Spitting feathers

[Beanie]

Hi Team S,

The story about your friend Aggy just shows that people with academic backgrounds haven't graduated in common sense. As others have said a cat will explore and investigate. The saying curiosity killed the cat is not without reason.

The only way that anyone will really know the extent of what a cat will do is if they set up a webcam and you can't set one up to cover the whole outside.

[JackSpratt]

I have got all of my cats from friends for free and I love every hair on their heads.

Know what you mean, CC. With the exception of my oldest, all of my cats are from "unplanned" litters and I wouldn't be without them. Although two of them came to me as kittens due to people not having any patience when training them and settling them in. Entirely their loss.

So to be fair to Beanie, know what he means about "disposable" society. Makes me want to kick people!

[Team Svartalfheims]

She's in her 3rd year of Med school. I have tried pointing out to her that cats will go where they want to go and not where she tells them to go and she didn't want to listen. I'm still shocked that a rescue rehomed to her without a homecheck or anything.

[Christine (Blip)]

What degree is Aggy reading for, TeamS?

[Team Svartalfheims]

I said to Aggy (my friend's housemate) that she needs to keep her 2 cats inside or they won't last long with the road nearby and she said "well they won't turn left when they go out of the front door they'll turn right and go into the park" 

[Millys Mum]

[Ela]

I'm not too cut up about their so called human rights or anything similar.

I agree the interest of the cats is  paramount not the people wanting to adopt.

[Ela]

I was passed by the same person, she was only here for 5 mins cos she knew my neighbours)

Ridiculous isn't it. As I posted a few weeks ago my daughter and her family adopted Jonty from another county, all they needed to do was take a pic of the back garden. Fortunately Jonty has fallen on his paws, but It does worry me that not all dogs would be so lucky.

[Beanie]

CCMacey,

Suitable as I'm sure you know does not have an exact definition in applying it to re-homing cats - nor should it. It should be gut feeling based on experience along with various other checks and observations.

If the homechecker decides No then that is fine by me however harshly somebody feels about the decision. I'm not too cut up about their so called human rights or anything similar.

[Team Svartalfheims]

A girl on my course Linda has a housemate who has just got 2 x 3 year old cats from a rescue. The rescue didn't do a homecheck, didn't say they have to be kept indoors (they live v close to huge busy road), wasn't bothered it's a student house and didn't ask to see that landlord had agreed to the cats living there (contract for the house says no pets and the girl hasn't asked the landlord as she knows he will def say no). The cats now live in Aggy's bedroom in the house as the cats have a habit of pooing in the kitchen or bathroom otherwise and Linda goes mental about it (not surprisingly) and one of the other housemates is terrified of cats.

[Desley (booktigger)]

It is very hard to define a suitable home - my neighbour would be able to get animals from most rescues with her rescue background, yet her last two rescues have both suffered - the cat, because of my neighbours way of dealing with illness and death, ended up dying 'naturally' of FIP, the dog, she refused to muzzle, so after 6 times of biting a human and attacking a dog through a gate, the police took him away. I dont know what checks were done by the dog rescue, but i know very little was done for the cat, as the homechecker for that rescue has known her for years (I was passed by the same person, she was only here for 5 mins cos she knew my neighbours)

[Tiggy's Mum]

Well I was thinking 'main road' etc but I guess a homechecker would get more of a feel by visiting a persons home than meeting them for 10 mins.

[ccmacey]

What is meant by suitable home?

[Tiggy's Mum]

On the other side of the coin I know of a well known rescue that, very recently, rehomed a cat without a homecheck whatsoever.  As it happens it was a lady who I work with and I personally know that the cat will have a great home and all the love and care it needs but they had no way of knowing if her home was suitable.

[Ela]

Thanks for posting that Beanie, sadly that happens more times than people realize. I think even when a home check is done people are told so much that they don't take it all on board, we also give out load of useful leaflets, I doubt if all are read. Then there are those that know better than the rescue how to care for a cat, well they think they do.

[Desley (booktigger)]

That is quite a scary story, shows that people can make us believe what they want us to believe. Am so glad there was a happy ending to this story

[ccmacey]

Just because they have a nice home and seem like they want a cat dosnt mean they are caring. I have got all of my cats from friends for free and I love every hair on there heads.

[Beanie]

I have noticed on cat discussion websites websites over the years that occasionally people moan about the homechecking and difficulties in getting cats.

With this in mind I thought I would recite a local story in the last couple of weeks which I dearly wish was a one off but others who are more actively involved in rescue and re-homing will sigh and sadly be able to recite numerous similar stories in an oh so common scenario.

A lady in her 80s had an 18 year old cat who died. She immediately went out to seek another feline companion. Her original story was that she would like any cat and the rescue, not surprisingly, suggested a mature cat and tried to match up a suitable candidate.

A homecheck was done and she lives in a nice area in a side street which is not particularly busy and other aspects of the check ticked the right boxes. Everything seemed fine except the old girl now wanted a kitten.  The home checker tried to diplomatically steer her towards an older cat for obvious reasons. No she, egged on by her grown up granddaughter, demanded a kitten. The homechecker (who also runs the rescue) beat a hasty retreat saying that she had no kittens.

The old girl then went much further afield and got a 2 year old cat. This rescue were aware that the original homecheck was OK but decided to check themselves and were satisfied. The usual advice was offered about keeping puss in for about 2 weeks was offered so he knew it was his home and to let him come to her on his terms as he is a nervous and timid cat.

Well it appears that the old girl is not quite the sweet old cat loving lady as she first appears. She let the cat out after about an hour and you can guess what happened. This was not before taking off his collar for some totally inexplicable reason. 

The old girl and darling grand daughter told the rescue adding that he obviously didn't like it here and has probably found a new home; what else have you got? No concern for the cat - who shall we talk to? What do we do? Can anyone help us? What can you suggest? 

So all I ask is that when rescues say 'no' it may be hard to accept but the thing that unites all cat lovers is that the cat MUST come first. God I hate the disposable socirety that palgues our every day lives.

The story has a happy ending as we found the cat which has now been safely re-united with the rescue and will not be returned to the old girl. Whilst local rescues will be alerted with the story it is frustrating to know that the independent cat sale trade continues with newspaper ads, etc where the only concern of the owner is to make as much money as possible. So it is likely that another poor little cat may end up with a woman who sees it as an off the shelf purchase.