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Original poster

Rescues don’t actually want to rehome cats

113 replies

WannabeKittens · 30/04/2023 18:03

I posted last year about how I’ve been trying to rescue a cat, actually at the time it was kittens.

Nine months on I’ve had no luck. I’ve registered with every rescue around, and have never even got as far as a home check, apart from Celia Hammond who told me that because of my disability they were unlikely to let me rehome from them.

I am cynical because the woman who came to do the home check then went on to tell me she has seven teen cats of her own, which just makes me think that one of the reasons why people can never rehome a cat is because the fosterers and home checkers all have the cats themselves In fact if I remember rightly that’s why the CEO of Cats Protection resigned.

So near me I have contacted celia Hammond (no from them), cats protection, (never heard from them), Battersea, Crockenhill Animal rescue (I am in Bromley area and they are always supposedly crying out, never heard back from them.) And I’ve heard the same from numerous other people who ultimately end up going to gumtree.

I have no intention of buying a cat from gumtree, I am prepared to adopt an older cat instead of a kitten and have made that clear,but nothing.

I find it impossible to take the claims of these rescues seriously when they talk about how overrun they are with cats, perhaps if they actually rehomed some of them they wouldn’t have such a population issue.

OP posts:
Barleycat · 30/04/2023 21:17

Try the New Moon rescue in Coulsdon. I had the same issue and managed finally to adopt from them

PlainJanePerfect · 30/04/2023 21:17

Agree with you. A friend of mine was a volunteer at Celia Hammond. The cats are crowded in the back (seen them myself) and they won't give them to people who don't meet their criteria. My friend who volunteered there weekly wouldn't have because of her flat. Neither would I. We were both very popular local cat sitters.

beccahamlet · 30/04/2023 21:23

I 100% agree. I phoned round rescues to home 2 kittens. They don't reply, or say you're unsuitable. Ending up buying kittens. Same with dogs. We're a 5 star animal home, but have had to go and buy.

WonderingWanda · 30/04/2023 21:29

Try registering with your local vets mine was a rescue bought into our vets.

FofD · 30/04/2023 21:36

That's rubbish OP.

We adopted from a small local rescue and we were clear that we were happy to take an older cat.

The two main issues they wanted to check were- would our children know how to be around cats- not manhandle them etc

Two- could we afford it- she ran through cat litter prices/food/vet treatment and advised us about insurance.

We successfully adopted a 12 year old male, with only a few teeth, who lived his final days in happy retirement with us.

I'm so sorry you've had this experience- our rescue was super excited that we took our cat- because of his age, no-one took him and he was the longest resident- all the staff came to say goodbye to him! I hope you manage to find an older cat to love.

Clymene · 30/04/2023 21:48

Paging @Lonecatwithkitten

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 30/04/2023 21:52

We were able to adopt a rescue dog in the end, but we got some ridiculous responses initially. I was told that I couldn't adopt a Patterdale because they're escape artists and our garden gate has (I promise I'm not minimising) a 3 inch gap under it. I seriously doubted whether a full-grown terrier would be able to get under the gate but nonetheless offered to replace the gate. This was not satisfactory. I don't think they want to keep the dogs themselves but I do think that some of the people who look after the dogs are obsessed with the idea of a perfect forever home, rather than a home that's good enough.

KnittedCardi · 30/04/2023 21:53

It very much depends on your local rescues I think. RSPCA here has waiting lists for cats and kittens. Unless you want an old or sick cat, which most people don't. The local CPL is headed up by a nutter, no-one meets her criteria, she and her accolites hoard cats. The home check women proudly told me she had 7 cats living in her bedroom, with litter trays. I mean, just......bluech. You literally had to live in the middle of nowhere, we are in a village, but then without roads, or farms, or railways, and then even not let the cat out, because they might meet a fox, cow, etc etc etc

So, like others, our recent cats have been from friends/contacts. The one cat we did get, a while ago, we were told she was 3/4, she turned out to be 10/12 with kidney disease. She was lovely, but only lived a couple of years.

camping2023 · 30/04/2023 21:55

Try ginger cat house rescue in Surrey
Or stepping stones rescue
Or new moons in Coulsdon

Iwanderedlonelyasagoat · 30/04/2023 21:57

We had really mixed experiences. Went to Battersea and they wouldn't let us adopt a cat because we didn't have a cat flap (we had one installed as soon as we actually got a cat, but I wasn't paying for it with no cat) and because we both work full time. My cat sleeps about 22 hours a day and looks at you with disgust if you haven't left by 8am and he wants peace... We then went to wood green who asked us the same questions really and then gave us a choice of about 10 cats within half an hour.

