Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Queries and discussions about cat rescue & rehoming
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exlibris
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Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by exlibris »

Hi all,
The last of our cats, Backy, died a few weeks ago and we were absolutely devastated. It's been driving me mad keep thinking I see him, and miss him terribly. We both intended to adopt again, and, even though it might be a bit soon, we're doing it this week as I'm on annual leave.
So, we decided - 2 adult cats from a shelter. They would be difficult to rehome, so we'd be doing the right thing. Sounds easy, right? Apparently not. Every shelter it terrible at responding to your communications (I know - they're run by volunteers so they don't necessarily have the staff available). Also, when we found an adult pair that we could see, we couldn't give the level of outdoor access that the cats were used to (we don't have (and can't have) a catflap, so they'd rely on me letting them out/in when I'm at home). So now we're going adopt 2 kittens, because we got Backy and Twitch as kittens and they were perfectly fine with the outdoor arrangement as they grew up with it. But now we're not getting any response from the shelters. We're so frustrated we're starting to look on places like preloved.co.uk and pets4homes.co.uk. I don't really want to go there because some of these ads are owners who just use their cat as a kitten machine for them to sell to anyone, which I find abhorrent. But some of them seem genuine......I'm tempted.....in theory these can't would end up in a shelter anyway, so I'm just skipping a step......maybe...
Has anyone got any thoughts on this?
Sarah.
P.S. How many idiots are out there who haven't neutered their cat and then wonder why they're having problems!!!!!
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by Mollycat »

In defence of private sales, and who knows maybe something you might consider.

I was looking for a dog, having always been a cat person but with only an indoor home to offer which personally I'm against. And then this ad popped up on Gumtree, a breeder retiring her stud, 8 years old, indoor home only. The girls are normally retired much younger, 5 I believe. Long story short I took Bobby and kept in touch with the breeder I bought him from, she even visited after he died. She is scaling down her breeding now and will soon have retired girls, spayed, STD tested, full pedigrees and up to date vaccinations. You might get two girls retired together.

There are genuine ads out there but agree as you say you don't want to fuel the profiteering kitten farming. Or how about a local independent rescue rather than the big names? My local one is brilliant, no big cattery, cats are home fostered sometimes in an outdoor run but at someone's home. they won't let a kitten go to an indoor home "because you don't know what the cat will grow up like" and they don't have hard and fast rules like you must or must not have a cat flap and so on, they actually try to match the cat and the home.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by alanc »

Further on Mollycats theme, reputable cat breeders retire their Queens and Studs. They will be cats used to the indoor/restricted outside access and can be very affectionate. I know the breeder I bought Badger and Tilly from often has retired breeding cats for sale to good homes.
I know the feeling about the local shelters not answering your calls - one reason I ended up buying Badger and Tilly was the local shelter did not respond to my call for over a fortnight, by which time I had been seduced by Badger and Tilly!
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by fjm »

One big advantage of going through a reputable centre is that cats and kittens should have been tested for FIV and FeLV before you meet them and fall in love. I had a kitten from a local farm that died at age 1 from a massive tumour... Plus anything you pay will go towards supporting all the other cats in their care.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by Ruth B »

I have to say I'm surprised at your local shelters being unhappy with limiting the outdoor access, maybe due to being in a city, my local charities are more than happy to home cats as indoor only, busy roads and nasty or careless naighbours can be dangerous to any outdoor going cat, I know I'm lucky with where I live and can let mine roam free. I would suggest looking further a field at some of the smaller charities, I know some are happy to home nationwide if they can get the home check done, explain your situation, some even do home checks before you choose your pet, so they can help pair up the right home to the right cat (or cats). As far as contacting them goes, just keep trying and keep it to reasonable times of the day.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

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Ruth B wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 4:54 pm I have to say I'm surprised at your local shelters being unhappy with limiting the outdoor access, maybe due to being in a city, my local charities are more than happy to home cats as indoor only, busy roads and nasty or careless naighbours can be dangerous to any outdoor going cat, I know I'm lucky with where I live and can let mine roam free. I would suggest looking further a field at some of the smaller charities, I know some are happy to home nationwide if they can get the home check done, explain your situation, some even do home checks before you choose your pet, so they can help pair up the right home to the right cat (or cats). As far as contacting them goes, just keep trying and keep it to reasonable times of the day.
Don't know about any others but the one I got Molly from would say something similar and will only rehome to indoor only if the cat has come from indoor only and will refuse to place a kitten to an indoor only home too. I had to leave my Henry with my ex because there's no way he would have ever coped with his access being restricted more than he was used to. Some cats adapt very well but it isn't fair to a shelter cat to "try" an indoor or restricted freedom home and it doesn't work out and go back to the shelter and "try" another home.

