Foster cat update

[alexgirl73]

Just thougt I'd let you know where things stand with my foster cats at the moment. I still have Belle and her babies, well 5 of them now. Dave the little deaf one went to this new home last week and is ruling the roost and keeping Chico the persian in line:lol: . I did have someone lined up to take Belle and a kitten but they failed the home visit:( and a lady who was supposed to be coming to see my tabby boys tonight didn't turn up:evil: So Icicle, Idge, Ivor, Ian and Isaac (and Belle) are all vacc'd, neutered and waiting for their new homes!

[babycakes]

Sorry they have not got their forever homes. And those who promised to view never showed. Figers crossed here for them all. Any pics?

[smudgley]

:? How can they fail a home visit? :?

[alexgirl73]

apparently they lived beside an extremely busy road!!! As I dont do home visits I've no idea what the criteria is!

[yola]

This criteria stuff really needs to be standardised and regulated. It's far too subjective at present. I live on a VERY busy road and all my cats are (and have been) very safe from day 1!

I hope your cats/kittens find good, loving homes soon Alex. We too, are overrun by (especially) kittens at the moment. :(

[alexgirl73]

I agree with you Yola, I was down that road today and I dint't think it was a particularly busy one, but I dont make the decisions, so not a lot I could do. I did feel so sorry for the lady though, as she's one of the mums from my daughters school and is a lovely lady. She has now just gone and bought a kitten from the local pet shop instead, and I cant help thinking it should have been one of my kittens!

[smudgley]

yep. That's the problem, we make all these rules & criteria & turn people down & what do they do then? They go & buy a moggy kitten from elsewhere, we've lost a potential home...... they are encouraging moggy breeding. :roll: (not aimed at you personally Alex, just rescues on the whole)

[Kazz]

I was wondering how you fail a home visit.....such a shame another profit for "pet shop bred moggies" and a minus for cats protection.

[yola]

Yes, Alex. This is where the charities kind of shoot themselves in the foot - people just go elsewhere. It's just one person's assessment of a situation rather than working to a predetermined set of guidelines.

If you've spent your life living in a cul-de-sac you will naturally consider most roads busy. If you (like me) live on a main arterial road out of town, you get to understand what is and isn't a danger and can make assessments and apply conditions in order to work with most locations!

Maybe a point to raise with CP centrally . . .

[Kazz]

Great minds ther Smudgley.

[Elaine]

yep. That's the problem, we make all these rules & criteria & turn people down & what do they do then? They go & buy a moggy kitten from elsewhere, we've lost a potential home...... they are encouraging moggy breeding. :roll: (not aimed at you personally Alex, just rescues on the whole)

I agree, its very disapointing.

[alexgirl73]

I feel exactly the same Smudgley! At least I know the little kitten will be well looked after and is to be neutered and vacc'd and all. But so annoyed that she had to pay £20 fpr a pet shop kitten when for just a few pounds more she could have had one of mine fully vacc'd and already neutered!!! Some times I think people get power mad!

[alexgirl73]

Do CP central not have a proper set of guidelines or is it up to each branch to set their own Smudgley?

[yola]

As far as I understand it Alex, sometime individual branches don't have tangible guidelines - it's almost down to the individual home visit assessor :shock:

I'm fairly certain there are some kind of pointers actually, it's whether they are made available at branch level - the paperwork from head office is quite overwhelming at times!

[smudgley]

All the branches are run to their own standard & guidelines, but there are obviously guidelines from HO but they are open to your own interpritation.(sp)- how the hell do you spell that word?

On another subject, sorry Alex - just curious (& another thing which drives me mad :evil: ) - do you have a minimum donation? I'll tell you why it drives me mad when you answer! :roll:

[alexgirl73]

yes we do Smudgley, not sure if I'm allowed to say how much though lol!

[smudgley]

yes we do Smudgley, not sure if I'm allowed to say how much though lol!

Go on, please! & I will explain why I get angry about the whole donation thing. ;)

[alexgirl73]

alright then, but if this comes back to haunt me you're in trouble lol! The minimum 'donation' is £30. now explain!

[smudgley]

Well done you. ;)

Now, this is what makes me angry.

Our branch don't have a minimum or recomended amount, we just say if they'd like to give a donation they can.:roll: We vaccinate, FIV test, microchip, worm & frontline every cat & neuter if old enough & some people take 2 kittens & don't make a donation.... makes me really :evil: - I keep pushing for a mimimum at every commitee meeting! Think I'll bring it up again, because funnily enough I was talking to a lady today from Halesowen branch & they have a £25 min, which is great.

Also whilst we are having a Q & A session with Alex :-D Do you microchip? Do the vets do that or does someone in the branch? Are they done when they come in or as they leave the branch...again just curious.

[alexgirl73]

lol, nosy tonight aren't we! No we dont microchip. We vaccinate, neuter, flea, worm and blood test. And actually most people give more than the recommended minimum, maybe the fact that there is a set amount makes them want to give a little more, I dont know!

[smudgley]

Some people give very generously. I had £150 a few weeks ago (for a little evil black kitten):shock: & I've had £100 on many occasions, so it's not everyone..... but the ones that say "I've forgot my purse" make me angry................One lady came once for 2 beautiful brothers, silver tabby, I mean real silver tabby..... she said "do you take credit cards as I don't have any cash?" ..................My husband piped up & said "if you go to the end of our road & turn left, cross over by the bus stop, there's a cashpoint just by the shops if you need to go & get some cash"..............She decided she'd send a cheque in the post instead, funnily enough I'm still waiting for it, 2 years on.

