How can we make Humane Societies more useful?

Question

I tried to adopt a kitten recently at the local humane society. After spending nearly half an hour filling out a 3-page application and another half hour looking over all the kittens, I approached the "adoption counselor" (sigh.....) and told her the one I was interested in. She took ONE look at the app and said "sorry you can't get a cat." What was the reason? I had written indoor/outdoor on the application! I explained that of course I would keep the kitten indoors for quite a while until he was old enough....and also that I would neuter him when he was old enough....but she just said, "no sorry you wrote on here he would be outdoors at some point."

The humane society is always saying they are looking for "good homes" for cats. It's not true. They are SO strict that many kittens like that one will not get adopted and will rot in that cage and cost the humane society time and money.

Does anyone have suggestions as to how I can help implement policy changes so cats DO find homes?

Thnx Bozema - I'm glad some are more flexible

Answer 1

Humane Societies are private institutions run by individuals, and they are not affiliated with each other. Which means that each Humane Society has its own policies, and who they will, and will not adopt to. I don't know why they rejected you, but I think it was wrong to not give you the reason for rejection. I think a 3 page application is a little excessive, but the people who run it only wants whats best for the cat.

As for changing policies, I don't think you will be able to do that unless you get on the the Humane Society board and start convincing people that your reason for rejection was wrong.

As for adopting a cat, try a different place. Different rescues have different policies, and before you fall in love with a cat or kitten, get a pre-approved application - that way you know right away if you can adopt a cat or not and you can take it home right away, instead of waiting for references to come through.

www.petfinder.com has a huge list of animal shelters. Most of these list their adoption requirements online. Good Luck!

Answer 2

When I was actively doing cat adoptions with humane societies I was in many shelters throughout my area.

In San Francisco - 90% of the adoptions were to indoor homes (certainly sensible in a large metropolis). It was not REQUIRED and it was counseled.

As I moved to my own county the indoor-outdoor issue was more like 50% either or. We would know certain streets and areas were places where cats were frequently hit by cars and the humane society had records of cats scraped up from the streets, etc. Sometimes people who lived in those high traffic areas had lost a couple of cats to traffic and had finally gotten the "message".

In the particular place where I live which backs up on open space many of our "outside" cats have been taken by coyotes and there are some that are still around. Stupid neighbor across the street lost two kittens that way because she wouldn't close the dog door through which her three dogs went in and out into the yard. Of course the kittens went over the fence and into the open space.

As I moved further up to more rural areas in Sonoma county it was like 90% indoor-outdoor and very few to be indoors only.

None of these humane societies would refuse to adopt to an owner who would let the cat out during the day and keep them in at night.

So I am sure you can find a pair of kittens and will take very good care of them. My cats have access to the backyard and I have cat fence-in so they don't leave my property. I had a cat die at twelve from mammary cancer and another one now with bladder cancer (who is actually doing very well). We can't "save" our cats just by keeping them indoors.

Answer 3

Different humane societies have different policies and there is a lot variation on the inside/outside issue for cats. The reality is that cats do live safer lives if they are inside all the time. But many people want inside/outside cats, so many shelters will allow it rather than missing out on an otherwise good adopter.

My advice is to go to www.petfinder.com and check out other shelters. Call first and ask about the indoor/outdoor policy before you go and spend the time. And if you do get an inside/outside cat, inside at night really is an absolute must. Nighttime is much too dangerous.

Answer 4

Each shelter/ Humane Society have their own rules.. They made keeping cats inside only a rule and getting them to change will not be easy nor should you try. It's their shelter, and they have the right to make their own rules for the safetly of the cats. I have a shelter too and only adopt to inside only homes. I did not rescue these cats so they can be thrown out side to be attacked by dogs, run over by cars, abused by crazy people, or get lost and end up back in another shelter!!There are shelters that do adopt to outside homes, find one.

Answer 5

I can't believe they did that to you! Of course, I had a similar experience myself. They tried to deny me an adoption even though I already have TWO cats from another shelter from my home state. They are healthy indoor-outdoor cats with all shots and worming and are both fixed.

The lady at the shelter said that if they are outdoors AT ALL there's still a chance they could get pregnant or impregnate another cat. Give me a break! Don't they realize that this is not a perfect world? Don't they realize that cats love being outdoors and that's their natural environment?

It's sad but some animal activists go SO far that they are actually hurting the cause instead of helping. They get too picky about who can adopt cats and so they would rather the poor cat spend its whole life in a cramped cage. At least it's not getting pregnant, right? That's all that matters, huh?

I would strongly suggest you write a letter to the editor so that other citizens can be aware of what's going on there. You might also consider writing a nice letter to the director of the shelter sharing your experience and giving good solid evidence of how you could have helped them in their mission.

Answer 6

That is stupide. There is nuthing wrong with cats being outside. All my cats and kittens are outside. My cat did get preg from that. But we wanted her to. We live on a farm. So are kittens(all five of them) get food, water, and litter box. But nothing a ever happended to mine. That was a rude palce!!! If you really want a kitten. I have a couple that I wouldnt mind giving up. Where do you live?

Answer 7

OUTDOORS is DANGEROUS for cats. Ther are plenty of evil people, cars and dogs (a dog can kill a cat in a heartbeat)

The Humane Society was CORRECT in not adopting to you.

Unless you TRULY understand and Make it a RULE --NOT to keep any of your cats outside, NO Humane Society will adopt to you.

Answer 8

they are looking at the best intrest of the animals that they adopt out.

Answer 9

here I'll do it in my town 2 wat we'll do is we'l write a patitioni and have as many people as we can to dign it but we have to make it a strong patition...
e-mail me if u want and we can share our patitions and make ours better from each others dat would b fun so u wanna do it? & if u want go through with it e-mail me my e-mail is [e-mail]