Shelter's being picky about adoptions?

Aww... how cute is he?! It's a shame their being so particular and maybe if someone wiht the willingness to learn how to care for him comes they'll change their minds. I've never had a blind/deaf or otherwise disabled cat but for the right one I'd be more than happy to make some adjustments and learn their special needs.

Hmmmm...is there a special kitty sign language one would have to learn in order to care for a deaf cat?

Seriously, that's just nuts. Why pass up the chances for a great forever home just because that person hasn't had a deaf cat before?

What if it were the same way for socialized ferals? How many dear little kits would never be placed because they would be prohibited from going to a home that has never taken in a semi-feral before.

Crraaaaazy talk.

I dont understand that at all ... I have had a partially deaf dog before and yes you can teach sign language but it aint harder to care for them.. Other than Kitty HAS to be inside

Hmmmm...I am COMPLETELY for in-depth screening of adopters and having standards and rules for adopters...I'm even all for having people interested in special-needs cats having to meet several times with the shelter to dicuss both the cat's condition and the care before kitty can officially go home.

BUT, being with a shelter where about 80% of the cats have special needs and where special-needs cats are adopted pretty regularly, I do know that there are some absolutely wonderful people in this world who are willing to move mountains for their special needs cat and put a lot of research and effort into adopting one. We'd have missed out on a lot of great adoptions if we had rules like that!!

I completely understand their intent, but I think they are going about it the wrong way. This adoption agency may be worried that if they adopt this little guy out to just anyone, that he may go to someone who does not have the time and patience to understand that he can't hear and that they need to work with him. I wish I could adopt him--he looks like a lot of fun!

Flowerbelle is deaf (most white blue-eyed kitties are - it's a genetic thing). We didn't know it when we rescued her. We never had experience with deaf cats before.

But she's a trip and she's fearless - and she doesn't care that she's deaf! She's an inside only kitty (all of ours are) - and while she's needed special attention, none of it is because she's deaf.

I know there are people with deaf cats that have trained them to understand "foot stamping." They can feel the vibrations and learn to understand that means "come." But even that isn't necessary. We didn't think of training Flowerbelle that way. But because of the behavior of the other kitties, she just KNOWS when treats are happening and where!

She isn't scared of the vacuum cleaner (and can't figure out what the big deal is, lol!). She's completely fearless (except of strangers and strange smells).

Seems to me the requirement they should have is that he should be an indoor only kitty.

What a cutie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is a cutie, isn't he? Awww...

Anyway, I don't really see what the big deal is with this shelter. Of course the kitten has special needs, but animals tend to adapt to this so much more naturally than people, particularly if their disabilities are present from birth. I'm a special education teacher, and know what challenges exist for PEOPLE with disabilities, but for animals, they truly learn how to work around it, and QUICKLY, unlike us. He's a kitten, and while there are probably a few modifications that need to be made in a home environment for him to accommodate his special needs, he really could be homed as easily as any other animal WITHOUT disabilities...these animals tend to teach their owners a thing or two about a thing or two!

Hopefully they'll loosen up and relax about adopting him out...I would think the only prerequisites to his adoption should be finding someone that cares enough to love him for the rest of his life, and someone that will take him as he is...not too hard, is it?

Living somewhere where my local shelter will not let me adopt because I don't have a cat-flap and a garden and a willingness to let cats outdoors, this seems slightly less strict than what I'm used to!

I don't have experience with deaf cats, but I have lots of experience with cats that completely ignore everything I say. That should count for something, right?

All kidding aside, my mom's cat lost her hearing around 16 or 17 (lived to be 18) and the only way you could tell was her occassional yowling at night.

I pulled a deaf kitten out of a shelter for a friend of mine who lost her deaf cat 3 years earlier and wanted another deaf cat. The kitten had been turned in with the excuse that it didn't get along with their other cat. No way!! I brought him into my home (for a week) with 11 other cats and he just loved everyone! His problem was that he was pulled young (4 weeks) and had no discipline. He left his mom too young and she didn't teach him manners, and these completely clueless people had no idea how to handle a deaf kitten! The day I met him he turned my arms to mincemeat. Within 24 hours I had him licking with the occasionally nibble.

I can see why the shelter was concerned. In the hands of the wrong family, a deaf kitten could turn into a little monster. But I had never dealt with a deaf kitten before and figured it out pretty quickly. The shelter needs to relax their rules and find someone who is cat savy, not deaf savy. They do take more work, but heavens they are marvelous cats!!

