Rescue centres refusing to let us adopt

[kirinm]

I have had cats for the last 20 or so years. Unfortunately my last cat died - about 3 years ago - from an aggressive cancer and because we had a very small baby at that time we didn't want to get another cat because we thought it would probably be unfair.

Anyway, fast forward 3 years and we are interested in adopting. We have a large garden, had french doors installed with a cat flap in them and I wfh 3 times a week.

We've contacted Celia Hammond (who haven't even responded to either phone calls or emails), Croydon animal samaritans and another South East London rescue centre along with Battersea. Only CAS has responded and said we live too close to a main road presumably to ever adopt from them.

I really do not want to buy a cat but what are we meant to do? Most of the centres won't even respond to us and if they're going to complain that we live too close to a main road, that is going to be the case for a vast amount of inner city London.

Our neighbours have cats, we had cats, I see lots of cats in and around our garden. Does anyone have any tips on how to get through to these rescue centres or make them see sense in letting a family adopt a cat because it is vastly better than living in a cage??

Get in touch with your local vet

Ours literally get emails every week from people with kittens that need new homes

Batteries let us rescue a kitten with young children. Before that they let us rescue 2 older cats on quite a bit road in SE London. Quite set back with large garden though.

Join our local cat fb group. Some cats appear on there from random shelters I never knew existed.

Try foal farm too.

www.facebook.com/groups/494917097592832/?ref=share

Olivia and some of her kittens still available at Croydon.......

I had a similar experience and ended up buying a kitten - our road isn't such a problem but we have a dog and another cat already, which meant an instant no from all the rescues I tried. I just don't think they have the resources to check out every set of circumstances and make a proper judgement. So I found a kitten online with an indoor pedigree mum who had nipped off for a tryst with the local tabby. She's absolutely lovely and after a couple of weeks of careful integration was fitting in fine with the others.

Well, I managed to get a home check with one of the rescues mentioned upthread (won’t name them as I know that there are people here who volunteer for them.

Was told that I wouldn’t be able to adopt because I have dogs. And then the volunteer went on to tell me they have several dogs, 17 cats of their own, and still foster.

Which just confirms what I said upthread, these rescues don’t want people to rescue, they acquire volunteers who want a load of cats of their own and rehome out a couple so they maintain their position as a charity.

Oh no, that's silly about the dogs. At our centre we always say if a cat is likely to be OK with dogs/pets, not just a blanket no. From a charitable point of view, the only thing I can think of is maybe they are swamped & just using it as a filter in a misguided attempt to reduce their workload temporarily. This sort of thing unfortunately rubs off on the decent centres too.

To anyone not getting call backs - mostly they are volunteers & trying to fit things in so while it should still work fine, it often is actually very inefficient (drives me crazy as a very logical & organised person!) If you're not put off, keep trying & use different methods, eg fb message or even pop into the centre with a donation. Ask around locally if anyone knows a volunteer to get an "in"!

This is how I ended up adopting from abroad.

No response from local cat rescues, even though we'd had kittens from one of them before. Didn't want to buy off Gumtree so ended up with a street cat from the Middle East.

Now he is gorgeous, but there are plenty of UK cats in rescue. I'd try vet or cattery to see if they know of any cats needing homes.

My 1st cat I got from a family friend at 8 weeks old, when she passed at 19 I went to Battersea, Celia hammond etc and they said no because we live in a flat with no garden access, these places make it so difficult

Our next cat came from Gumtree but we only had him for 2 years as it turned out he was extremely ill with a heavy condition and the people we bought him from wouldn't pass on health history.

Next and current cat is from Gumtree and I think that's what we will do continue to do in the future, he seems happy enough and can watch the world go by looking out the window

• heart condition

I've just had a call from a rescue centre! I've got to send a video of our home / garden etc but they know the area and said they will be happy to let us adopt 🥳

Was this recent?

This sweet boy is looking for a home, friend of my daughter's, can't keep him, she's keen he come to us, but we already have several and I'm not sure adding another would work.
He's 13 weeks.

Yes this week. And tbh I wouldn’t personally approve someone with 17 cats to adopt because it IMO really isn’t possible to adequately look after that many cats. That’s animal hoarding.

And yet someone who hoards animals is given authority to decide that someone who has a dog or a child or works out of the home isn’t suitable.

My conclusion is that the only people who are suitable to adopt in these people’s eyes are people who live on massive farms, with no roads, no rivers, no children, no dogs, and no life.

The head of Cats Protection recently resigned because a trustee had 18 cats in a 3 bed house.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/20/cats-protection-ceo-steps-down-after-trustee-found-to-keep-18-cats

We spent a long time early this year trying to adopt kittens. Was harder as we have a 4 year old which was a blanket no for many rescues. Also had a no from one as we don't have a cat flap yet. Apparently the promise to install one when the cat was old enough to go out wasn't good enough. I don't have a cat flap because I don't have a cat!

Jumped through so many hoops with videos of our house, garden and road for some rescues.

In the end saw a pair of kittens on Mitcham cats protection website. Filled in the form, got a call the next morning and picked them up that afternoon. They were much more chilled about checks compared to other rescues. Good luck!

This is where our local rescue place is really good. It's run by absolutely cat mad people that foster the cats in their own homes, so they really get to know the personalities before they place them. I know it's just not possible for most rehoming charities, but it's a massive plus for ours. You never see them re-advertising any cats.

The Cats Protection League wouldn't even come and do a home visit with us. She said on the phone that she knows we're on the main road and so they will never give us a cat. She was quite huffy about it.

This despite the fact that we had other cats for 14 years who lived to ripe old ages.

There are so many animals in rescue centres and so many loving families, and one big obstacle.

We've finally adopted!

My daughter has named her Poppy.

Oh she's adorable and looking very much at home! Congratulations, glad it all worked out in the end 💗

She's a pretty kitty!

Oh, she's beautiful! Her eye markings are like a little mask you'd wear at a masquerade ball.

Apologies for posting here since this is 2 years too late but if anyone is interested in adopting there are rescues in Dubai that are desperate for international adoptions and even fosters to Europe and the UK. They have been rescuing street cats and dogs that have been abused or are being killed by pest control or dumped in the desert and left to die of the elements. They have already sent a lot of cats and kittens to their forever homes all over the UK with the help of fundraisers. They are mostly active on Instagram:
@/catwomen_dxb
@/motherofcats.dxb
@/burdubaistraycats
@/adoptarescue_cat
@/dubairescuecats
@/straysofad
@/alfalahcats_adoption
@/redpawadoption
@/redpawcsr

I want to reiterate that they are also desperately looking for overseas fosters since finding fosters in Dubai is extremely difficult. All expenses are paid by these rescues. A lot of the dumped cats are Persians and even Scottish folds. Please spread the word since I also know how hard it is to try to adopt pets here in England.

Just bumping this as we adopted our cat from Dubai via Desert Paws who were great - very helpful and professional. I think the only thing to watch out for is that a lot of these Dubai based rescues don't have any representatives in the UK so once you adopt you're pretty much on your own if the cat ever needed rehoming for example.

Would you have any idea if it is possible to surrender these cats to adoption or rescue centers in the UK in case rehoming doesn't work?

Are you planning for it to be an indoor cat or indoor outdoor cat?