I want to adopt a cat from RSPCA but every cat I clicked on says no kids in household

[Elwyn]

I spent ages yesterday evening on our local RSPCA and cats Protection League websites clicking on individual cats' profiles and I haven't found a single one where they say the cat can go to a home with children. We had a cat from the RSPCA who died earlier this year aged 19 years old but we got her before we had kids. Her old paperwork from RSPCA specified no kids but she loved our boys when they came along. I always understood that ethically the best thing is to adopt from a cat rescue centre but I can see now why people might break this rule! Does anyone have any advice please for how we can adopt a cat from a rescue centre whilst having kids in the household without having to resort to looking for local breeders? I imagine I could ring up the RSPCA and they might say oh we have this one cat you could have but I was hoping to have more choice so we get the right fit for our family.

@Perry13579 Thank you, yes I have found it now. Before I was on a specific branch RSPCA website and I did not see it there. I have done the search and sure enough lots of cats that can live with kids came up in the search but crucially NONE in our closest RSPCA! They have lots of cats so they may have some sort of blanket policy. It shows I was never going to be successful in my search last night - a whole evening ruined!😂

Canning town is a bit too far, sorry! I think I have worked out how to widen my options here in Hertfordshire though, thanks to the helpful advice on this thread😊

@Elwyn have you tried the NAWT ? It has a branch in Herts and they can be fairly sensible. They also have the advanced search system so you can look for cats that can go with kids.

Don't know if link works.

www.nawt.org.uk/rehoming/cats/?centre=61&gender=&age_years=&status=&page=2

I used to volunteer with a local rescue that was happy to adopt the right cats and kittens to families with children who were fine with cats.

Some cats will not suit a home with children though, no matter how gentle and sensible the kids may be with cats. Life with a family of four is going to be a lot noisier and busier than life with a single adult or couple.

Similarly some cats will absolutely not tolerate other cats so need to be single cats. Same with dogs.

These rules make a lot of sense if you know why so many cats come to rescue in the first place. Having kids and finding the cat develops behaviour problems is a common reason, as is getting a puppy and turns out the usually older cat is terrified and practically moves out anyway. It wouldnt be in anyone's interest to place a cat into the wrong home only for them to get returned within a few weeks.

There is a website called catchat that lists rescue cats looking for homes, I'm sure that if you put a home offered post up with your circumstances listed that someone would have a suitable cat or know of one for you. I hope you can help a needy cat and find the right fit for your family.

Hi, OP - this was us. Despite having nearly 30 years of cat ownership between us, living in a spacious house with a cat flap and secure garden on a cul-de-sac, DD (who was 6, and had been around cats her whole life) meant that none of the national or local rescues would consider us. Usually it wasn't quite as blanket as 'no-kids' - it was more a case of 'we'll only house suitable cats with families, and whoops, none of our 200 cats are suitable!' Most of the rescues I contacted didn't even reply.

We ended up adopting from abroad, in our case via UK Homes for Desert Paws, our gorgeous boy from Dubai. It has worked out brilliantly, he is the loveliest cat, with the nicest temperament, and I would do exactly the same thing again in a heartbeat. Let me know if you would like to know more.

Try https://www.catchat.org/shelter_centre/ who seem to have lots of smaller rescue cats.
The reason rescues tend to say no kids is that often kids are the reason the the cats are given up for adoption. But if you are flexible on age and colour etc there will def be a good cat for your family out there