Animal Shelter - The Benefits of Cat Adoption

An animal Shelter has to be the best place to find your new pet from. After all why wouldn't you want to turn a sad and possibly scared animal into a happy cat one again. 

That’s how we found our little Mo as well as our two new cats Byron and Shelley. We could see straight away that they were going to be the perfect addition to our family.

Why We Need Animal Shelters 

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 or 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.

Services Provided By Cat Rescue Centres

Animal rescue centres don't just take in homeless cats they find roaming the streets. They provide other valuable services too, such as:

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. the problem is how do we find new owners and how do we know they will look after our cat the way we would want them to?

Cat rescue centres are quite happy to take in your pet to find them a good home. You know they will vet the new owners first and that your cat ill be looked after both emotionally and physically.

It is far better to find a good home for your cat this way, than perhaps run the risk of your cat becoming homeless in the future. More about homeless cats here.

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.

If you have lost or found a cat I have some tips on what to do on my lost cats page. 

Why Go To A Animal Shelter To Adopt A Pet? 

This is a great example of a pet rescue centre. A truly amazing place.

Cat adoption should be well thought through before you decide to 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.

• You are saving a life.

If you need more information about how to adopt a cat from a shelter please see my page about cat rescue centres.

Why Not Go To A Pet Shop?

It breaks my heart to see animals for sale in pet shops, there really is no need for it. 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.

However there are also many breeders who are only in it for the money and care little for the cats in their care. often female cats are kept constantly pregnant, causing them to become sick and to produce sick kittens.

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 can 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 have rescued all our cats from an animal shelters and you can read about their stories here, How we adopted our best friends.

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

Cat Shelters In the USA and UK

Naturally it would be impossible to list all of the shelters available in these two countries but we have tried to cover as many areas as possible.

unfortunately not all shelters survive and so please let us know if you find one of our listings out of date.

• USA Shelters by state
  
  
• UK Shelters and animal charities.

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