Ridiculous rules for adopting rescue cats.

[Catlovverr]

Last year we adopted 2 gorgeous boys from Celia Hammond. Having had cats all our lives and being devastated after having to put our old girl to sleep, we soon started to look into adopting new rescues. What we hadn’t prepared for, was how difficult it would be.
We have had rescues all our lives, who have all lived to a grand old age with all the veterinary care needed. We live in a large 3 storey house with a massive garden full of trees on a quiet road. Our garden is backing onto other large gardens also full of trees. Cats paradise we thought.
But oh no, leaving aside the RSPCA who didn’t even respond to our request, we were rejected by Battersea for not having a cat flap despite cats having free access out of a window with safe passage into our garden. We had 30 years of cats using that passage behind us. Window is always left open during the day and closed only at night when we keep them in. The second reason for rejection from Battersea was that we didn’t let our cats outside when we go on holiday. We leave them in the house with family or neighbours popping in twice a day. Reason for that is I want to make sure they are around for their food and are seen by the cat sitters so I know they are ok. Battersea said my cats would be stressed not being let out then despite being in their own home which is large enough for them to not feel confined. Not sure what response people who use catteries would get….
Battersea was also worried that there was one day a week we were both working so no one at home. One of us always wfh rest of week.
The most bonkers rejection was from a smallish rescue. They rejected us because we didn’t have locks on all windows so they worried cats would fall out. This is despite me reassuring them we never left the windows facing the road open for that exact reason.
In hindsight I know I could just lie, I wasn’t prepared for having to lie I guess.
I also understand people have to be properly vetted and that people who run rescues see a lot of neglect and abuse so obviously cautious.

We had a really good experience with Celia Hammond. They sent someone around for a house checks who approved us more or less on the spot. Have donated to them monthly ever since.

Had to write this down having just walked past a poster advertising for a Battersea about how much they care. All I can think of is their ridiculous vetting which most likely leaves a lot of animals caged with them much longer than need be.

I just bought dcat in the end as the rescue company were being ridiculous 🙄🙄

Out of curiosity, what are the main causes of adoption breakdowns?

Just wanted to plug 2 options, both used by friends who have lovely cats, for anyone having problems

1- this little rescue in case anyone is having problems getting a rescue indoor cat- they rehome anywhere in the UK: It often has cats who HAVE to be indoors eg due to sight problems:
https://cypruspridehouse.org/listings/

And this cat rescue is a lot more flexible than many others- cat flaps not essential- for those in their area only though!
bristolandwalescatrescue.com/

Oh I wish I’d known about Celia Hammond being sensible. We were after a companion for our older chap after our other cat died and everywhere we approached was a no because cats can’t live with other cats (well this one was pining for company), we have a 4YO (he’s never not lived with cats), the road at the top our street is a busy a-road (would be impossible for a cat to access it from the back due to the layout of the gardens, a hill and garages) and we don’t have a cat flap (they can access outside from the upstairs balcony and we have trellis they can climb). Battersea were particularly weird, which surprised me, as we’re local and have had 2 cats from them in the past. In the end we bought a kitten from a neighbour.

YANBU

Absolutely correct. We lost one of our cats in covid and wanted to adopt another one straight away, as our one left wouldnt gel with a new cat if it was left too long before adopting and no one would get back to us, RSCA where we had adopted all our cats kept having new cats come and go on their website but didnt respond to any of our emails, so now its too late to have another cat join ours

However Im already prepared for the nonsense that will come when we try to adopt the next ones because we both work full time and we have a cat sitter come in once a day while on holiday, probably wont be enough even though shes fine with just dry food and water quite frankly. We dont have a lawn either, god knows how that'll go down!!

When the RSPCA came to do an inspection on our property prior to us getting our current lad, they said a fence that I cut a hole in at ground level to help our previous old girl get in and out of the garden had to be blocked up. I only cut it because the old girl was struggling to jump over the fence to get in or out...
They also told me I had to get rid of the net from my sons football goalposts in the garden.
I agreed to both and then ignored!

Going back a few years now, but our local RSPCA wouldn’t even interview a prospective owner if they gave a mobile phone number, as it indicated instability - a landline was required. DH commented that the cat wouldn't be using the phone …

We were allowed to adopt, on the condition that we had a ramp outside the back door, as our normal-ish door step was considered too high for a kitten. Said kitten could scale a 6ft fence from standing, I guess the Assessor had never met a kitten.

We also live very close to a large military base, and at the time military families were not able to adopt in case of deployment or moving away. I never heard of anyone taking a pet on deployment (!) and families who moved generally took their pets with them.

Not sure if things have improved??

I’d just stretch the truth a bit tbh….

For the South East, I recommend Rolvenden Cat Rescue for a common sense approach to rehoming (mid Kent), that's where I got mine from.

We adopted from the Mayhew last year. It was easy and straightforward. They did send someone to visit but it was ok

Completely agree, the rescue centres I have tried only seem to want to let retired people adopt the cats. Even though I work from home Monday to Friday, so am probably at home more than most retired people.

I enquired at the local cat rescue and told them we have two small children, all fine and they told me to come along on a specific day at a specific time with the children to see the cats they had available, so over I went with two excited kids only to be met by a grumpy woman who told us none of the cats were suitable to be homed with children, and they probably never would, righty-o, what was the point in telling us to come over then?

https://themayhew.org/

The rescue we got ours from wanted us to block up our open fire and log burner incase a cat went up the chimney, oh and replace all live house plants with artificial ones.

