Animal adoption crisis in UK

I was surprised to read recently that abandoned animals needing rehoming had risen to shocking levels in the UK. Partly due to the cost of living crisis.

Many animal adoption centres are at full capacity and are struggling to re-home animals. The RSPCA recently reporting that they are taking in more animals than people are adopting.

Last year in the October, we decided to adopt an animal. Our daughter was now getting older and was growing out of hamsters ,and she had worked her way through about 5. We knew that she would love a cat or dog.

Even at that time, quite a few cats were up for adoption but the problem finding homes was not as bad as it is now. Certainly we remember seeing many kittens.

Our appointment was to see a Bengal domestic cat. However, it became apparent quite quickly that this cat was very shy and would not be suitable for a household with a child. They say that cats choose you, and I agree.

https://www.rspca.org.uk/-/news-i-would-adopt-but-busting-biggest-myths-about-rehoming-rescue-pets

I’ve always had a soft spot for black and white cats. All my cats being this colour. When we looked at other cats in the centre, we saw Molly who was 1.5 years at the time and fell in love with her. She definitely was interested in us and showed interest in my daughter and me. At the time, her name was Alison that did not suit her. We settled on Molly after the name of the RSPCA worker who looked after her.

Nowadays, you tend to get quite limited backgrounds about the animals. All we know is that when under a year, Molly was pregnant and had kittens. It therefore meant, she spent 4 months in her pen. We then had to wait 24 hours before we could take her home.

Our daughter has some difficulties making friends and there have been many benefits to adopting Molly. She is such a loyal cat who follows our daughter around the house. We spoil her rotten and love her, making sure she is comfortable and warm. When adopting, we had been told that Molly does not mix well with other cats therefore, will not be able to adopt another. We also made a decision to home her as a house cat, simply because we have a main road near us and many cats have been injured/killed.

The RSCPA had carried out a fantastic job looking after her and gave us the info we needed to adopt. We signed her up to a local vet plan that covers an annual vets check up, a 6 month nurse check up, vaccinations and worming and flee tablets. Molly is also chipped, as that will be a legal requirement for cats soon in the UK which is about time.

If you are thinking of adopting an animal and have a suitable environment, any animal adoption shelter should runs checks for suitability.

Appreciating that times are hard, if adopting, you do need to factor in costs as its not like the old days, take a cat home, feed it and that’s it. Insurance is a must as vets bills can add up very quickly.

Cost wise, for insurance, vets subscription and food, Molly costs us about £50 a month. Well worth it though to see how satisfied and comfortable she is now living in her/our house.

Of course, rehoming animals is not just an issue in the UK, but worldwide. Animal shelters are looking for support and persons interested in adopting. For our part, we are lucky to have been able to adopt a cat from the RSPCA.

Please comment if you have any help or advice that you can also offer.