Lonecatwithkitten · 30/04/2023 22:06

@Clymene I am not certain how I can help as I am the crazy vet who often fails with her fosters. Mainly cause I take the sick or disabled or hard to adopt cat. Yes I am looking at you the crazy agoraphobic all black cat.

MadEyeMoodysEye · 30/04/2023 22:28

We adopted 2 adolescent cats from Celia Hammond without any problems, DC were 3 & 6 at the time.

SoTedious · 30/04/2023 22:39

and the other was a Bengal cross kitten who had been an accident when the pedigree Bengal queen escaped out of a window

We have one of these, she's the best cat ever 😍
(From gumtree because we have a dog so rescues didn't want to know.)

I tried to rehome a cat from RSPCA once, all went well in the phone interview until they asked for dates that would be good for us. I said fairly soon, because DH and I both had two weeks off work (Christmas hols coming up) and would be able to spend plenty of time helping the cat to settle. They said they didn't agree with giving animals as presents. I said it wouldn't be a present, but we would be at home a lot so best for cat. They said again, we don't agree with giving animals as presents and that was that, no cat for us. So stupid, we lived in the country, no kids, experienced cat owners. We bought a kitten instead.

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 30/04/2023 22:55

I specifically said I was happy to adopt an old cat or one with health issues. I've nursed cats through many common illnesses and fine giving injections. The rescues still ignored me.

Burpcloth · 30/04/2023 23:16

Hi OP, have you tried Romney House cat rescue in Downe? I know someone from Bromley area who had success there, after a similar experience to you.... having a soppy non-reactive dog meant if a rescue agreed to consider her in the first place, they were only willing to show her a single placid neutered Tom they deemed suitable, whereas she was after a spiky "catty" female (of the type she'd had alongside dogs for decades...). Whereas I understand that at Romney the attitude was much more pragmatic, that in the absence of aggression or unsuitable breeds, a cat and dog would just figure it out between them. I think the owner is in local press as having a million cats in her home though so ......

OnTheBoardwalk · 30/04/2023 23:35

If you are out during the day have you tried going for 2 bonded cats? I got 2 young cats not kittens from, 12 months , from RSPCA and they said they were desperate for people to take 2 slightly older cats

henrilechat · 01/05/2023 00:59

MintJulia · 30/04/2023 18:09

I think they set up Cat rescue charities, persuade people to fundraise for them and then they look after the cats and pay themselves a salary out of the donations. I don't think they want to rehome them.

Is this for real?
I've worked in a cat shelter, we did not hoard the cats for ourselves! We were desperately trying to rehome as quickly as we could because there were always more coming in. We had waiting lists, cats being dumped on the doorstep, cats stuck at vets and never enough space. The only reason that people working for cat charities might have loads of cats is because they've ended up adopting the cats that no one wanted - the older ones, ones with behavioural issues, even just black cats get overlooked.
We never turned anyone down without a good reason. If a number of shelters have refused to home a cat to you, I'm assuming they had some cause for concern.

TheTempest · 01/05/2023 01:14

Same with Dog rescues in my experience. We applied to every local rescue within 60 miles, despite a big secure garden, a lot of dog experience with many different breeds, health issues and even being approved as a fosterer(!) we never even got a call back. 🤷‍♀️ mine are all rehomed now, and we seem to have turned into the people who have the reputation of taking in dogs now. So they tend to come to us rather than us looking now!

Kokeshi123 · 01/05/2023 01:20

Our city's cat rescue place (not in the UK) is great. We are planning on getting a pair of kittens from them again in the autumn.

