RSPCA/CPL put a blanket adult only/ children 12+ restriction on all their cats around here, which is fair enough but it does automatically exclude us. We are also in an urban part of a predominatly rural area (although in a 20mph largely one-way zone) and that has also been a problem. The smaller rescues have been more positive but seem completely overwhelmed by demand. We've now been looking for over a year, although in fairness the smaller rescues haven't been open for all of that time. Given the choice, I would always go the rescue route - my lovely old girl came to me from one when I was living in a flat on a really busy road - but it's just not happening for us at the moment.

I'm glad you were able to take one on in the end. We'll keep looking.