This user wanted to adopt an elderly cat, but a rude worker at the pet shelter kept rejecting her application. When she went in person to confront the employee, she got banned!
Something of a Cat Lover
OP (Original Poster) is a 24-year-old woman who moved a “couple hours from home” to be closer to college and has since become “really homesick.”
She had always been surrounded by cats when growing up, but when she moved away from her family home, she knew she wouldn’t be taking those cats as they’d already bonded to her parents, the house, and the dog. OP knew it’d be “cruel” to separate them.
Growing the Family
OP was dealing with “anxiety and depression,” and even with her fiancé living with her, she was still struggling. Being around animals had always helped her to feel better, and since she and her fiancé were “big cat lovers,” they decided to look at a shelter that specializes in senior cats to see if they could adopt one.
Nonstarter Out the Gate
Since OP wasn’t having any luck with getting a “positive answer back,” she decided to go in person and speak with the lady in charge of adoption applications. OP wanted to see if there was anything she could add to her applications in the future to increase her chances of being accepted.
She thought it’d be a simple enough task and that the shelter would be eager to rehome pets, given they were at maximum capacity.
Graded With a Failing Score
Once OP had asked her question, the lady pointed to the part on the form that asked, “What would make you give up a pet?”
The lady then said that OP’s answer was the problem.
Till Death Do Us Part
OP couldn’t believe what she had heard. Her answer on the form had been, “The only reason I would ever give up a pet is if I were to die and nobody out of my friends or family could take it in. I would never voluntarily give up my pet.”
In Need of a Contingency Plan
OP was “confused” by why the lady had a problem with her answer and voiced her concerns.
The lady said that OP wasn’t “responsible enough” to own a pet if she didn’t have an “immediate backup person” who could take the pet if OP died.
Cats Aren’t Parrots
The pet shelter’s worker “baffled” OP since she had thought her answer had painted an “extreme situation.” OP had a fiancé and parents who would all take in the cat if she died.
Otherwise, her answer meant she’d never “willingly” give her pet away. Cats don’t live 70-plus years like parrots do, meaning the cat likely would not outlive OP, so it seemed a bit outrageous to require backup plans for her backup plans.
Standing Her Ground
OP tried to explain this to the pet shelter worker and pointed out that she was being a little “nitpicky.”
The lady stood her ground, though, and insisted that if OP were a “good candidate,” then she’d have a better plan than simply letting her family or friends house the cat in the event of her death.
The Last Straw
OP started to become “really upset” with the rude tone and the way she was speaking to her, so she finally gave her a piece of her mind, saying, “You know, if you weren’t being so unreasonable, maybe the shelter wouldn’t be so packed right now. Yes, animals need good homes, and it should be monitored, but you are actively harming the chances of them being adopted into homes.”
She continued, “They are already in the later stages of life. Don’t they deserve to live as many days as possible in a warm home instead of a cage?”
Leave Now
At this, the pet shelter lady started crying and called a coworker over to escort OP out. The lady told her coworker that OP had said she was “making sure the cats died alone.”
OP felt terrible that her words had caused this unintended reaction. She hadn’t wanted to make the pet shelter worker feel bad; she’d only wanted to point out a flaw in the application process.
Never Welcome Back
From there, the shelter lady told OP that she was “not welcome to adopt” because she’s an “a**hole.”
OP was left feeling uncertain and confused by the entire ordeal. At the same time, her fiancé believed the shelter was “extremely fishy” and that OP shouldn’t let their “dramatics” get to her.
What the Community Has to Say
Redditors couldn’t believe how nitpicky and rude the pet shelter had been to OP.
One user said, “Not the a**hole. No one—not pet owners, not parents—has a 100% locked-in, no-fail plan for when they die. They have preferences. They may have what they think is a solid plan, but there are no guarantees. That shelter is way too picky; hopefully, there are others in your area you can adopt from.”
Another Redditor said, “This is a pretty common issue with shelters and rescue groups. Sometimes, they let perfect stand in the way of good, and they don’t even realize that they are standing in the way of more animals finding homes. This ends up with more animals being put to sleep because even if it’s a no-kill shelter, that means they can take fewer animals overall, and the other animals end up in the kill shelters.”
Running a Scam Business
Many in the community also had much to say about pet shelters being fronts for scams.
“I got rejected from a rescue shelter because I wouldn’t take the cat they ‘recommended’ I adopt. We had a very picky Big Boy cat at the time, and I knew he wouldn’t get along with another male cat and certainly not a territorial cat. I told the shelter worker this, yet they insisted that I ‘matched’ with an older, frail, territorial male cat. However, there was a five-person waiting list for this shelter cat, so we’d only get him if the other five people failed their interview and application. Oh, and the application itself was a non-refundable $50, on top of the $150 adoption fee, if we even got to that stage. We were not allowed to apply for any cat, only the ones that workers determined we ‘matched’ with, and then pay the application fee for each one.”
Another commenter added, “Lots of ‘rescues’ are really run by scammers. They also like to post sob stories of sickly animals—some of which would be more humane to be put down—to rake in donations from unsuspecting people who love animals and just want to help. It was discovered that one shady rescue in Texas actually raised over $1,000,000 in donations over the course of one year, and they couldn’t account for where the bulk of the money even went.”
Suspicious No-Kill Shelters
Even no-kill shelters weren’t immune from the ire of the Reddit community.
One user said, “The no-kill shelters are often the worst. They boast about their 0% no-kill rate but adopt out dangerous dogs that have no business being in pet homes, etc. I’ve also seen a bunch of them have a steady stream of purebred ‘rescued’ puppies available. Like, how do you think they got all these puppies? And they sell them for thousands, too. It’s all shady as f***.”
“Yep. While the ‘no-kill’ concept is admirable, most, if not all, true no-kill shelters are privately run, which means they can pick and choose their intakes, and often do—choosing only the most adoptable or appealing pets. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they’re still helping rehome animals in need, but it skews the public view that these shelters are somehow morally superior to or better than municipal shelters—which are sometimes, but not always, kill shelters,” replied another commenter.
Do you think the pet shelter was too nitpicky and should’ve given OP the cat? Was OP irresponsible for not having a backup plan for the cat in the event of her death?
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This post first appeared as She Angrily Criticized the Pet Shelter Employee Who Rejected Her Adoption Application, Saying She’s Why Cats Are Dying Alone. Now She’s Told a “Jerk” Could Never Be a Cat Mom! on Quote Ambition.
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