Please Don't Leave it Until the Last Minute to Rehome Your Cat

At Catcuddles, we’ve seen a very frustrating scenario repeat itself multiple times, and expect that other rescue organisations have had similar experiences.

We are regularly being contacted by members of the public who urgently need to rehome their cats, sometimes within a timeframe of just days.

Although, of course, unforeseen circumstances do sometimes arise in which people need to find a new home for their cat at very short notice, in some cases, the cat’s owner has had many months in which to initiate rehoming proceedings, but has simply failed to do so until just days before their “deadline”.

For example, we have had multiple cases in which a cat requires rehoming as their owner is emigrating abroad - a process that typically takes months of planning and preparation - but the owner only got in touch a week before leaving the country. Similar scenarios involve families moving to a property that doesn’t allow cats, and so on.

We expect this is because many people have a preconceived idea about cat rescue organisations - that all you need to do to rehome an animal is simply show up on the doorstep of a charity like Catcuddles with your pet in tow, and sign him or her over.

In reality of course, animal charities across the country are absolutely inundated with pleas for help with rehoming, receiving several calls or emails a day on the matter, many of them involving cats in desperate situations. There simply are never enough rescue spaces, funds, foster carers, and volunteers to accept every animal right away, and so the only way to fairly manage the sheer volume of calls for help is to maintain waiting lists.

These can grow very long indeed, and ensuring that cats are adopted promptly in order to open new spaces, or attempting to open up emergency spaces for unwell strays or abandoned kittens at a moment’s notice, can be extremely overwhelming and draining for volunteers. It is a constant balancing act. Our team are forever fretting, wringing their hands over how they can possibly help this cat or that cat, when we simply have no spaces available, and a long list of cats waiting for every new space that opens up.

So when you have had weeks or months to rehome your cat, but have opted to put a charity in the position of finding a solution within days, or effectively allowing your cat to become homeless, it is very frustrating. It’s akin to emotional blackmail. All it takes is a little planning and forethought to avoid this situation.

Often, to find a way to accommodate your cat, rehoming organisations will have no choice but to bump cats who’ve been on the waiting list for weeks or even months, whose owners have been waiting patiently, and who got in contact with plenty of time to spare. Why should they lose out when they followed the rehoming process faithfully, and were considerate enough to factor in our limitations as an organisation?

Worse still, you might snatch away a place from a cat in dire need of it; such as a desperately unwell stray cat who may well die without the fast intervention of a rescue group.

So please, if you feel you will need to rehome your cat in the near-future and have a deadline for doing so, do not delay. Begin contacting rehoming charities ASAP. Get your cat added to not one but multiple waiting lists for a place at a reputable organisation. You can find a full list of cat rehoming charities in the UK at https://www.catchat.org/ind.../cat-rescue-centres-uk-ireland.

Do not put us in the position of having to move heaven and earth to open up a place for your cat, or worse still, delay help for other needy cats. Please plan, please be considerate - for your cat’s sake and ours.