I have heard stories of "odd" rescue places, however. A strong whiff of animal hoarding about some of the people involved. And another strong whiff of "I don't fundamentally like people very much, and prefer animals. I feel suspicious of most people I meet. And have difficulty believing that anyone will care for animals as well as I do."

I do think that some very strange people are attracted to working in animal rescues.

SkankingWombat · 01/05/2023 01:30

This has been our experience too. The hoops and questioning involved in adopting our cat 12yrs ago actually made bringing DC1 home from the hospital a few years later feel bizarre (we couldn't believe they just let us come home with her no questions asked, when it had been so difficult to be trusted with a cat). We were cat newbs, but had plenty of time, a secure home, and a large garden with fields beyond it. They were unhappy that we both worked FT and were "close" to a main road (it is 3 houses and 2 large gardens away in the opposite direction of the mouse-filled fields. Predictably, the cat never bothers venturing in that direction). It took a questionnaire, an interview, and 2 house visits to get the cat.

We currently would like to rehome a pair of kittens (because the cat only has eyes for me, and the others want cat love too), but DC2 is under 8 so we're a no under local charities' criteria. It's the same house, and I only work 20-25hrs a week now, so we should be even better candidates than before. It wouldn't be hard to do a home visit and witness DCs are very good with our current cat to quell those concerns.
I can well believe those saying they don't get a response to applications too though, as it turns out 8yo DD1 took it upon herself to apply for a few cats she liked the look of using my details... (Got to admire her determination and sneakiness!) I was expecting a number of awkward phone calls. Nothing.

A friend works for a local dog rehoming charity and they really are both overrun and happy to have most applicants on their list to rehome. Their issue is their list is largely made up of families or older people and the dogs being surrendered mostly have behaviour issues and are unsuitable for anyone these groups. Surely cats should be easier to place though, given they are lower maintenance and even the most aggressive are highly unlikely to maul a child to death? They aren't due to over-zealous gate keeping.

MintJulia · 01/05/2023 06:55

@henrilechat Having a child seems to be enough of a disqualification.

We live in a village on a non-categorised road, with a garden, no other pets and I wfh four days a week. But I had a child of 7 at the time, and that was enough to be turned down twice.

Maybe not your organisation, but some cat rescue people are very strange.

custardbear · 01/05/2023 07:12

Wow we adopted very quickly from CPL, I saw my cat in their online pictures of cats for rehoming, I phoned up the next day to enquire and he was home with us that week. InFact I told them we'd be interested in a second kitten in the next 6 months (after first feral kitten settled in) and we literally got him just as quickly.
Have you tried looking at any cats either online or in person ?

BirdChirp · 01/05/2023 08:02

I got a rescue no problems at all from Battersea last year. I had a phone interview, then an appointment where I went with my carrier to get her. I think she may have been passed over by other people as she is so shy - she wouldn't let me stroke her at all, or play, so I took a bit of a chance that we would eventually bond (which we have).

I've no children though, and am not on a main road. I didn't have a cat flap when I got her (got one now but she doesn't use it anyway).

BlueSuedeBoobs · 01/05/2023 08:16

A long time ago now we tried to adopt two cats from our local big rescue org, refused as we weren’t married!! We did get two instead from a lovely local place and they were very much loved until they both passed away, and yes we did get married (we were engaged and home owners at the time of trying!).

Greenfairydust · 01/05/2023 08:31

I am shocked to read the comments about disability being a concern for shelters and a blanket approach/policies rather than looking at the individual's circumstances.

This is discrimination pure and simple and should be challenged...

OP as other have said check ads at the vets and try smaller shelters.

I adopted an older cat with a heart murmur at Battersea Dogs and Cats home.

Had my home visit and they said I could only have an indoor cat as I lived in a flat with a balcony. Visited the centre and they immediately wanted to give me the indoor cat I expressed an interest in and take her home that day. I picked her up 2 days later. She lived happily with me for almost 10 years before her health issues got the better of her. Usually older animals are easier to adopt.