Animal Welfare Professionals

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

A new one for me today... I am the ED of a shelter in Central NY. We had a potential adopter fill out an adoption survey and call about the adoption a 10-week-old kitten we had available. The potential adopter was transparent about wanting this kitten to be indoor/outdoor and her application was denied (for this particular cat) by my lead animal caretaker who was working that day. The reason for the denial was due to the age of the kitten and new research that she has learned through an animal welfare course she is currently taking. We have no policy stating this. Despite being contacted by this irate customer ( on my day off, via social media) I stood by my staff person and held to her decision.  The kitten was adopted the same day by someone else. 

So this is two part: How do others feel about kitten adoptions to people who may want them to eventually be indoor/outdoor? 

If this is a policy, how is this put in place without just giving people the opportunity to lie?

Is this discrimination? This is what the woman has verbalized to us and I want to be clear? 

Any info would be very helpful!

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms

We do not currently have a written policy for age restrictions for indoor/outdoor cats, but we highly advise against it and have denied quite a few applications for homes wanting kittens as indoor/outdoor cats. We are a very rural shelter and have had many kittens killed by hawks, owls and coyotes. We counsel all applicants on the dangers of putting kittens outside before they are big enough to hide or defend themselves and if our counselors feel that the adopter will not take our recommendations seriously they are able to deny for that particular kitten/cat. 

We also keep in mind that most people talk and our policies get out about different home requirements and people will come in and lie so we try to work with everyone as much as possible to be able to have the kittens go into the safest home possible. 

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Rebecca sheffield
Office Manager
People for Pets MVHS inc.
ID
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This is a tough one.  I am from a private cat rescue so perhaps we have a little more leeway.  But I would have a hard time adopting any cat to where it would be indoor/outdoor unless the cat came from outside and had a really strong desire to continue to go outside. But then it would be a discussion with potential Adopter about what steps they would be taking to try to ensure cats safety.  We have two foster homes that allow their personal indoor cats to go outside.  I don't love it, but can't dictate what they do with their personal cats and they are both great foster parents.   I don't think it is discrimination to deny this app, especially for a young kitten. We don't have an official policy about adopting to indoor/outdoor homes either but I think if our application team found out that was the plan for a kitty, especially a kitten, the would be denied.  

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Jen Erjavac
Foster Coordinator
Kindred Kitties
WI
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I have been involved in rescue for some years now and wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. An adult cat that is having a hard time adjusting to life completely indoors is much different than a kitten who will adapt to indoor life just fine. 

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Olivia Wilhelm
Founder/Director
Friends of Felix Senior Dog Rescue and Sanctuary
New York
www.friendsoffelix.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-08-2025 07:55 AM
From: Jen Erjavac
Subject: Kitten adoptions to indoor/outdoor home

This is a tough one.  I am from a private cat rescue so perhaps we have a little more leeway.  But I would have a hard time adopting any cat to where it would be indoor/outdoor unless the cat came from outside and had a really strong desire to continue to go outside. But then it would be a discussion with potential Adopter about what steps they would be taking to try to ensure cats safety.  We have two foster homes that allow their personal indoor cats to go outside.  I don't love it, but can't dictate what they do with their personal cats and they are both great foster parents.   I don't think it is discrimination to deny this app, especially for a young kitten. We don't have an official policy about adopting to indoor/outdoor homes either but I think if our application team found out that was the plan for a kitty, especially a kitten, the would be denied.  

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Jen Erjavac
Foster Coordinator
Kindred Kitties
WI
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Our shelter does have an inside/outdoor/barn cat program. Every so often we get in a cat that is just too feral to house in a home and we know that some cats just aren't fit for the inside life. With this, we have interested people come in who already have a place for a mostly/all outside cat, such as having a barn, shed, or other type of shelter that access to heat/heat lamps/headed houses in the winter. I live in a pretty rural area and I personally do have an inside/outside cat. He is not feral by any means but he grew up as a barn car and we knew it would be hard for him to transition to being fully inside. He spends most mornings and evenings snuggled up inside but he loves the freedom on the outside and the mice/birds he can manage to catch.

Your organization can create any policy that works for you and is in keeping with your mission but it should be consistent and staff members should never be making it up on the fly…potentially creating arbitrary barriers to adoption due to personal feelings about an adopter. 

The most recent AVMA Pet Ownership Demographics survey shows that ~2/3 of cat owners report their cats are allowed access to the outdoors so you're ruling out a lot of potential homes if you make indoor-only a hard criteria or encouraging adopters to lie so you don't have the opportunity to have a conversation about the benefits of an indoor only home. 

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Rachel Powell DVM
Director of Surgery
Greenhill Humane Society
Eugene, OR
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Hello all

We do have an indoor only policy regardless of age and have no interest in changing it.  We also understand that it's a big world, and if folks are only interested in indoor/outdoor, after having a chat about the benefits to the cat of indoor only, that there are places that do not share this requirement and wish them well.  However, as a small cat rescue that focuses on those with more extensive veterinary care needs and without human advocates, we have no interest in putting them back out to face whatever brought them to us in the first place. We're fine that we may have to look a little harder or take a little longer to find the right home.  And as far as someone getting "irate?" That's fine - they've just aelf-selected in my mind. 

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Diane Metz
Board of Directors, Volunteer, and Foster Mom
Orange Street Cats, Inc.
Albany NY
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We also have an indoor-only policy.  We do always remind adopters that cat harnesses for walks, catios,  or strollers are a great alternative to getting your cats outdoors, without allowing them in harm's way. The outdoors is dangerous. Period. I've watched cats get carried away by birds of prey, hit by cars, and beaten by kids, through my feral colony. These are cats that cannot be handled by people. For these cats, we have a barn cat program.  We also have fosters who socialize the kittens that are born to these moms that maybe aren't so use to people yet.

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Cassandra Jensen
Adoptions Lead
Adoptions
IL
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