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  • 1.  To hold or not to hold? Cats, are the question

    Posted 08-09-2023 01:44 PM

    Just wondering what everyone's policies are on cat interactions in your adoption areas.  For non free roam rooms where your cats are housed in the kennels-do you allow the public to open and hold cats in the area, transfer the cat for them in a separate room, open and pet in a kennel, no opening kennels at all, or something different?  

    Appreciate everyone's feedback!


    #AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms

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    Christina Sutherin
    C.O.O
    Halifax Humane Society
    Daytona Beach, Fl
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  • 2.  RE: To hold or not to hold? Cats, are the question

    Posted 08-10-2023 11:40 AM

    We require people to be in an adoption meet (specifically interested in adopting that animal) in order to interact with them! We find it lowers stress quite a bit. 

    Our volunteers though can go into our large "galleries" (groups of cats who came in together) and socialize in there, pet cats through their kennel (individual holding cages) doors, or bring cats from their kennels to a small "socializing room" (small empty room, to be used by volunteers or for adoption appointments).  We don't allow volunteers to move cats in their arms, rather in a carrier always.

    Hope this helps at all! 



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    Autumn Gomez-Tagle
    Volunteer and Foster Coordinator
    Fox Valley Humane Association
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: To hold or not to hold? Cats, are the question

    Posted 08-11-2023 09:22 AM

    I'm at a cageless rescue,  but sometimes we have people interested in cats that are still in holding (either they just had surgery, are being watched for diahrea, etc) so they are not in an adoption room. In this scenario, we have an empty room that we will bring the cat into for the meet and greet. We like to bring the cat in there before the meet and greet so they have time to decompress.   

    Recently, I moved and I'm working for my rescue remotely. I was looking to adopt because my senior cat had passed prior to my move. I did visit a shelter that was mainly a caged cat rescue, and their policy was that you had to ask staff members to open a cage, and that only one cat was allowed out at one time. The cages were all in a room, so the cat was still contained in the room. My personal opinion was that it was very inefficient. There were two staff members, and about 10 people meeting cats. It took me about 10 minutes to finally ask a staff member (because they were talking to adopters) if they could open a certain cats cage, and they said I'm not allowed to meet him, even if I wanted to adopt him (because he love bites, which doesn't bother me, but I'm sure it's an issue for people that don't listen to a cats body language).  As someone who is used to a cageless facility, it did not seem like the best system for meeting cats. I would personally suggest having a room(s)  that cats can be moved to for a personal meet and greet. Even if this cat had been let out of his cage, there were about 7 people in the room with us, and the 15 other cats in cages. Many of them were meowing. It would've been a stressful environment. So, I'd recommend an individual room for meet and greets that are less stressful for the cat. 



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    Maddie Corey
    Simply Cats
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: To hold or not to hold? Cats, are the question

    Posted 08-12-2023 07:11 AM

    At my old shelter we would tell visitors when they were looking at cats to please come ask for help if they would like to meet a cat. There were also signs on the cat room door and a lot of the kennels to please ask for help before getting a cat out. Staff would carry the cat(s) that the visitors were interested in to a room where they could spend time getting to know them. 

    If the cat was super chill, we would tell the person they were welcome to put the cat back in the kennel themselves. Most of the time we helped with carrying the cats to and from the room in case they hated the cats they were being walked past or were wiggly to hold. 



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    Marilyn Wheaton
    Client Services
    AnimalsFirst
    Leesburg VA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: To hold or not to hold? Cats, are the question

    Posted 08-14-2023 01:23 PM

    We have two free roaming rooms that visitors can enter and pet/hold any cat as staff have found their behavior to be accepting of that. We also have 1 room that has kennels where we allow a select few cats to roam free at a time. These cats are less friendly to other cats, are kittens and not fully vaccinated or have other health issues. We ask visitors to ask for help in meeting cats in the kennels but can interact with any free roaming cat. There is about 10-15 cats kenneled in that room at any time so it isn't a large burden on staff but it can get very busy sometimes. It works for us at this point. 



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    Kyla Jacobs
    Executive Director
    Anita's Stevens Swan Humane Society
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    Original Message


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