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The litter tray

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

Original poster

No Kittens available for adoption. Please read!

34 replies

MrsCatE · 16/09/2021 22:24

Please don’t encourage people that are selling Kittens by engaging.

We lost BastardCat in March and literally, I have a little sob every day; MrCat’s worse - and he’s the one determined to adopt another Kitten (I’m happy with cat of any age). Started to investigate charity rehoming sites near to me and lovely, involved people advised ‘intake’ of Kittens was very low and I thought how lovely; more responsible owners plus feral / farm colonies capture and release going well. Nope. People are keeping the litters because now money making enterprise instead of annoyance. Please don’t encourage by buying off evil websites.

OP posts:
Ginflinger · 17/09/2021 14:48

We were refused a rescue as no garden fence. We explained we were going to have a fence in next few months and cat/s would anyway be indoors until then.

We now have a fence and a beloved, happy kitten from a website.

thecatneuterer · 17/09/2021 14:51

@Ginflinger

We were refused a rescue as no garden fence. We explained we were going to have a fence in next few months and cat/s would anyway be indoors until then.

We now have a fence and a beloved, happy kitten from a website.

Well that is bonkers. Fences make little difference to cats anyway.
Ginflinger · 17/09/2021 14:55

But that said I fully appreciate that rescue centres have a duty of care. Not easy.

Ginflinger · 17/09/2021 14:56

Yes exactly a fence is literally NOTHING to a cat, NOTHING! Smile

Want2beme · 17/09/2021 15:41

Where I live, it's full of poor stray cats in need of homes. The local rescue will trap & neuter, but that's where their involvement ends. They rely heavily on the good nature of cat-loving residents to feed and take care of them. I suppose there's only so much a small rural rescue can achieve, even though they're connected to the ISPCA (Irish Society...). I've ended up with 3 additional cats in the last year, when I'd just got down to having 1 from having 3, 2 of which had to be PTS over the last couple of years. Now I'm left with a huge dilemma, as to what I do with the extra 3 cats when I go back to the UK🤷‍♀️. I'm not in the habit of abandoning cats, and I've taken all of my cats with me from country to country. I now want to live a life free of pets for a few years, (got some big life decisions to make), and none of the rescues will step in to help find homes for them. I've contacted so many.

SoloISland would you mind letting me have contacts for the rescues you know? I live in rural Ireland, Midwest, and would really appreciate having some other small rescues to contact. PM me? Thanks.

bunnytheegghunter · 17/09/2021 16:26

We were declined for rehoming because I lived by a railway line, I had a kitten off a friend (free) instead. I love cats have always had them and he never came to any harm from the railway, lived till he was 18 and went into kidney failure!

icedcoffees · 17/09/2021 21:42

It becomes illegal to pay or accept money directly (indirectly ok via the scheme below) for any cat under the age of 1 year unless one is a licensed and registered breeder.

But how do you regulate it?

How are the authorities going to know that Jane at number 12 has bred her cat and is selling the kittens to her friends for £50 or £100 a pop?

It's a nice idea in theory but it's totally unworkable in practise. Anyone can breed their cat (or dog, or rabbit, or whatever) and sell the offspring to friends or neighbours, cash in hand.

How do you police stuff like that? It's impossible.

JoanOgden · 17/09/2021 22:04

You couldn't regulate local cash sales, but if selling kittens on Gumtree etc was banned then surely that would get rid of 90% of backyard breeders.

thecatneuterer · 17/09/2021 22:21

@icedcoffees

It becomes illegal to pay or accept money directly (indirectly ok via the scheme below) for any cat under the age of 1 year unless one is a licensed and registered breeder.

But how do you regulate it?

How are the authorities going to know that Jane at number 12 has bred her cat and is selling the kittens to her friends for £50 or £100 a pop?

It's a nice idea in theory but it's totally unworkable in practise. Anyone can breed their cat (or dog, or rabbit, or whatever) and sell the offspring to friends or neighbours, cash in hand.

How do you police stuff like that? It's impossible.

Just because something is difficult to police doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. It would change perceptions. It would give rescues much more leverage when dealing with people like this. Prosecutions could be brought.

Yes, difficult to police, but undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

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