Are restrictions on pet adoptions a net benefit for animals?

Great Debates
1

In this thread, a poster asks how to politely tell someone who they are considering adopting a pet from that they don’t feel comfortable having someone they don’t know visit their home.

This is a fairly common requirement for individuals or agencies that are processing the adoption of pets. Other posters mentioned that some humane societies require that you give them the pet back if you for some reason can’t keep it. Then there are “rehoming fees” that the adopting pet owners pay to the previous owner for an unclear reason.

Now, the purpose of these hoops is to verify that people aren’t adopting animals into horrible living situations, or using them for dog fights, or eating them, or all kinds of things that we’d probably like to prevent. But on the other hand it seems awfully silly to provide all these restrictions and disincentives on people who are most likely going to be fine pet owners, discouraging some of them.

This craigslist post captures it pretty well, I think.

Should we really charge people to adopt animals from humane shelters? Is it really better to have fewer adoptions and then kill the unadopted animals than to let someone take them with less scrutiny? Or, for non-kill shelters, is it really better to turn animals away because you’re full, when you could have had more animals adopted out? I tend to think, like the craigslist poster, that these practices are more about assuaging guilt than they are about actually improving the welfare of animals.

2

Oooh, hooo, hoo, you hit a hot button on this with me. Many years ago, I had three cats and wanted to adopt a fourth. I had recently lost a cat to peritonitis, and I was used to having four cats around. So, I went to the local anti-cruelty society. They let me into the adoption room, and there I fell in love with this little black kitty. I indicated the cat I wanted, and they put a little hold notice on the kennel.

Now, let’s go and fill out some paperwork, they told me.

Fine, I filled out their four page sheet as completely as I could, and a young woman told me to come into her office for an interview. Everything went well, until she saw that I sometimes let my cats outside.

Well, didn’t she know better than me. Oh my god! Don’t you know cats can catch diseases and can get run over by cars? What’s wrong with you?!

Never mind that in those days, letting cats out was pretty common. Every cat owner on my block did it. But okay, okay, I’ll never let the cats out again. Never, ever, ever.

How about shots? Are your cats caught up? Do you have the papers to prove it?

Well, yes they’re caught up, and the papers are…somewhere…

“I see,” she slapped the four page questionaire closed. “Well, you’ll have to go and get the papers and come back. Of course, the cat you selected will be gone by that time, but you can choose another one, and we’ll reconsider your application then. Good day.”

That was it. I never went back. I went to a pet shop and got a little black kitten I named Rasputin. The clerk there never asked me for anything other than payment. I loved and cared for Rasputin until he died at the age of seventeen.

My cats generally live to be eighteen. My two cats I have now are sixteen and twenty-one.

Now, I know perhaps I wasn’t as well prepared as I should have been for that interview. But pet ownership back then wasn’t the big moral crusade it it now. I can only imagine what that interview would be like now with animal rights all the rage.

And I can’t help but wonder about that little cat I left behind at that shelter. Did she find a home? Or was she just put to sleep because no one measured up to the shelter’s standards? It still pisses me off, all these years later.

And all three cats I’ve had since then have been pet shop cats. When people complain that I didn’t take a shelter cat, I say too damn bad!

3

I’ve griped about the same thing. I once went to a shelter, to look into adopting a cat. Their paper work said that they wouldn’t adopt to me if I worked all day, and didn’t have another animal to keep the first one company.

Really? It’s better for that animal to sit in the shelter, until it is put to sleep, rather then let it live at my house, napping in the sunshine all day? Really?

As for the re-homing fees you see on Craig’s list. Listen idiot. I’m willing to take in the animal that you are no longer able or willing to care for. And you want to charge me for that? I should be charging you for the service.

4

I’m ambivalent.

Generally I think adoption fees are an excellent idea. Not only do they help pay for chipping, vaccinations and neuter/spay ( all of which I think should be mandatory for shelter adoptees ), but as mentioned they act as a minor disincentive to impulse buyers and those with ill intent.