They also took a wrong turn and ended up at a neighbouring farm, this nearly wrote us off because they thought our cats might chase the farm hens. Nevermind the cockerel.

Utter madness. They did relent eventually.

I get that rescues have to ensure cats are going to appropriate homes, but think they can shoot themselves in the foot by having too many strict conditions of who is allowed to adopt.

A number of years ago we wanted to adopt a cat of a particular breed which is playful and good with children. Most rescues which had this breed refused to consider us because we had children. We did eventually find one that let us adopt a gorgeous boy after I wrote them a lengthy email to argue our case explaining
that I had this breed from childhood myself, and that my children had all grown up with our cats and been taught how to respect their space/look after them.

A couple of years later we adopted a girl kitten from a local rescue. That was more straightforward than the bigger charities who were hesitant to let us to adopt because (1)we had children under 8 and (2) we allowed our cats to go in the garden without cat fencing to keep them contained.

it is very frustrating when you know that you can provide a loving secure home for a cat (or two), and you are being told that you don’t meet the criteria, especially when you have had cats all your life.

i suspect the next hurdle now if we choose to adopt again is that we’ll be told we’re too old!

Try the Cats Protection brach in Gloucester. My daughter just went there to volunteer and they have the absolutely loveliest friendliest young rescue cats there at the moment and the people who run the place are lovely and sensible. They are based in the same building as Manor Farm cattery.

The Rescue Centre near us will only let you adopt 2 kittens, but like a lot.of people, I only want one cat.

Similar situation, 3 story 5bed house that backs onto a national nature reserve. We have a 100ft garden surrounded by fields. We were told no because we live ‘near’ a busy road and we didn’t want house cats.

it’s a quaint fishing town with teeny tiny roads so hardly a busy a road!

I was fuming…. So we went on gumtree and found 2 18mo brothers in a nearby town being given away.

we picked them up, they were petrified. It was a relationship breakdown and the man was looking after them. (The man clearly hated them) from what he said, they only had roam of the hall, stairs and landing. No carpet. Asked where they are used to sleeping and he pointed to a small cat scratch post and said they slep on the bottom of it.

one of them spent 2 weeks hiding under a bookcase.

they are now thriving and enjoying coastal living. Both extremely loving (had to work on the trust) and living their best life. One is currently sleeping on HIS rocking chair infront of the lit woodburner and the other is napping on HIS huge 70’s peacock chair! 🤣

only issue we have is they obviously liked becoming outdoors cats and like to show their appreciation by bringing gifts. Currently it’s big ass frogs!

the lady from the cat charity that walked around our house with a disgusted face had 4 rescue cats living as indoor cats in her 1 bed flat!!

We’ve always had rescue cats, cay 1 was cats protection back in the 90s when you just went to someone’s garden and they suggested one for you, no house inspection, but I think we filled in a questionnaire. At this time it was just the 2 of us and we were out of the house for 8 or more hours a day.

Cat 2 came fro pm a local rescue,more questions and they wanted the whole family to attend. My DC would have be late primary age and I guess we passed the test because we were allowed to adopt.

Cats 3&4 were our first venture into multiple ownership. I did my research for a rescue that let you see the cats that needed rehoming and that didn’t need a visit. It was about an hour from where we live but I was getting nowhere with the small local rescues. We went looking for a young adult cat as that’s what the previous 2 had been, I only took 1 DD with me, the other was away at uni. The rescue were very interested in who lived at home, and wanted to meet my uni DD before we could adopt. They then decided that maybe it wasn’t necessary. At this point I decided to not mention that I had a DH. We did call ahead and told them which one we were interested in, then when we arrived DD found a cage of tiny kittens, I didn’t want 2 cats, nor did I want kittens, so we went to look at the cat we were supposed to be checking out. She was not for us as the rescue were not keen to let her go before extensive medical tests. Whilst I was discussing this DD got talking to a different member of staff about the cats in the cage next door, they had only just arrived and were hiding. DD was allowed in the cage, sat on the floor, and the big kittens started to pop their heads out of their den. Of course we ended up coming home the same day with a pair of 6 month old kittens who the same as the previous 2 lived a life of luxury with their human slaves ever since.

Absolutely right and proper that if you're in rented you need to provide evidence of permission from the landlord. It's their house ultimately!

@WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz

Cats were mainly returned due to people being unrealistic about cat ownership and behaviour. For example one man returned a lovely pair of cat siblings because they scratched the carpet outside his bedroom door.

That's not unusual. Kittens are very high energy and with 2 they play with each other - and at the same time teach each other about boundaries & good behaviour. A solo kitten is much more likely to wreck your soft (and even hard) furnishings.

We got refused for cat adoption years ago by the rspca as we weren’t married!!! Cats obviously cared about the shame factor of living together as an unmarried couple damn those furry judgemental ingrates. Ended up getting two cats from a local rescue instead. Sad to hear that the major rescues have got no better in the meantime.

Loving this! Obviously, the cats would have been horrified

Kittens grow into cats and I only want one cat, who would be spoilt rotten, cared for and loved. Two cats mean double insurance, double vet bills, double cattery fees etc.