I lost my cat about half a year ago. Finally decided to start looking for a new cat and I spend this past weekend visiting several rescues. There were a lot of cats, mostly kittens, available.
I was a bit taken aback at the aggressiveness of some of the staff, who were like pushing and almost arguing with me that i had to have multiple cats and how superior having multiple cat is and it's not responsible to only have one cat. I am really looking for an adult cat, but I'd consider a kitten, but the staff were aggressively insisting I had to take two kittens or a kitten and an adult and didn't really listen to me when I tried to claim my lifestyle isn't really the best for two cats as I travel quite a bit and I can only travel with one cat, they kind of them went sour grapes on me. It was really jarring and off-putting.
Anyway, least to say I didn't really get any one on one time with any cat I was interested in and I walked away disappointed. I put my application in anyway, and now I'm getting voicemails and texts again like pleading for me to take 2-3 kittens or bonded adult pairs. When i reply I'm not looking for a kitten and I already have a dog who would be more than happy to play and be friends with a single cat, they just kind of come back at me insisting no you need two cats. This is across five different shelters this same kind of thing happened.
Is this a new thing? I have adopted cats before and never had I had this experience. Both times I adopted before it was far more laid back and the rescue staff were far less pushy, and I ended up adopted an single adult cat who were surrender for behavior issues I was able to rectify after a few months of focused attention and training, who became amazing animals. This is what I'm looking to do again. I am more than happy to put personal effort in, and it is weird to me the staff are like insisting 'two cats is easier than one'. I don't want easy. I don't see why that is problematic?
Are the shelters just like desperate to get rid of animals now and bullying potential adopters? Or is this another kind of trend like raw dog food, that rescue folks insist on pushing on new prospective pet owners? I had to deal when I adopted my dog a few years ago, there were some dog rescues who were like insisting you had to go on a raw dog food diet and it was... weird and offputting. Nobody was insisting you had to adopt two animals or a puppy or anything.
I will even say I have adopted from two of these rescues before, but I also applied to some new ones who seemed to have some cats who fit my needs, but they all actively steered me away from the cats i asked about and were pushing kittens or adults pairs on me that I had not inquired about.
Would having a dog already in my home also be why they are kinda pushing kittens on me? I understand that might be easier to integrate, but I kinda know what I'm looking for and have introduce animals before very successfully.
I’m sorry they made you feel so gross. Maybe we can just believe they were trying hard to place as many cats as possible and forgive them just a bit.
Thank you for saying this. Working in animal welfare is incredibly difficult. I've been on both the rescue side and the municipal shelter side, and each has its different struggles. Seeing people who haven't been active in this fight make blanket statements and judgements about these organizations can get pretty demoralizing.
As frustrating as they can be for adopters, rules and policies surrounding animal adoptions are there for a reason. While we have to find a balance, at the end of the day, the needs of the animals in our care take precedence over the convenience of potential adopters. I've been screamed at for having to get landlord permission before adopting out pets, for requiring all other pets in the home to be up to date on core vaccinations, and even for refusing to let a family meet a dog who was terrified of children (to the point that a bite was very possible) because they had a toddler and a baby. I've been threatened with violence over the years on multiple occasions, have had things thrown at me, and been harassed online just for being a public point of contact for the organization.
This isn't even touching on the emotional toll day to day operations can take. It's hard to go directly from saying goodbye to a beloved resident slated to be euthanized to being positive and cheerful during adoption counseling. Or turning away a pet you know you can help due to lack of space. Or going into a home where the owner had been lying dead on the floor for weeks to hopefully find his traumatized cats alive to trap them and bring them into care. Or going in to hording or fighting situations and extracting animals that look like they've been in a concentration camp. The list is, unfortunately, neverending.
I'm sorry for this getting so long. I guess I needed to vent. It's a really scary time in the animal welfare world right now, I'm starting to feel helpless. The needs are just so great.
That was a highly illustrative comment and i was about to submit it to r/bestof until I remembered this is Lemmy not Reddit. My mobile app clients look so much the same I make this mistake all the time. Anyway please don’t apologize for adding this vital detail to the discussion. I think it’s extremely important for people not to treat going to the adoption center like walking into fast food and expecting to be treated like royalty because you’re “the customer.•
I can't tell you how much it means that you took the time to say this. There aren't a lot of "safe" spaces to discuss these kinds of things in detail outside of private compassion fatigue groups online. Most of them are on Facebook, and since stopping that platform I don't have many places or people I can vent to without facing backlash from people who haven't worked in these spaces. You truly lifted my mood. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Well thank you for your service, and if you want a listening ear message me anytime.