Beyond that it gets dicier and harder to draw a clear line. Behaviorally or health mandated restrictions? I’m for some of them. For example a cat that gets along poorly with other cats or has a communicable disease should not go to home with another cat. Outdoor/indoor guarantees? While I’m pro-indoor, I don’t think it should be a hard and fast requirement. No declawing? I’m anti-declawing, so inclined towards agreeing with the idea, but I’m not 100% on it - special circumstances could apply. Home inspections? Probably a bit much.

When I got the first of my current two, he was a dirty stray kitten. I had him checked at a vet and set up an appointment to have him neutered in a couple of weeks. Within a week I decided he needed a playmate and went the SFSPCA to find one. Picked out a spunky black kitten, filled out the paperwork and was denied? Why? I had indicated my stray wasn’t yet neutered. It didn’t matter I had scheduled a neutering and that I knew people at SPCA that vouched for my trustworthiness on the issue. Rules were rules.

Which is fine as far that went, they can decide what they want ( and I adopted elsewhere the next day). But that sort of rigidity is probably a little excessive.

5

Not much of a debate here, but I’ll chime in with a “me too.” Our family has been thinking about getting a pet rabbit. I would really prefer an older one, since they are generally calmer and less likely to be injured by my kids. So, I went looking for adoptable rabbits, but all of the places I found have ridiculous requirements, and are generally expensive. I can’t have any other pets, I can’t have kids (!!), they need to visit my home, etc. So, forget it. We’re going to end up buying a baby, which makes me sad. But breeders don’t have crazy restrictions. Seems backwards to me.

6

I would rather have an animal euthanized than stuck living a miserable life with a hoarder or leashed to a tree all day every day until it dies so I do support some level of research into an adopter’s background. Checking vet records on existing pets is ok with me and so is a quick one time home visit. I think adoption fees at a shelter are generally a reasonable measure as well, though I’m against pet owners with ‘rehoming’ fees. Shelters are performing a service, pet owners are just getting rid of their pet.

Some things mentioned here are excessive. I strongly support keeping cats inside but I would adopt to somebody that wanted an inside/outside cat so long as the cat wasn’t declawed and they didn’t live by a highway or something. Being rejected for not being home all day is ridiculous too, especially for a cat. They sleep all day anyway.

Just like with anything, some people are going to take it too far, but overall I like to see places that put effort into ensuring their animals are well placed.

7

This reminds me of a passage in economist David Friedman’s excellent book Law’s Order:

Bolding mine. From here (this is the entire book, webbed by the author).

8

The ‘shelter employee as God’ conclusion is exactly the one I reached in my case.
Those poor, poor animals, dying because we live in a less than perfect world. Because of these deluded do-gooders, I will never set foot in a shelter again.

9

I’m in general agreement with the OP, but I wanted to nitpick this a bit. At least in my area, there are many posts on CL that say not to post a pet ad without a rehoming fee, because unfortunately, “free to good home” pets can be taken by people who will either sell them to animal research or use them in dog fighting, etc. Putting a rehoming fee at least minimizes this, since it’s apparently not worth it to them to spend the money on that.

10

I think it is counter-productive. What is the alternate future for the animal?

Our friends wanted a dog a couple years ago. Went to the shelter to adopt one. They had a very nice 3 level house, the bottom level being an above ground basement, called a day light basement I think.
You know, laundry room, ping pong table, couch, TV, freezer, etc. This is where the dog would be during the day when they were at work. The dog would have it’s own access door to a fenced in back yard and could go inside or out as it pleased. Sleeping pad and food. I mean the dog could sit on the couch and watch TV all day if it wanted to.

Verdict: No dog for you!!

Uncontrolled exposure to weather, lack of companionship and supervision, crap like that.
You would have thought they were going to leave a child under a bridge all day.

So they just bought a dog and the one from the shelter they would have saved probably got euthanised.

