Soldato
Since my gf broke up with me a few weeks ago and her cat, who was living with me, went back to living with her.
As I have always wanted a cat, and finally had some good experience of being a cat dad, I decided to start looking for a rescue to rehome. I don't think I am being fussy; I am more than happy to be amenable to the right cat. My main criteria is mainly indoors so I do appreciate my "pool" is limited to older/FIV/injured cats and the like.
I made a list of all the main charities and rescue centres locally, including national and local independent ones.
I started making applications (both specific and speculative), however barely any are getting back to me. What I am finding really frustrating is that despite all of the centres saying they are desperate for new homes, some are outright stating that they won't entertain calls to dicuss what suitable cats they have, or speculative applications via email. Others are saying on their website they won't even bother replying to you unless they think you are matched. Now, I personally find that quite rude, because it leaves me having to wait to see if I hear back, so I am allowing myself 4-5 days between enquiries. I appreciate most are run by volunteers so time to reply might be an issue, but at least a courtesy email to say "Sorry, please look elsewhere." would be nice.
The last enquiry has really been made me annoyed and frustrated. A local charity had a 2.5 year old Maine Coone looking for a quiet and indoor home, so the match seemed perfect for me. I made an application within an hour of their ad going up early last week, and got a personal acknowledgement the next day, and we exchanged a few psotive emails with photos, etc. The last email in that chain, was them saying that because it was a Maine ****, they would appreciate a donation on top of their usual adoption fee. I was happy to do so and offered to double the adption fee (£150 total). Since then, a few days went past and I heard nothing. I emailed them on Friday night, only to get a reply saying I was on their waiting list and would let me know if anything suitable came up. It's like they completely forgot I had applied to rehome that specific cat! The cat is still up for adoption though. My cynical side thinks I didn't offer them enough money (cost to rehome an old MC is typically £100-200 from looking online so I thought I was being fair.)
Is simply asking to be kept updated at the very least a lot too ask, and are charities/rescue centres known to be extremely fussy??
At this rate, I might just go buy a kitten, which seems a shame as they are lots of lovely cats already out there needing a home.
As I have always wanted a cat, and finally had some good experience of being a cat dad, I decided to start looking for a rescue to rehome. I don't think I am being fussy; I am more than happy to be amenable to the right cat. My main criteria is mainly indoors so I do appreciate my "pool" is limited to older/FIV/injured cats and the like.
I made a list of all the main charities and rescue centres locally, including national and local independent ones.
I started making applications (both specific and speculative), however barely any are getting back to me. What I am finding really frustrating is that despite all of the centres saying they are desperate for new homes, some are outright stating that they won't entertain calls to dicuss what suitable cats they have, or speculative applications via email. Others are saying on their website they won't even bother replying to you unless they think you are matched. Now, I personally find that quite rude, because it leaves me having to wait to see if I hear back, so I am allowing myself 4-5 days between enquiries. I appreciate most are run by volunteers so time to reply might be an issue, but at least a courtesy email to say "Sorry, please look elsewhere." would be nice.
The last enquiry has really been made me annoyed and frustrated. A local charity had a 2.5 year old Maine Coone looking for a quiet and indoor home, so the match seemed perfect for me. I made an application within an hour of their ad going up early last week, and got a personal acknowledgement the next day, and we exchanged a few psotive emails with photos, etc. The last email in that chain, was them saying that because it was a Maine ****, they would appreciate a donation on top of their usual adoption fee. I was happy to do so and offered to double the adption fee (£150 total). Since then, a few days went past and I heard nothing. I emailed them on Friday night, only to get a reply saying I was on their waiting list and would let me know if anything suitable came up. It's like they completely forgot I had applied to rehome that specific cat! The cat is still up for adoption though. My cynical side thinks I didn't offer them enough money (cost to rehome an old MC is typically £100-200 from looking online so I thought I was being fair.)
Is simply asking to be kept updated at the very least a lot too ask, and are charities/rescue centres known to be extremely fussy??
At this rate, I might just go buy a kitten, which seems a shame as they are lots of lovely cats already out there needing a home.