Monday, June 11, 2012

Adoption Screening Frustrations

I've really been working hard at the few adoption calls we received over the weekend.  I don't know if it's just a lull in the adoptions or I'm looking at a rough summer.  Even Petsmart was slow, which rarely happens!

Certainly nobody can accuse me of being a super picky adoption screener.  There's major criteria I look for, then I look for subsequent criteria.  I don't turn people down because they were stupid and let their cat outside and it got hit by a car - AS LONG AS THEY KNOW THEY WERE STUPID and promise to never let their cat out again! 

So when I received a call this weekend from a woman who was looking for a cat that "didn't drink out of the toilet", I was mildly amused.  Then I realized she was serious!  I was ready to give her the benefit of the doubt until this stupid, stupid woman tells me that she DUMPED HER LAST CAT at the SPCA because it drank out of the toilet and she thought that was unsanitary.

Where do these people come from???

I remember an adopter asking me if there was a way to train their cat to never get up on their furniture.  She wanted a "strictly floor cat".  Is there such a thing?  If there was such a thing, I certainly wouldn't let THAT woman have it! 

As I scout for worthy adopters, I think about the cats and kittens at the shelters waiting for their turn for rescue.  It's so frustrating to think that they are sitting there, getting sick and dying while people who want cats are asking for the impossible and probably should never have an animal - period. 

Please believe me, I look for reasons TO ADOPT.  There are some rescues who won't adopt out a single kitten as an "only cat".  If you won't adopt in pairs, then you'll be turned down. I feel as long as the adopters are mature, responsible, wonderful people, willing to give a kitten a Forever Home without leaving it alone for 15 hours per day - who am I to say "NO" when kittens are dying at the shelter?  In a perfect world, every kitten would have a kitten friend to play with in his new home. 

Before I get a zillion crappy comments over the last paragraph, I know that there are never absolutes.  Some cats desperately need a cat friend in order to be socially and emotionally healthy.  I get that. 

I think I'm now in the proper headspace to go around the house and trim cat's nails.  I feel like a football linebacker ready to go out on the field.  I'm psyched and ready to wrestle with some unhappy cats.  Yes, someone will be bleeding by the end of the day.  I'm certain that will be me. 

 

5 comments:

Fuzzy Tales said...

Well, of course there's a strictly floor cat--it would be made of synthetic material and found at Toys 'R' Us or any store that carries stuffed animals. I'd have suggested she go to one to get her "cat."

Random Felines said...

floor cat? yeah right - as I type this, there is one on my chair, one on the coffee table and a pair of foster kittens climbing the chair to get up since they can't jump that far yet. :)

I agree - rescues can't make it impossible to adopt (and I have heard some stories) but geez....people do need to sorta have a brain.

Good luck with the nails. my boys are OK, but I arm wrestled the princess the other night... :)

Caroline said...

Did the toilet lady ever hear of putting down the lid? Or was her husband one of "those" who left the seat up? Maybe she should have dropped him off at the shelter and kept the cat!

Caroline said...

Did the toilet lady ever hear of putting down the lid? Or was her husband one of "those" who left the seat up? Maybe she should have dropped him off at the shelter and kept the cat!

Alasandra, The Cats and Dogs said...

If you keep your toilet lid closed except for when it is in use (which I believe one should do especially if one cares about sanitation) your pets are unable to drink out of it. Kids are less likely to play in it and I really can't think of a down side. Males are even more agreeable about closing the lid so you don't have the seat up v seat down argument. Both parties are closing the lid.