Adoption timelines

[QuantumWeatherButterfly]

If you've adopted recently, how long did the process take? We sent in an application to a local rehoming charity a month ago, and we haven't even had an acknowledgement of it yet. I'm aware the charity is entirely staffed by volunteers and it's been an extremely busy/generally difficult time, but I'm wondering if I'd be unreasonable to call them to enquire?

They're the only one of our the rehoming charities close to us (both local and national) that routinely rehomes kittens, which is why I wanted to use them.

And on that note - is it generally harder to adopt kittens? Practically all of the centres we've looked at are very reluctant to rehome adult cats to homes with children under 11, but more open to doing so with kittens which is why I've been looking at that.

It's taken me two years to feel ready for another cat after QuantumCat died, and now I'm there, I just want to get on with it

I think this is a 'how long is a piece of string?' question.
When we last adopted from Battersea we nagged them until they gave in!
I would guess demand for cats and especially kittens is still high, so if you applied a month ago and have heard nothing they may have forgotten about you. Remind them - repeatedly .
Good luck.

I should add that with our last two, they contacted us because they had two black kittens that were obviously a bit more difficult to home. Claimed they had to go together because they were bonded (oh yeah? )
We accepted them unseen over the phone, and collected them a week later after they had been done.

Thanks, Grumpy - yes, I think I knew I was asking an impossible question. I'm just so impatient!

I've spotted a gorgeous girl (more a juvenile than a kitten, but still under 1) on another local rehoming site this morning, who might actually be suitable for us, so now I'm wondering about the wisdom of enquiring about her and adding a second later, or holding out for a pair.

Yes, I'd follow up. I had a response to my initial application quite quickly, but then had to go through several stages of screening (form, two interviews, virtual house check) before being handed my furry overlord.

Battersea are (I think) a non-starter for us, because they told me they won't rehome cats to households that have a child under 11.

Thanks, Joan - I think I'll make some phone calls.

I'm definitely not set on kittens, if there are young adults who would be happy with a primary-aged child, that would work well too.

I'm wondering about the wisdom of enquiring about her and adding a second later, or holding out for a pair.
In my experience it is easier to get two together (litter-mates or previous house-mates), but I cetainly wouldn't exclude the idea of getting one, then a follow on. Definitely enquire.

It’s very hard to say. Did you enquire about a specific cat or kitten or just send in a general request? I used to deal with organising enquiries and generally I responded pretty immediately if we weren’t going to consider someone- usually because they lived on a busy road or we’re too far away (we get people who live hours away enquiring and we were doing home visits at the time). For people in the running for a cat I would go through those who had specifically asked about a particular cat first. We also kept a kitten list which I went through, in order, when kittens came up. Have you tried phoning? That shows you are genuinely interested and may help your case. In my experience about a third of our enquiries were dead ends, either never serious (especially if sent at midnight on a Saturday) or people who got cats elsewhere and never told us, or, surprisingly often, children who had filled in the online form without their parents’ knowledge. Phoning confirms that you exist and gives an opportunity to find out more about you.

Battersea happily homed two kittens to us when our youngest child was 6. (12 years ago). We did already have cats so that may have made a difference?

Exactly two years ago we contacted a local rescue and said we'd like to adopt two black kittens. We expected a bit of a wait as it's not really kitten season but a week later after a home visit these two arrived (at 12 weeks old)....

It took a couple of months but I said I wasn't fussy about things such as colour and so on and when a couple that had been returned came up I think I know why I was offered them. I did keep phoning though.

That's interesting, Grumpy - I got quite a firm response from them when I enquired recently. They must have changed their policy.

Good to know the consensus is to call (and keep calling). I don't want to irritate anyone, but I guess as long as am polite (which of course I will be!), it should be fine.

I registered interest in a specific cat on the local CPL website. He was ours within 2-3 weeks. I had a call back from CPL, then a long chat with the fosterer, another chat with her a few days later, followed by a virtual house check on video call.

Was it fast because I expressed interest in a specific cat, rather than generally registering interest? My youngest was 14 at the time.

That's interesting, Dilbertian. CPL is a no-go at the moment (though I am watching carefully), as although they say they're happy to home to families with kids, in practice virtually none of the cats on the website that are close to us are listed as suitable for primary aged children.

