Cat Rescues Help Many Animals Every Day

According to the ASPCA, 3.2 million cats enter shelters each year in the United States. This means that the volunteers and employees in cat rescues have their hands full nearly all of the time. Cat rescue groups themselves come in all shapes and sizes and they all have huge responsibilities. Nearly every region has at least one. From breed specific rescues to feral cat rescues and everything in between, there is a great amount of variety in their structure. However, they all have a common goal: Find forever homes with loving families for the cats they rescue. Here is a brief overview of what cat rescues do, how someone can adopt from their local cat rescue, as well as how to find a local cat rescue to get in contact with.

What Does a Cat Rescue Do?

Cat rescues often have their own mission statements, and these may vary from group to group. In general, rescues bring cats into either a foster environment or shelter environment. Occasionally, shelters will become too full because of how many cats need rescuing. These cats may have been strays, feral, abandoned, or surrendered to the rescue. In the time before a cat is placed for adoption, it is the rescue’s responsibility to provide the cats with veterinary care and also ensure the cat is spayed or neutered.

Cats also should be provided an opportunity for proper socialization. Excellent rescues get to know each cat’s personality to ensure their proper placement in a future adoption scenario. A rescue must market their cats in a way that is honest and also attractive to potential adopters. The rescue is also responsible for making sure any potential adopter has purely positive intentions with the cat and is a safe person for the cat to be placed with permanently.

Adopting from Cat Rescues

Adopting from cat rescues is an extremely noble and respectable action. There can never be too many people who would consider adopting a cat from a shelter, and any shelter would be happy to have someone show interest in a potential adoption scenario. Each rescue is a little different in their practices regarding adoption, but most require a paper application and a background check. This ensures that the adopter does not have any animal abuse charges or anything that would be a red flag to potentially cause the cat to be returned— or worse— end up abandoned or deceased. Cat rescues, or any rescue, are diligent making sure that the animal’s safety and well being are guaranteed.

Home visits or visits with other pets or family members are also typical for adopting from a rescue. Again, this is to ensure all circumstances in the home environment are considered.

Finding a Local Cat Rescue

It is extremely simple to find a local cat rescue by utilizing any basic search engine online. Typing in one’s zip code with the keywords, “cat rescue,” will typically provide many results for local rescue websites. Large pet stores often bring cats in from local cat rescues as well and can facilitate an adoption. Even pet adoption websites such as Petfinder can be great tools to connect a potential adopter with a local cat rescue.

If technology is not an option, newspapers and local establishments such as pet stores or grocery stores may be able to make recommendations for a cat rescue in the area. Where there’s a will to adopt a local rescue cat, there is a way to adopt a local rescue cat.