Mojo, 2 years later and quite the lovebug:

Reeses only responds to the treat bag being opened and her toy, so having a deaf cat wouldn't change a whole lot for me

I do think some shelters are picky. A vast majority that we saw before we got Reeses had a strict policy about having to adopt 2 cats if they were bonded to one another. While I'm sure alot of you here will agree with that, and I definately see the reasoning, some people just aren't ready to take in two animals at once. I think that's a bit unfair to them as they could be great "parents" to the cat and give a loving home. Reeses lived with 2 other cats (one of them her sister) since she was born and no doubt was bonded to them. But she's doing fine on her own.

Ooohh! Ooohh! PURRLEAZZZE give Mojo a big floofy hug from me!!!

On topic (as hard as that is after this pic) at least the shelter is screening. They may be acting a bit unreasonable, but its better safe than sorry. I hope he gets a good home!

Sorry!

That is not a shelter, that is a rescue. That is pretty much standard rules for a rescue for a special needs pet.

What is the difference between a shelter and a rescue? Is it that rescues do 'fostering'?

Rescue's are private.

Shelter's are usually city or county owned and operated. Shelters will adopt out animals to anyone, no questions asked. Rescue's won't.

That depends on the shelter. I have problems with our town shelter's adoption policies (no senior citizens, no indoor-only cats unless you adopt a pair).

I know plenty of shelters (city owned and not) that are stricter on the adoption process than rescues who can't always get funding and are therefore more likely to relax a bit (while still ensuring the kitty goes to a good home)

My local shelter is the same, they demand the cat is indoors, will not let you have too many cats (they wont let me have my dream kitty), prefer not to place cats with young children unless they have proof that the cat gets along OK with children and the children have had experience with cats.

Geez, I wish our shelter would have that rule. Certain staff-people and volunteers have 12, 15, even in one case 19 cats. How is there enough time in the day (especially since I know this individual works) to socialize 19 cats??? I mean, sure, some people can handle a lot of cats, but 19 sort of borders on collecting to me (although she does clean and they all are s/n at least)

Our big rules:
-no declawing.

-Did I mention that we do checks (announced, scheduled home checks and checks with area vets who know our policy) and if we find out you've declawed your cat you'll get either a $500 fine or a court summons?

-All cats must be indoors only, unless in a proper carrier, under direct supervision on a harness and lead, or in a specially constructed enclosure (enclosed on all sides and the top)

-Cats may only be humanely euthanized in the case of extreme suffering or at the express recommendation of the vet. If you've euthanized an animal for a reason like moving or aggression or something, we don't adopt to you.

-If you've ever rehomed or surrendered an animal as an adult, we don't adopt to you.

-All animals that you personally have owned, past and present, must be spayed or neutered before we adopt to you (dogs, cats, and rabbits, at least)

-All kittens under 8 months must be adopted in pairs, period. (we get a TON of argument on this one, but it's better than getting a ton of mal-adjusted kittens returned to us every year, which is what happened before we instituted this)

-you must be employed, or able to prove sufficient income with a pension document, bank statement, SS receipt, etc.

-All minor kids must be present for the entire adoption process

-We also do the whole 2 forms of ID including a bill with current address and phone number and landloard/condo board/hoa checks things, along with an interview/screening and a mini-lecture on food and care (most of my material is thanks to TCS! Hooray!

I'm curious to see what everyone thinks of these rules. Also, keep in mind that 100% of the cats at the shelter were strays (no cats are born at the shelter- we spay abort all pregnancies- and we don't accept owner surrenders) and they are either orphans, strays who have been living a feral lifestyle, semi-feral and being socialized or have some sort of medical special need.

This brings a tear to my eye! I think all shelters, rescues and breeders need to get on board with this ASAP!!! Is this written in the contract? Have you ever had to carry it out? What was the outcome? How did the courts handle it?

I try not to be judgemental of people on this. Heaven knows I have my own unpopular ideas. But I really loose respect for people who declaw their pets. I have a coworker that had this done to her cat. I had a stray that needed a home and she wanted her, but I gave her to my cousin instead. The coworker was POed because she thought she was getting the cat, but I didn't care. It breaks my heart to think of this happening to cats

I completely agree with the declawing bit, but I think you should go a few steps further: fine the offender $500, remove the cat from the home and bar offender from adopting other cats from your facility.

I am not sure about adopting kittens under 8 months in pairs. If you have the time, you can definitely work with the kitten. Problem is, not a lot of people have that time, so I can see where you are coming from on that policy.

If it were my rescue, I would also ask that all potential adopters--especially if they are first-timers--take a proper care class prior to adopting. Although I never had classes before adopting Miya, I did make some mistakes with her that I don't feel I would have made had I taken a proper care class.

I think all cats should be indoor only also.

Wow, the shelters here could care less.

