Rescues don’t actually want to rehome cats

[WannabeKittens]

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.

I follow our nearest Cat's Protection and nearest RSPCA centres on Facebook and they are always rehoming cats.

They do a lot of "engagement" "show us your cat" type questions and people post "Here's Tiddles, (formerly known as Gary Barlow) who we got from you last summer" and things like that.

We used to live near a Celia Hammond and thought them very good at rehoming too.

So I'm always perplexed when I read things like this.

Are you asking to rehome a specific cat on the website or just making a general enquiry?

I'm wondering if the particular cat is already reserved but the website isn't updated?

These places are mostly run by volunteers aren't they? It must be hard to keep up with the volume of emails.

Have you thought of offering to help a rescue out by fostering a cat or a mum and kittens for them?

Please try Safe Haven again. I was speaking to my friend just yesterday and she is about to adopt two kittens (same litter) from them and told me that they have several kittens needing homes. She lives on quite a busy road as it's next to a large primary school, works part time - quite a bit from home but is in her clinic a few hours for a few days a week. She has an older teen son and an elderly cat. Good luck.

Nooo, not unless the OP wants a houseful of successive runt-of-the-litter kittens that she couldn't quite part with.

Not that I'd know, of course.

Absolutely second this. I have 2 rescues, the first from an independent rescuer and the second from a small rescue org. I have had cats in the past from Battersea and they were a lot more picky and also when I was looking for the first cat the big orgs were really fussy. The independent lady really just wanted safe home (IE not near a main road) but she was hard to get hold of (only would do eve calls on landline) so I had to make a bit of effort.
My second was an older cat, he's 12. There are lots of older cats that need rescuing and often people overlook them but they are very well socialised and very loving. Black cats also overlooked so if you are flexible and look on that website suggested I think you'll easily find a cat!

@GuppytheCat

We had a similar experience but with dogs. We wanted a single dog, one of us home all the time, big garden etc so no reason we wouldn't have been suitable potential owners. There seemed to be hardly any dogs on offer and most of the shelters ignored comms/calls. We ended up getting our 'rescue' privately from people who didn't want their dog anymore. I think these shelters are a big cottage industry and a con of I'm honest.

When I contacted Celia Hammond it was in response to numerous posts I’d seen regarding a litter of black kittens they’d had in and because nobody likes black cats would be difficult to rehome.

I enquired and the woman who came round to see me said that’s not actually true and they’d been inundated with responses to these kittens and their black cats usually go first. She asked if it was those kittens in particular I’d wanted and I said that I was looking for a cat, I had only responded to this particular email given that they have a bit on each cat’s page which says something along the lines of “if you would like to enquire about this cat…” but that of course I would be up for taking on a different cat.

Whenever these types of threads come up, (and let’s be honest, they come up often on here) Celia Hammond is always mentioned as one of the most difficult to adopt from. Although to be fair to them they’re the only ones who have been bothered to talk to me.

safe haven are constantly putting up “homes wanted” posts for various of their animals, cats/puppies/rabbits/Guinea pigs. I have emailed them numerous times about kittens, have responded to posts on fb about kittens. I had one email from them once saying thank you for your email, and that was it.

As I said upthread, I’m actually not going to bother adopting a cat now as I refuse to adopt from gumtree and the like.

But I will never take the claims of alleged rescues that they’re overrun seriously again, and if they are, then that’s of their own making.

Hi OP, our experience and that of friends has been that Celia Hammond were by far the most straightforward to adopt from. It doesn’t sound right that you’ve been turned down for being disabled, could you try contacting Celia Hammond herself or whoever the CEO is?

the staff and volunteers do a great job usually for very little or very low pay but that doesn’t mean they get it right all the time, and no one should be turned down from having pets for being disabled.

the lady you spoke to with seventeen cats - a good bunch of these will likely be semi-ferals which Celia Hammond also rescue, so probably living in a dedicated outdoor structure, and aren’t suited to family life.

OP try messaging @Thecatneuterer on these forums, she works with Celia Hammond and may be able to either explain what the problem was or get something sorted for you. Also did you actually try (I mean more than leaving one short voicemail) Rolvenden as I suggested? Yes a bit of a trek from South East London, but surely more than worth it for the sake of getting a cat?

I did in fact ask Lewisham about this. As it appears it was nine months ago, and we don't know the lady's name, no one can shed any light. Of course though disability would never be a reason to not home to someone (and it's something we often do) unless the disability were so severe that the cat's care would depend on carers, as most carers won't take on pet care. That doesn't sound like the case here though .

And it's hilarious to suggest that rescues have no cats to home as they want to keep them all for themselves. I'm not even going to go into an explanation of why it's ridiculous.

I'm really sorry that anyone has a less than favourable experience of approaching us. We have obviously failed somewhere here; at the very least in providing a coherent explanation of why the home is not considered suitable. I would be very happy to look into it further if the OP would like to PM me.

Bow Lodge have loads of cats needing rehoming 32 at last count. They are very nice organisation