Are rescue centres reluctant to rehome cats to families with young children?

[YourBoldPeer]

Grateful for any insight on whether rescue centres are reluctant to let families with young-ish children adopt cats.

Our previous cat passed away a few months ago and we've decided it's time to have a new cat in our home. Unfortunately we seem to be hitting a brick wall with all our local rescue centres. I presumed we tick the boxes - owner occupied home, direct access into the garden, no major roads nearby - but every enquiry gets a copy paste "not suitable" email straight back with no elaboration if any response comes at all.

The only problem I can think of is that we have a 7 year old and a 5 year old. Is this a red line for rescues? Would rather not have to buy if possible.

It does seem odd how restrictive they are sometimes.

It seems to be part of a general problem these days of things having to be perfect to be considered an improvement.

An example of this is vaping - studies do show that even if you look at the worst case scenario it's much less bad for your health than smoking, but because it isn't 100% safe then it's no good as a substitute.

On the other hand, there's also the view that once a substitute for something is accepted as OK then nothing can be said against it. An example of this is sweeteners rather than sugar - you MUST use sweeteners rather than sugar whenever possible as "it's healthier". Well it may be for a majority of people, but some people are intolerant and they can make them pretty ill.

Many cat rescues can't see past the "perfect" scenario for cats, and if you don't fit the bill then no cat can be rehomed with you. This doesn't take into account the exceptions e.g. if Tobias had been rehomed somewhere he was allowed to go out he would probably have been dead years ago due to his (then undiagnosed) FIV, certain breeds have been bred specifically with indoor only cat traits and wouldn't be able to cope well outside.

Unfortunately individual rehoming decisions are usually made at the local level even with the big national rescues. So the local boss may have a thing about it being cruel to not let cats roam, so would never rehome to indoor only or even a home with a Catio. Or they may have had or heard of a bad experience with small children and put a blanket ban on any family with smaller children from adopting any cat at all from them.

Luckily the person who runs the rescue I got mine from is a pragmatist. OK an indoor only home may not be the perfect scenario for all cats, but (depending on the cat and the home) it's likely to be better than sharing a pen with a constantly revolving clowder of other cats and taking up the space better used for a cat in desperate need.

The philosophy at my rescue is better an imperfect home than no home, but the priority is matching the right cat to the right owner since it’s not good for anyone if the cat gets returned.

If a cat has to have outside access, or needs a quiet adult only home, that’s clearly marked on their profile.

I'm pretty sure that some rescues also have "potential cat slave" records. I seem to be down at mine as someone who will have the patience to deal with scared or untrusting cats, who will give them the time and space they need, and still love them for it.

If/when Tobias succumbs to his assorted health issues, I'll be back there for another companion to Girlcat. I will probably end up again with a boy who has potential to be a loving cat but has issues! Also knowing my luck one who has as yet undiagnosed health issues and therefor a shortened life span 🙀

My local rescue turned us down because DH and I both worked outside the home at the time, like a cat can't cope with being left to its own devices for a few hours. Another rescue told us we'd need a home visit and then didn't turn up. Bought a kitten from Gumtree in the end.

Try the Cat Rescue UK group on Facebook. I got our two cats from there. There are many different rescues that advertise their cats on there, and most will transport the cats to you without you being local.

Our local cat rescue looks at nearby main roads as well. They'll reject you if there's a chance your cat could traverse 3 terraces of streets and gardens to find a speeding lorry to go under and seem to think life in a cage at the rescue place is better than this possibility.

My sister was declined a rescue cat on the grounds she lived near a railway.
She was in an apartment block and looking for indoor only and it would have had to get out of the flat and take a lift 5 floors down and then get through 2 key fob entry doors to exit and then walk to the railway. But hey ho

We had exactly this from our local rescue -
was actually quite ridiculous

The rescue where I got my tribe does it on a per cat basis. They won't rehome a nervous cat to a home with toddlers or dogs, they won't rehome a cat that needs to be an only to a multi cat household. But it's definitely case by case - they have rehomes to home with children, dogs etc.

Unfortunately the lady that runs it has had to scale back her rescue work because of health issues and only operates on a very small scale now.

For our local rescue it's not a definite rule, but it is a rule for a lot of there cats. Ours has and online lists, then you apply for the particular cat you are intrested in. Each pet listing has different requirements, either adult home only, children over 10, children over 5 or children any age, and other requirements like if they can live with other cats or dogs.

It took about 3 months for a cat to come up that was compatible with our family (youngest was 5 at the time), but was really quick once we did find a good match.