The shelter here will not let me take a 5th even though he is fully socialised and is a love bug - they didn't even do a home check, they asked how many cats I had and said no... yet there is lots of unadopted cats in there

Unfortunately, we have had to carry it out about 3 times since I joined the staff. I'm sure there are others that have slipped through the cracks, but boy, do we succeed at laying down the law with a lot of people. One guy, who was returning two 16 year olds after having them for 15 years (new baby...was his excuse) had had then declawed. He paid up right away without any trouble. One lady declawed her cat and tried to actually leave the country without paying up. We sent her the summons and got a check for $500 without having to go to court

Of course, those 16 year old cats (named Skimmer and Skivvies, both girls, a blue tabby+white and a tuxie) are huddled in the corner of the adoption counseling office and they are, despite all the love and good care and constant medical attention we give them, depressed and dying with no apparent medical/physical cause, other than being confused and stressed having lost their home.

We show the people who express interest in declaw 8x10 glossy color prints of a declaw surgery in progress. I've had several interviews where this has had a pretty profound effect on the clueless adopter. If the people really just had no idea , we give them a 24 hour waiting period and they sit down for a session with one of our behaviorists (which are free to call, for anyone, even you guys if you wanted to). If they hesitate at all, we let them know about all the wonderful already-declawed cats down at the Anti-Cruelty Society (they take only owner surrenders and funnel their strays into rescues or euthanize them). I mean, being a stray rescue, we don't frequently have cats who are declawed. I think there are 3 or 4 in the whole building, which ordinarily houses 300 cats. We want people to be comfortable, sure, but we also hold a high standard for the care of our cats. If they can't agree with our contract 100%, then we give them a shelter list and a big smile and send them on their way.

We adopt out 400-500 cats a year.

Interesting discussion....Best Friends actually had a guest speaker recently who was stating that perhaps rescue is being too strict:

http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs...b13f7e1c31758d

Just a snippet:

The humane field has a huge agenda with the lives of billions of animals at stake. Even if we narrow the focus down to just homeless companion animals, we're still talking about somewhere between four and six million cats and dogs whose lives are ended prematurely due to homelessness. The most critical resource for solving this problem is more human allies.

Well over half of U.S. citizens - about 180 million people - live with one or more companion animals. Probably the majority would describe themselves as animal-friendly, if not down-right animal lovers...and yet according to the American Pet Products Manufacturer's Association 2004 National Pet Owners Survey, only about 14% of the 60 million owned dogs and 75 million owned cats are acquired from shelters. Most people get their pets anywhere but from a shelter or rescue...family and friends, pet stores, breeders, etc. According to research posted at the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (www.petpopulation.org), the majority of companion animals - 65% - are acquired free or at no cost.

So what gives? Why aren't the millions of animal-friendly folks out there working with us to save lives? I suggest it's because we're making it too hard. All too often when somebody does the right thing by trying to adopt a pet, we ask them to fill out lengthy and sometimes intrusive questionnaires, we subject people to waiting periods, we run background checks and land lord checks and vet checks and we often treat people as if they're guilty until proven innocent...and all the while any one of these potential adopters can easily pick up the newspaper, pull a notice off the grocery store bulletin board, ask around at work or check near a local dumpster and find themselves a "free" animal.

It's bad enough that according to the research the majority of people are, in fact, finding their animals just about anywhere else but from a shelter or rescue. But what's worse...when they do, we miss the opportunity to develop a relationship with them - a relationship that could lead to them learning about better care for their pets, that could lead to them becoming donors to the organization and best of all - a relationship that could lead to them becoming another voice for those who can't speak for themselves!

In 2003 PetSmart Charities convened an Adoption Forum with shelter, animal control, rescue and veterinary leaders from around the country to look at the issue of adoption policies. One of the big questions they tackled was how to define a "successful adoption." Ultimately - and in large part because people are going to acquire pets whether we release "ours" to them or not - the group came to the conclusion that it is more important that we think about "good enough" homes rather than holding out for perfect homes...and that we focus on helping people learn what they need to know to be happy and successful with their new companion. The Forum is written up as a great report available for free download from PetSmart Charities: http://www.petsmart.com/charities/do...tion_forum.pdf.

I trust that intentions behind rigorous adoption policies and procedures have always been to find the best possible homes for the animals in any group's care - but what I'm suggesting is that we need to look at the real cost of putting people through the 3rd degree. Every time we make it easier for someone to acquire their next 4-footed family member somewhere else we lose the opportunity to win them over to our side of the struggle to save even more lives. In fact in many instances, we inadvertently change people from neutral to negative towards our cause - because nobody likes the feeling of being judged and the natural human reaction to that feeling is typically to reject the people/entity doing the judging. And after years of conversations with people about their local shelter or rescue experiences, I can tell you that it's not just the people who get denied an adoption who are turned off...many people who persevere - successfully running the gauntlet to adopt - are turned off by the experience and tell their friends and family to go elsewhere.

