Ok, I have been involved in animal rescue for quite a few years now. When I worked for the animal shelter, I would always get a "gut instinct" about our adopters... if I had a bad feeling, and we let the animal go anyway, the animal would come back to us as a stray, would be abused, neglected, starved, etc. After that happened only twice, I started going with my guy instinct with all adoptions, and we never had a problem after that.
Well, we now have 10 little foster kittens that we have been starting to find homes for since before they were born. There was one woman who filled out an application, and everything looked great. About 3 weekends ago, she and her boyfriend/husband/whatever came out to visit because they were in the area for some reason. She was very interested in two particular kittens, but I told her we were going to keep one of those and told her which one we were keeping. I told her that she had first pick over all of the other adopters but that we were picking our kitten first because I thought it was only fair since we are the ones that are spending every day taking care of them and paying for all of their food and care.
As I talked to her more, I started getting that familiar bad feeling. She left, and I didn't hear from her again... all of the other adopters are staying in touch frequently for updates. So based on my bad feeling, and the fact that she didn't contact me (I thought she wasn't interested), I went ahead and promised the kitten to the second person on the list who I had talked to and had a very good feeling about.
Well, that first woman emailed me two days ago, and told me that she wants the kitten that I said I was keeping. I emailed her back and told her that first of all, that was the kitten I was keeping and secondly that when I didn't hear from her I figured she was no longer interested and I went ahead and promised the other kitten to someone else.
Well, now she has sent me a very angry email, that I am unethical and I need to get my act together. She claims it's not fair because she thinks she should have had first pick of the kittens, even before me... and that she didn't think she had to contact me until right before she came to get the kitten. I am looking for adopters that show genuine interest in the progress the kittens are making, and that are excited to be adopting one. I like the adopters that constantly email me for updates! It shows me that they're very happy to be getting one of these babies, and I feel that they will take excellent care of them.
I'm just frustrated... my feelings get hurt easily. I know I have to keep the best interest of the kittens in mind, but I don't appreciate getting emails like that.
Well, we now have 10 little foster kittens that we have been starting to find homes for since before they were born. There was one woman who filled out an application, and everything looked great. About 3 weekends ago, she and her boyfriend/husband/whatever came out to visit because they were in the area for some reason. She was very interested in two particular kittens, but I told her we were going to keep one of those and told her which one we were keeping. I told her that she had first pick over all of the other adopters but that we were picking our kitten first because I thought it was only fair since we are the ones that are spending every day taking care of them and paying for all of their food and care.
As I talked to her more, I started getting that familiar bad feeling. She left, and I didn't hear from her again... all of the other adopters are staying in touch frequently for updates. So based on my bad feeling, and the fact that she didn't contact me (I thought she wasn't interested), I went ahead and promised the kitten to the second person on the list who I had talked to and had a very good feeling about.
Well, that first woman emailed me two days ago, and told me that she wants the kitten that I said I was keeping. I emailed her back and told her that first of all, that was the kitten I was keeping and secondly that when I didn't hear from her I figured she was no longer interested and I went ahead and promised the other kitten to someone else.
Well, now she has sent me a very angry email, that I am unethical and I need to get my act together. She claims it's not fair because she thinks she should have had first pick of the kittens, even before me... and that she didn't think she had to contact me until right before she came to get the kitten. I am looking for adopters that show genuine interest in the progress the kittens are making, and that are excited to be adopting one. I like the adopters that constantly email me for updates! It shows me that they're very happy to be getting one of these babies, and I feel that they will take excellent care of them.
I'm just frustrated... my feelings get hurt easily. I know I have to keep the best interest of the kittens in mind, but I don't appreciate getting emails like that.