Anyway - maybe shelters take their time getting back to you to make sure they are talking to people who are serious and not trying to adopt on a whim without really thinking it through?
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by booktigger »

I was refused by a local charity for not having a cat flap, and refusing to have one. I like my cats to be in when I'm out in case anything happens and the cat I wanted was a 14 year old and there were 6 cats just on our street, never mind the others and this was before microchip cat flaps. It was something I never forced on people when doing home visits, just asked what they would do if they struggled getting the cats in
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by alanc »

"Anyway - maybe shelters take their time getting back to you to make sure they are talking to people who are serious and not trying to adopt on a whim without really thinking it through?"
Well, in my case it lost them a potential owner who could not contemplate being catless for another week.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by exlibris »

alanc wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 9:46 pm "Anyway - maybe shelters take their time getting back to you to make sure they are talking to people who are serious and not trying to adopt on a whim without really thinking it through?"
Well, in my case it lost them a potential owner who could not contemplate being catless for another week.
Exactly - when you make that decision you want to get going. The email I sent showed we had 18 years of experience and weren't doing it on a whim. If they had just said "we'll get back to you within 2 days" I would have waited, but you just get radio silence. We've got the kittens now from the RSPCA and they now don't do home visits. From what I gather they talk to you at the shelter and gauge who you are and if you're competent - they lose too many adoptions from messing around.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by Mollycat »

Ok I guess everyone's different. I struggle to understand how easily some people hand over animals and I'm a lot happier knowing a rescue takes their time to make sure I am matched with the right cat for me and that I am the right person with the right home for the cat. These animals have been through enough without getting passed around and back to shelters because not enough care has been taken.

When I was looking for a companion for Boo I explained the whole situation to the rescue, they warned me it could take months but I was happy to wait for the right cat for us. We were lucky and Molly came up quickly, she was a home-to-home so no adoption fees and any checks were left to the lady handing her over, but there were a lot of phone calls and a wait of a weeks or two and follow-up conversations. In fairness it's the one and only time I have dealt with a rescue organisation and that was only because our needs were quite specific. So maybe I'm a little naive when it comes to shelter adoption.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

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Our local RSPCA works like that and I totally disagree with it, I turned down one of my mum's neighbours because they lived on a busy road, the RSPCA took the view their last cat was 17 (although I did catnap him as he wasn't being cared for, turned out he was seriously ill and we couldn't do much for him) and gave them a pair of sisters, neither of which saw their 1st birthday due to the road. One rescue I volunteered for never did home visits, saying she could tell by speaking to them, and had a lot of cats returned, I did them for all my fosters and only had one returned.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by alanc »

Didn't have any concern regarding having my home assessed for its suitability, it was the total lack of any response for over a fortnight that sent me elsewhere.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by Mollycat »

alanc wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:51 pm Didn't have any concern regarding having my home assessed for its suitability, it was the total lack of any response for over a fortnight that sent me elsewhere.
Agreed that is different and understand your frustration.

Booktigger that's what I like about the rescue I got Molly through (rather than from) they take each person's circumstances including busy roads cat flaps work patterns and everything and try to match them to a suitable cat. Sometimes that means a wait and often people end up with a cat that isn't the one whose picture attracted them but is better suited. A main road for example wouldn't necessarily stop them giving you a cat, but maybe one that likes to be indoors or sunbathe in the back garden and not go exploring. I've never liked the idea of hard and fast rules about whether you do or don't have a cat flap. I had one that was always in when we went out or to bed, the next one had lived outside and stayed whichever side of the door she was when it was shut and had a comfy nest in the shed if she was locked out. I didn't like it but that's what she was used to and we had to accept it.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by booktigger »

I hate blanket rules, ironically some of my best homes were turned down by a local rescue who had very strict rules! I never made anyone have a cat flap either, as I don't like them, I like my cats to be in when I'm not.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by Ruth B »

I'm sure no two people can offer exactly the same home, so fully agree that any shelter should discuss what is on offer and try and match the cat to it. While the estate I live on is quite reasonable the wider area has a bit of a reputation and some parts can be quite rough. A while a go the rescue I got Saturn and Freyja from had someone inquire about having a cat and they actually asked people what the area was like, the road while quiet was between two very busy roads, but generally in a better area. Not long after the request for a home check for two cats to be kept as indoor only ones was made. It was a perfect example of a rescue using their contacts and finding out about as much as they could and then placing the right cats with the would be owners.

I also want to add that I'm happy to hear you managed to get some kittens from somewhere and at least, for all of the complaints against the RSPCA, the kittens should at least come to you healthy which is always the worry when buying from adverts.
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Re: Adoption: shelter or private sale?

Post by lilynmitz »

Of 8 cats I’ve adopted from shelters over the years, somewhat shockingly I have only ever been home checked once. The others didn’t ask me anything about my experience, circumstances, type of cat I was looking for, local area, cat flaps, etc etc. In one case I took two long stay hard to home cats, so I think they were just grateful to see them going to a home, and another small local rescue doesn’t have the resources for home checking. And again, they’re just grateful to see them going out to a home, as they end up with quite a few hard to home animals too. But it is frustrating when rescues don't return calls, specially when they are genuine enquiries for long stay inmates, and when you know they’re over-run with animals needing a home and a waiting list to take more in.
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