But that assumes the best in people. I receive 30-40 calls a day personally about either a) stupid, irresposible people who wish to rehome their "beloved" cat to us because our shelter is so wonderful and they want the cat to be in a goo dplace since they are moving/accepting a new job/have a new girlfriend or boyfriend/sneezed once or twice because of the flowers the new S/O gave them but are naturally blaming it on the cat, etc. or b) people who have found an abused, tortured or neglected cat.

Even something as little as a declaw causes doubt in people like us. Interviews and questionnaires don't have to be harsh or scary. You can make these conversations a pleasant experience for everyone, and really make the adopters feel that you are working for them, which we are, rather than you sitting there with a clipboard interrogating and judging them. It's all a matter of delivery and good "customer service" skills. I usually start by asking the people about their pets, about what they want, about what they expect, about our shelter and our goals...before I ask them a single question about cat care. This way, it's more of a discussion. I think the fact that animal cruelty is such a rampant and obvious and visible crime in a big city makes people very understanding of our process. It's even up on our website...people generally know what to expect. I also like to tell people that as rescuers, they have to understand that we see everything and have encountered all kinds of awful situations, and so to be fair, we have to talk to everyone.

Mostly our interviews are about finding the right cat in the building for the people. We tell them this the second they have an application in their hands. Our cats are divided in terms of health and personality and age. Even the most inexperienced people understand that with 300 cats in the building, it would be incredibly stressful to both us, the adopter and the cats to try and visit 300 cats who have free-range in their respective rooms. We know these cats individually (yes, all 300 of them) and after an app and interview we can find the exact cats who would do well in the home in question.

I have only had to turn one person away entirely, namely because she had intact cats at home that she was unwilling to have fixed. On the same note, I wouldn't adopt a semi-feral or diabetic cat to a first-time primary caregiver.

I don't think it does assume the best in people....what it says is....since people WILL acquire a pet from somewhere....shouldn't we try to work with people "where they are" and help them to become better owners instead of sending them away because they do not match out requirements (ie the BEST home). Certainly we want a good home for our pets....but before they became our pets...they were often a "free to a good home" or a "stray" or a "petstore" or a BYB acquisition. Doesn't it make sense and doesn't it in the end help us if we can help more people by working with them. Increasing the number of pets acquired through agencies that are willing to take their cats back and are willing to work with adoptors will also impact the number of animals that are giving up.

Katie

I tend to agree with you TNR1. I was totally turned off by the "Superiority" attitude I received from a lady at a rescue, when I tried to adopt a 2nd cat. My Snoopy was about 12 years old, and I thought it might be nice to get a 2nd cat to keep him company while I was at work, and also for me to bond with in case Snoopy were to pass within the next few years. Anyway, the woman put me thru the 3rd degree, and actually treated me like I was a low life who didn't deserve a cat, even though I've never believed in Declawing, never let my cats outside, always made sure they had vet care, and have always kept them well fed, not to mention, giving them plenty of food and treats. In other wards I fit the profile for what most shelters would find to be a good candidate for a cat. However, this woman talked down to me, like she was doing her best to find something wrong with me. Anyway at the end she "reluctantly", at least that's the way it sounded to me, agreed to let me adopt this little long haired Siamese kitten, and I was to come over and pay her for the kitten in 3 days. When I got there, she decided that before I could actually have the kitten, she was going to come and inspect my home. I said "No". I had come to her home for 3 days being "interviewed" and interrigated. I was talked to like I was an idiot, and was treated like I was unfit through out the 3 days of interviews. I was NOT going to let this "person" come to my home and "inspect" it. So, she of course refused to let me adopt the kitten in the last minute. I had several people call her and vouch for me, and tell them what a good kitty mother I was to my Snoopy, but she told one of them, that she just didn't feel like I was the type of person they wanted adopting the kitten. So, what did I do? I went to a BYB and purchased a Siamese kitten I named Shane, who is now 9 years old, and extremely healthy and well taken care of and spoiled rotten.

When I wanted to get a Bengal, I tried the rescue thing again, and because I'd never owned a Bengal before, she refused to even consider letting me adopt the Bengal they had, and I saw that Bengal not find a home for over a year, and then I saw that same Bengal returned to the Foster home again, after that year. She wouldn't even consider me, and I'm sorry for the cat that she didn't. But what I did, was go to a breeder, and spend $1000 and bought myself a Bengal kitten, Simba. Simba will be 4 years old in April.

I will NEVER ever put myself through what I was put thru by those rescue organizations ever again. Sadly, there are rescue's both pure bred and moggies that need homes, and I would love to be able to help them out, but I will NEVER go thru such a degrading and humiliating experience again.