11

Don’t forget the credit check, and the criminal background check, and the home inspection (and I’ve heard that having too nice of a house will disqualify you as much as having a messy one), the letter from your landlord, the requirement to already have “a relationship” with a veterinarian (even if you don’t have any pets)…

And they wonder why people buy pets from puppy mills…

12

These did seem a bit excessive to me (I’ve adopted a cat and dog recently from such organisations). I realize they have the pet’s interests at heart, but at the end of the day its a pet, not a child. Within reason its up to me what I consider the best way to look after my pet. the whole indoor versus outdoor cats is a good example of that. I realize there is a risk in having an outdoor cat, but I feel (based on where I live, and the lack of busy roads etc.) this is balanced by the quality of life increase they get from being outdoor cats.

Though on the dog side, some dogs will clearly do better left unattended than others. I don’t think unreasonable for shelter to insist certain dogs need to be attended at all times (we were honest that our dog was going to left unattended during the day*, and as a result some possible adoptions were ruled out, I was quite happy with that).

That said in neither case did they ACTUALLY inspect my home.

Another thing that kind of bugged me (albeit on an entirely theoretical level) is the insistence on ALL dogs being neutered. Personally I’m in no position to deal with breeding a dog and raising puppies, so would much rather have a neutered dog. However the dog we ended up has an absolutely amazing temperament, and think that kind of dog should be able to pass on their genes. Someone who did have experience of raising litters of puppies (and selling them to responsible homes) should be able to breed their adopted dog IMO.

    • he says with his adopted dog underneath his desk at work*
13

I’ve seen a lot of rescue orgs with a blanket prohibition on children under six (occasionally even no under 10), including requiring couples to sign something stating that they will not have children during the life of the animal. Some also want you to allow them to make unannounced inspections.

I’ve seen my local shelter proclaim golden retrievers and beagles unsuitable for homes with children, because of energy level.

Has the whole kids + dogs thing gone totally by the wayside? I grew up with dogs, and want to raise my children with them. I feel like I’m going to have to buy one (though I don’t want to).

14

Yeah it seems to me some high energy dogs are unsuitable for houses WITHOUT kids. They’d be far better off in a house with kids about most of the time to keep them entertained than one with working professionals who leave them alone for 10+ hours a day.

That said of course some dogs are completely unsuitable for kids, but a blanket ban seems dumb to me.

15

Though I guess I didn’t really answer the OP did I…

My answer would yes in certain cases it IS better for an animal to be euthanized than go to an obviously unsuitable home. Particularly dogs, some dogs have needs that simply have to be met or they will lead stressful unhappy lives (for example very athletic working dogs that need huge amounts of exercise and stimulation). Not to mention there some dogs are simply unsafe unless you know what you are doing (all the shelters we visited had ALOT pit bulls and such. I would rather they are euthanized than go to an unsuitable home that would put everyone at risk.).

That said, alot of rescue organisations have gone too far in that direction. Yes you need to ensure that an animal has a suitable home. But that should be about matching animals characteristics to their potential adopters in a common sense manner. You aren’t apopting out children, you are selling service animals.

16

Oh, they want the dog to not be alone for more that 4 hours a day. You know who’s mostly likely to have an adult in the house most of the day? Households with young kids. They’re also more likely to have a house with a yard.

My sister-in-law has a big yellow lab. She’s a SAHM with 3 kids under ten and a big yard. I would think that’s the ideal home for that dog. Nobody keeps a dog busy like an 8 year old boy.

17

Goldens unsuitable for families with children??? WTF??? There are hardly more kid-friendly dogs on this planet than goldens. Apparently these people are from another planet entirely.

God knows I want all the animals to have happy safe homes, but I do think some shelters and rescue orgs go way too far. I had no problem agreeing to keep my cat inside, considering that a) I live near the highway and in and out of the valley and b) there are all sorts of animals, including the occasional bear, that wander by. And honestly I wouldn’t want a dog without a fenced yard anyway. But these people can go beyond practical to nuts.

