Adopting a cat

Our Reassurance

All of our cats awaiting adoption are fully vaccinated, treated for common parasites, microchipped and neutered. Customers who adopt kittens too young for neutering are supplied with a voucher to enable them to have their pet neutered at a later date at no extra cost. All animals have been checked by our Consultant Vets.

Your Home

• To adopt one of our cats your home must not be on a busy main road.
• The cat will need to have easy access to the outdoors either through a cat flap or from someone being at home regularly. (We sometimes have cats that must be rehomed as indoor cats only, meaning that they do not go outside for health reasons which means access to the outside would not be necessary.)
• We cannot rehome kittens (under 6 months) to homes where children are under pre-school age and if there isn't someone at home most of the day until the kitten is 6 months old.

The Adoption Process

Initial Enquiry

Contact must be made initially with the Paws Centre where we will ask you to fill out an application form to adopt on of our cats.

From there, we will have an informal chat with you about the type of cat you are looking for and can help you choose the right cat for you and explain any special needs they may have. Please note that we can only rehome one cat at a time unless they have come to us as a pair or more. We expect new customers to have owned any existing cat/s or dog/s for 3 months or more before adopting an animal from us.

The Cattery

Most of our cats live in the cattery on site. Some cats, however, live with one of our fosterers if they find living in the cattery too stressful. If the cat you are interested in adopting is living with a fosterer you can visit the cat in the fosterer's home. We pass your details to the fosterer to contact you so that you can make arrangements between yourselves for convenience on when to visit the cat.  

The Home Visit

Home Visits are arranged at a time convenient to the customer, usually within a few days of the animal being put on hold (reserved). Our representative will want to ensure that each member of the family is happy and has thought about the implications of adopting a companion animal. The Home Visit is also an opportunity to ask any questions you might have. If our representative is not able to help, they will ensure that a member of staff from the Paws Centre contacts you.

(Once an animal has been adopted we carry out a post-home visit to ensure that the animal has settled in well and to help with any problems that may have arisen.)

Appointment to collect

Once you have had your Home Visit and have been issued with a pass slip, you should phone the Paws Centre to book an appointment to adopt your cat. (Please allow at least 30 minutes for this). At this stage we will advise you on introducing a new animal to your household; take you through the animal's veterinary history/dietary needs and then ask you to sign a simple legal declaration of adoption. We also provide 4 week's free insurance for our adopted animals in association with Pet Plan, the leading pet insurer.

Adoption Fees

We charge a minimum adoption fee for our animals, payable by cash, cheque or credit/debit card:

Kittens (6 months & under)      £60

Cats                                      £45

These fees in no way cover the amount it costs the RSPCA to care for all the animals we have at the centre - Please remember we receive no state or government funding, raising our own finances in the area to support the animal welfare work we do.