Getting a CAT from a rescue/sanctuary/RSPCA.....advice please

[rainbowcraft]

I've been looking into getting a cat from a rescue place....I've got Battersea Dogs Home literally just up the road from me, but they insist on home visits etc....is this standard practice?

And....can anyone give me advice about what the whole process is? Anyone here with experience?

Thanks!

[jonathane1976]

You go,

You choose a cat,

You pay for the cat,

You take it home and keep it in the house for about 2 weeks, where it runs amok destroying your house.

Then you fit a cat flap and let it run amok destroying your neighbours houses as well

[chiquita]

My daughter recently got two cats from an animal shelter. It is standard practice to visit you before you have a cat - to see if your surroundings are acceptable. (From whose point of view I wonder?) And also a visit afterwards to see if the cat has settled with you. If it has then no more visits!!
A word of warning....my daughter found it really heartbreaking to see all these cats and kittens needing a home, and having to choose from them!
Good luck with the visit!
Pauline.

[rainbowcraft]

LOL @ Jonathane!!! I have had cats before...just never one from shelter

Pauline/Chiquita - thanks for that, I can imagine I will probably want them all, but ultimately I HAVE to choose an indoor cat (due to where I live), plus it's one of those things that I'll hopefully *know* when I meet *the* cat, as to which one (or 2 ) I choose

It's quite scary really...I KNOW I am a good "mother cat", but it's the other people judging me, also will the cat be happy with ME?

[chiquita]

I think the 'choosing' will be a two-way thing! If a cat comes to you willingly and friendly, then you have been chosen! So there will be no chance of it not liking you! (Best to avoid the ones that back away, arch the back, hiss...etc) Not that you need telling if you have had cats before!! As for the visit, I think its not personal, just to be sure you have a cat-friendly environment. (And no very big, very hungry dogs!!!!)
Pauline.

[PATRIOT73]

sure is trace
we got ellie from RSPCA
cost us £90 been spaded etc
n i think we had 2 home visits
1 b4 to chek its suitability
n 1 about afew weeks after we got her
to chek if shes settling in ok
wud nt be wivout her tho

[rainbowcraft]

Awwww thanks again....I really feel broody for a moggy now

I know cats choose where they want to be...that's one of the things I love so much about them; if they ain't happy, they move home! LOL!

Thanks for the info about home visits...put my mind more at rest now

[thehoneyant]

Dunno about cat's, but it was similar for a dog we once had from rescue, they visited, to vet the home, came along with the dog, and we signed a paper, saying that if we found any problems with the re-home to contact them and they would take her back again. We had one further visit, from them, but I used to send photo's and an update on her, and they always replied. All in all a very satisfactory arrangement.
We had her 12 years, before she died of an inoperable tumour.
She was a perfect pet, and I could never understand why she was abandoned in the first place.

[sludgeguts]

Best way to choose a cat is to take a slice of buttered toas...

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

I have three cats that are all rescue cats, and I had the full interview, home visit etc. Mind you, I didn't have to choose them - I got them from the local animal rescue by ringing, talked to someone who actually took care of the cats (fostering them) in her own home (it is only a very small local charity), and we ended up meeting for about 2 hours, chatting like old friends. Then she decided what cats she had that would suit us - the charity don't tend to like cats going to homes with kids because they dress them in dolly-clothes and push them round in pushchairs, but she made an exception for us. The small charity I guess runs things a whole lot differently to a big charity. I did contact the RSPCA when I was looking for a cat - 6x over 3 years, they said they would come out and check the house and family for suitability, and have never bothered coming out to see me once, and were very unhelpful, so I gave in and went elsewhere.