18

I think the solution to this is for the local humane society to provide vouchers folks can purchase and re-sell for fixing and basic shots. Then, you can give out the puppies “free with purchase of a vet voucher”, or the like.

whiterabbit, are you sure you don’t want to get a cat to protect you from the bears?

19

I’m going to go against the grain a little bit, but please hear me out. :slight_smile:

I agree that some agencies’ restrictions are excessive, the organization I foster for included. Some of their policies are actually absurd:

  1. No black cats can be adopted in October because of cults. This includes black-and-white cats with a greater proportion of black. First of all, I highly doubt there is a large enough number of cults in the area to warrant this restriction. Second, why would a cult member go through the elaborate process of adopting a cat from a rescue and fork over $100 or more when s/he could easily trap one outside or find someone who’s giving away black kittens?

  2. If a pair of cats arrive at the shelter together, they almost always must be adopted out together. Even if one of them is a sweetheart and the other is difficult and will very likely decrease his buddy’s chances of being adopted.

  3. You can’t adopt a kitten unless you have another cat at home or will adopt another cat. Their reason for this is that kittens need to burn off their naughty energy with another cat rather than on your furniture.

I do think a lot of this can be attributed to shelter workers not wanting to feel like they’re treating the animals irresponsibly, however minimal the chances are of something bad happening. I’ve only been volunteering with my particular organization for six months, but I could tell immediately that many of their policies were overreactions from something going horribly wrong once. If I had personally authorized an October adoption of a black cat to someone who ended up sacrificing the cat in some cult ceremony, I would likely be upset enough on a personal level to want to ban October adoptions forever. But I would hope that the organization would see past my personal reaction and make a decision that’s best for cats as a whole.

The problem is, organizations like these are made up of extremely dedicated people who love cats in general but tend to make decisions and policies based on cats in particular. They love cats and dedicate a lot of their time and energy to saving them, but they fall in love with Pumpkin and Smokey and Mr. Bubbles. And the importance of preventing anything bad from happening to Mr. Bubbles outweighs the importance of finding more homes for more cats.

I’ve found that restrictions are more numerous (and ridiculous) the more grassroots the organization is. The Animal Humane Society has you fill out an application and pay a fee, but that’s about it. They probably check in with your landlord if you’re a renter. My entirely volunteer-run organization has you fill out an application, have an interview with someone (which can be pretty grueling, depending on who that someone is), and if the interviewer has an off feeling about you for whatever reason, you’re out. One woman who screens potential adopters doesn’t let cats go to homes with small children. Ever. Thankfully, she realizes this is an idiosyncrasy of her own and recommends that such families talk to a different screener.

I don’t think restrictions like no-declaw, indoor-only, and especially required spay/neuter are excessive. I do think they are in the best interest of animals in general. You’ve probably heard this before, but declawing a cat is like chopping off a person’s fingers at the first knuckle. Not exactly humane. Letting a declawed cat roam around outside is definitely not humane, since he will defenselessly encounter bigger, stronger, clawed cats out there (not to mention dogs and wild animals). Even letting a clawed cat outside is questionable. I have mixed feelings about this myself, but I don’t let my own cats outside. The threat of other animals, vehicles, parasites and diseases is worse to me than putting up with a little whining at the door (and occasional escape attempts). And although I can’t get my cats’ consent on this, I’m fairly certain they’d prefer to continue their cozy lives inside my house rather than get hit by a car.

