Consider An Animal Shelter
When Adopting A Cat
Animal Shelters are excellent places to find your perfect furry companion,
while at the same time turning a sad and possibly scared animal into a
happy cat once again. That’s how we found our little Mo. We could
see straight away that she was once a loving family pet but had withdrawn
into herself in this strange new environment, and was now desperate to
find someone to care for her again.
Why we need animal shelters and the importance of cat
rescue.
Every year millions of cats worldwide are abandoned and have to be
taken in by caring organisations such as animal shelters and pet charities
to prevent suffering and our cities being over run with feral and homeless
cats. One of the main reasons for this over population is that unfortunately
there are many pet owners who just don’t think that it is important
to make sure that their cat is neutered. This results in many litters
of unwanted kittens, who end up either left on the streets of worse
drowned.
 The
terrible truth is that The Humane Society of the United States estimates
that between 8 – 10 million cats and dogs are euthanised every
year in U.S. shelters. Just because there are not enough homes to re-home
them and that they run out of space to care for them all. So just imagine
what that figure is worldwide.
Other services provided by cat rescue centres and shelters.
Re-homing:
There are times when circumstances change in our lives which can mean
that we have to make the decision to re-home our pet. Luckily by giving
our cat to a animal shelter we know that it will be cared for and
re-homed to a loving family.
Lost and
Found Cats: Rescue centres are an invaluable resource for
helping us track down our lost pets. Databases are kept of found cats
and call centres are manned to answer calls from worried owners. Imagine
how hard it would be to find your cat if there were no one actively
looking and caring for lost cats in your area.
Why go to a Animal Shelter or Cat Rescue Centre to
adopt a pet?
Cat adoption should be well thought through before re-homing a pet,
but if you do decide to go ahead these are the main reasons for finding
your pet at a cat
rescue centre rather than anywhere else:
- They are only concerned with the health and well being of the cat
and not money.
- They make sure cats go to a good home.
- They give free advice and support to owners, even after the cat
adoption.
 If
either you or the cats are not happy with the adoption they will take
it back without any fuss.
- All cats are wormed and de-flead before re-homing, some centres
even neuter cats first.
Why not go to a pet shop?
There are many people who are against pet shops selling live animals.
Here are some of the reasons:
- Their main concern is profit and not the well being of the cat.
- Kittens are often obtained by the pet shop from dubious breeders,
where the health of the kittens is ignored.
- Conditions in some pet shops are not ideal; often the animal can
be kept in a small cage, which may not be cleaned as often as it should
and where fleas and mites can spread easily from one cat to another.
- They will sell to anyone, no questions asked as to how the cat will
be looked after or even neutered.
- A kitten bought from a pet shop has taken the place of a healthy
cat looking for a home in a animal shelter.
- By buying from a pet shop you are encouraging the unscrupulous breeders
who are only in it for the money.
 What
about buying from a breeder?
Most breeders of pedigree cats are far more careful about taking care
of the health and well being of their animals. However it is always
advisable to check that the breeder is properly registered and has a
good track record. If you are not looking for a pedigree cat then it
really is unnecessary to buy from a breeder. There are already too many
cats without homes and we should not be encouraging more litters of
cats to be born unnecessarily.
Don’t forget that pedigree cats also end up in animal shelters.
There are even some rescue homes especially for them. So before going
to a breeder, why not check your local centre or contact one of the
pedigree cat rescue homes.
Your Cat Rescue Stories
As you know we rescued Mo from an animal shelter and her story can
be found here. But we would also love to hear your rescue stories. Share
your cat’s happy ending, tell us about how and where you found
your feline friend and your cats story and what it’s like with
them in your life. Click
HERE to send us your stories and visit our rescue stories
page.
Animal
shelters in the US
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