I've enquired about the beautiful girl I saw earlier, and frantically checking my email for a response.

We've just adopted a pair of young cats through cat's protection. I enquired about them just before Christmas and we brought them home at the beginning of this week (bearing in mind they weren't rehoming over Christmas anyway)! We've got 2 primary aged children so I'd figured we might be in for a bit of a wait when we started looking after we lost our old girl.

It's impossible to say. All rescues are understaffed, underfunded and overstretched so 'customer service' can often leave quite a bit to be desired. Did you particularly ask for kittens? We are not in kitten season right now and, while there are always some born out of season, there aren't that many. The glut will start in April (they are born mid Feb onwards, but can't be homed for two months). That could be why they aren't getting back to you quickly.

The rescue I'm with won't home very small kittens (under four months) to families with small children. We will home some proven 'bomb proof' cats (basically that will tolerate more or less anything) to such families. Over around five or six years old, as long as the children seem sensible enough and we felt the parents would impose sensible boundaries, then we would home kittens.

@thecatneuterer that is really interesting. I enquired about kittens and young adults, but I thought kittens would be a better bet specifically because of DD’s age (she’s 6).

Local rescues list almost all their rescuees as either adults only or older children only, but many of the kittens as suitable for all (I assume as they’re socialised with the children when young). That’s why I though I to ask for kittens as I thought our chances would be better. Perhaps that’s not really the case.

Does your rescue consider the specific circumstances with children? DD has lived with and around cats her whole life so already understands that she needs to be respectful and cautious - but I’m quite sure absolutely everyone says something like that!

OP. Yes indeed everyone says that:). but from around four years old then we would look at the particular child and parent/s and how they behave, so the chances are we would be happy for you to have kittens.

And no, kittens are traumatised by young children rather than socialised to accept them, and some are even killed by young children. Adult cats can stand up for themselves. There are always a number of very laid back cats that we would be happy to put with almost any family, but then of course these are the sort of cats that are most in demand.

I think I was really lucky. I registered with 2 rescues in October and within a few days had a response from the rescue we got our 4 year old rescue from. I specified one or more kittens or adult cats.

Within that same week we had an email from the other rescue offering us 2 kittens.

We virtually met our cat within a few days and picked her up a few days after that. We have an older teen ds and an adult ds though.

Getting our rescue cat has been amazing 😻

CP don't have a blanket rule about age of children. It varies from cat to cat and family to family. The CP system for loading the cats doesn't really make it easy either as you either have to say, yes can live with a family or no. In a lot of cases, it's unknown but the person updating the details has to say yes or no. What I'm trying to say is it might be worth giving them a call/email. You mention Battersea are you that part of London? CP Mitcham isn't far. There's another small rescue I follow, called Ginger Cat House, who adopt to families with children. They're based in Worcester Park.

Posted too soon!
A lot of rescues won't have been rehoming over Xmas so it could take longer for them to reply. If the cat is ready to be homed, no vet checks, medication then it is usually within a few days once all the checks and paperwork are done.

With CPL I enquired about a specific cat and I collected her about 4 days later. It was really quick.
I had also registered a general enquiry with a smaller local rescue and they said they hold your details on record and will contact you when a suitable cat comes in.
Didn't hear anything from them for about 6 weeks and then they called a few days after we adopted from CPL.

We struggled to find rescues with young children. Didn't really want tiny kittens and felt it was important to not buy. Ended up adopting street cats from the uae (Arabian Mau's) who have been a great addition to the family and the adoption was very straightforward. A rescue is a rescue as far as I'm concerned and strays have a terrible life there. Happy to pass on details if interested.

I went to our local rescue centre but I still haven't had a response from them. The kittens I got from a different rescue when I lost patience are nearly 4, so that's a long wait! I did chase up, then gave up!

Well, the beautiful girl I enquired about at rescue 2 has gone from the website so that’s a no (I assume). I’ve called and left another message with rescue 1, enquiring about 3 different bonded pairs, but given I’ve heard nothing in over a month now I’m not hopeful. Plus, all three pairs have one cat that says ‘older children only’ so I expect wouldn’t be suitable.

I’m just going to have to keep stalking websites, I think - though will definitely check out that UAE option, thanks onecuppa