I very firmly believe that all household pets should be sterilized, and a shelter or rescue organization that disagrees would be grossly irresponsible. Why bother finding homes for stray and unwanted animals if you’re not, at the same time, addressing the root problem of overpopulation? I don’t know of any organizations that don’t advocate for sterilization, but I believe there are some that put that responsibility on the adopter, which is a bit naive. On the other hand, the Animal Humane Society spays and neuters their kittens at far too young an age (my mom adopted a kitten from them a while back, and they spayed her when she was 8-9 weeks old - they also didn’t make sure she was healthy first, but that’s another story). By waiting longer to sterilize a kitten, organizations like the one I volunteer for lose the interest of potential adopters who want kitties, but it’s better for the kitten’s health. It’s a tricky issue, but I can’t understand arguing against sterilization. Sure, everyone thinks her/his own animal is the model of the species and should be replicated, but seriously - there are plenty of other wonderful animals out there who need homes.

While I recognize that restrictions can drive potential adopters to buy kittens from pet stores (which is seriously the worst possible choice - please try a different shelter first or at a bare minimum find an add in the paper for free kittens), I still believe they are better than free-for-all adoptions.

I think the core of the issue may be the overall purpose one believes that fosters and rescues serve. I believe they should aim to find good, forever homes for all homeless pets. This includes trapping and rehabilitating strays, educating pet owners who are having trouble with their own pets (e.g., your cat peeing outside of the litter box might mean he has a medical problem - he’s not doing it to spite you), fighting against pet overpopulation through trap-neuter-release programs and discounted/free spay/neuter programs, and giving every animal a fair shot (behaviorally and medically) before euthanasia.

Wowzas. I’ve never written a post this long. I have a tendency to kill the few threads I participate in even with one or two lines, so hopefully there’s something here that has furthered the discussion.

20

Hello,

I have done two home visits to help out Border Collie rescue (after the last dog I placed accidently bit a small child, I gave it up entirely) and it really disillusioned me to the process. In one case, I was visiting after the fact of adoption, that is the dog was already there, and it was a great little dog and the couple loved it, but it was absolutely not what they wanted. They regaled me with stories about how they wanted a border collie that would be active, run with them and fetch all day and they got a very shy dog that was happiest when it was sleeping in the corner. Second home visit I did, the very nice couple had fallen in love with a dog they saw online. They had researched the breed, had a high maintainance bird and a fat and happy cat that were older and obviously loved and cared for, they lived in a gated community that did not allow individual fences but they had planned on leash walking the new dog every day, extensively. Since they did not have a fence around their property, this very nice home for a dog was turned down. I was mad about wasting my time, since they ignored my very strong recommendation because of their “no fence” rule. Because border collies are so frickin’ easy to place :rolleyes: .

However, I do think a reasonable adoption fee to cover neutering/vaccines (which should be done and current at adoption IMHO) is fine with me. I have only adopted one cat from a shelter, he was half price at $15, a steal for a neutered, vaccinated bundle of love. I had to fill out an intensive application at the time, but the employees were nice and I got away with a lie (that I lived at home, not that I was renting an apt.), I admit. In my experience working for vets, there are alot of home visit threats (most of the ones here just say they can, they don’t actually do many of them)and “don’t let them outside” rules, but there is no enforcement.

The real threat to pets, however, is the advent of no-kill shelters. I believe very strongly that making fewer “tough choices” doesn’t help the animals at all. Our city tried to do a mostly non-kill shelter here and what happened is that they got overrun, animals suffered in the shelter and now they’ve gone to the other extreme- a very short grace period before euth. I believe that it is no kindness to maintain fearful, possibly aggressive animals in that environment. I know that they may be ok when placed, but too many pets total die- adopt out only the sound temperament, healthy pets and less animals suffer. Not only that, but I feel that people get pets with the idea that if it doesn’t work out, some kind person or shelter will maintain it forever while the right home comes about. If the future of a pet dropped off at the shelter was either adoption within the month or euthanasia, I think people might think a little harder before buying a pet in the first place.

That being said- if you aren’t going to go with a shelter, rescue or responsible breeder- try your veterinarian, especially for kittens. At the hospital I worked for, in an urban area, we commonly adopted out pets for a very low (like $25) fee and as long as you were a client or referred by a client, we wouldn’t give you the third degree.