[Kazz]

I would have thought a minimun donation is the answer then Smudgley. Press on woman press on.

[smudgley]

I would have thought a minimun donation is the answer then Smudgley. Press on woman press on.

I will Kazz. Even if we say £15 or £20 at least that will help.

[Mags]

I will Kazz. Even if we say £15 or £20 at least that will help.
I would have thought if people could afford to keep a cat/kitten they could certainly afford to donate £30 for it considering it has all the checks, microchipping etc already done!

[Grete]

I will Kazz. Even if we say £15 or £20 at least that will help.

I think that is more than reasonable Smudgely - I am shocked at that woman who didn't send anything :shock:

All the kittens for sale signs I've seen up in pet shops etc have been for £25-£45 and you don't even know what you are taking on health-wise.

I think £20 for getting a cat or kitten that has already been checked out / vaccinated / spayed or Neutered is actually very cheap! I honestly don't think people take that into account when they feel adopted cats should be free :roll:

[babycakes]

God I would really snap up a kitten or cat who had all the vaccinations, checks etc for £20... I paid £20 for Denis from a rescue and he hadn't been vacc'ed or neutered.

[Tinker]

I think most rescues in this area have a mimimum donation of about £40-50.
We are still waiting for a date for our home check for the kittens we would like to adopt, I do wish they would let us know when the check will be as we said we would like the kittens a week ago. I have noticed they have produced a new poster of cats needing homes and "our" kittens are on it :neutral:
I'm sure I could easily get a couple of kittens through the local freeads paper, but would prefer not to support indiscriminate breeding.

[smudgley]

I would have thought if people could afford to keep a cat/kitten they could certainly afford to donate £30 for it considering it has all the checks, microchipping etc already done!

It's not a question of affording it, that's what makes it even worse, it's the ones that CAN afford it, that don't give anything.

[smudgley]

Grete (quote) ~I think that is more than reasonable Smudgely - I am shocked at that woman who didn't send anything :shock: She's not the only one, there are plenty that have done the same.

All the kittens for sale signs I've seen up in pet shops etc have been for £25-£45 and you don't even know what you are taking on health-wise. agree totally

I think £20 for getting a cat or kitten that has already been checked out / vaccinated / spayed or Neutered is actually very cheap! I honestly don't think people take that into account when they feel adopted cats should be free :roll: I know, I actually think £50 would be a nice amount to ask, but then some people wouldn't want to pay that - so I guess £20 is a start as a minimum.

[sammy]

Good grief! I've just read this thread through and I'm speechless! We recently paid £75 to adopt Purdie from the RSPCA and I thought that was more than reasonable considering it includes first vaccs, neutering and chipping etc. Incidentally, our local independent animal welfare charity charges a similar amount and I'm not even sure that includes neutering if you take on a young kitten....

Honestly, you can't believe the cheek of some people not paying anything! :evil:

As to home checks etc., you may remember me saying that I was turned down by the same local charity because I wouldn't guarantee to lock the cat flap at night - something the RSPCA didn't even ask! Young Purds spends all night on our bed anyway....:lol:

[alexgirl73]

That would drive me up the wall Smudgley! I cant believe someone would come and take the cats without giving anything!! Some folk just beggar belief. I definitely think you should press hard for a minimum donation of some sort, and £30 isn't an unreasonable amount at all considering it would cost more than that for the vaccs alone.

[Kazz]

I would say £30 was a reasonable and acceptable amount.

[SarahB]

I know I'm a bit late on this but just thought I'd make my comments too :)

We got one of our cats from Battersea Dogs Home and they charged £40. When we were looking at a local rescue place they charged £60. Neither of them were donations, just flat charges. Given that it cost me £60 to get our kitten spayed and micro-chipped (let alone the vaccination costs) I don't think there's anything wrong in having a fee.

With regard to the home visit, we had one from the local rescue place. The man who came round said we could have an older cat but not a young one as we live on a busy road. It's not actually a main road, just the old road that used to get used and it's not that busy - but cars do speed down there. He also said that we would only be allowed to have a cat if we promised to never go out of the front door, we had to go out of the back door and round the side - so that the cats wouldn't be interested in the front door. I couldn't really understand this as surely any cat would just then follow us round the side! Besides, they're so inquisitive they're always going to investigate the local area - and whilst they don't like the noise of the road they are tempted by the field on the other side.

I understand that they have the best interests of the cat at heart but he didn't have any issues with the house, how we looked after our existing cats etc - in the end you can't tell a cat what to do but at least any cat we have will have a wonderful, loving home to live in for the time that they are with us. Also it's a bit annoying as I know of plenty of cats that have been run over on 20mph roads in quiet housing estates - if it's going to happen, then it's going to happen is the unfortunate fact.

[alexgirl73]

Fully agree with you Sarah!

[Moli]

Its the old adage, they want something for nothing!!!and there are a lot of people who think they are being good taking on a rescue, and do not feel they have to donate anything to the rescue....If they can afford a cat, can afford a donation too...