Info needed on "Masion De Moggy" & "Cattitude" before I write up letters/petitions.

Was that the opinion expressed by the shelters? If so, which ones? Do you know in what way they phrased this?

Sorry for the laziness but here's a Google search which includes many shelter cafés and their information. In the opinion of Maison De Moggy, are these cafés and the shelters attached to them doing the wrong thing?

When I've looked at adoptable cats through sites, there certainly have been those who would require being adopted alone but also cats who are said to do well with others. I think the pattern I've seen is a fair enough split.

The rescue cats in the café would not have to be the ones to be immediately adopted out. In the same way that the pedigrees are all going back to live with the owner (and wow, that's a lot of cats to look after), the initial rescues could be the more sociable of the lot and be the kind of... fixture as the pedigrees are. They would go towards showing people that rescues can be kind and loving. In fact, having staple rescue cats would probably be the best move. However, if a cat makes a huge connection with a regular over an extended period of time and all the proper procedures are followed in how adoptions happen anyway, I would feel a special case would be called for.

There's going to be a bit of unrest for the pedigrees, though they will have each other. First they are brought to the café, then they may have a new cat--like the shelter kitten--come in, which is a process which takes months (as in, getting old cats accustomed to a new one), and then later they either become too old or ill and have to removed to the home of the owner, or the café shuts down and they are all moved. Are they suspected to be inherently better at dealing with this because they never were rescued?

While it is brilliant that your café has lists up for adoptable cats, I don't necessarily feel that the owned pedigrees who have not come from a rescue background are truly showcasing these animals.

While in future a rescue kitten will be a lovely addition to our family to begin with we needed the predictability of the litters our beautful cats were born into. I'm sure you'll agree that using rescue kittens would not have given us this chance.

Not precisely, no. If a pregnant cat is found and then births a litter, those kittens can be weaned and then brought to the café. Socialisation would occur naturally with staff and with guests, eventually producing rather friendly cats. In fact, rescue kittens which come in at different times but weaned together from a pregnant stray could have a good chance too, as long as a vet has not termed them feral.

As for not knowing the background and temperament, this can be a problem at first for cats brought into shelters but staff members eventually work out who are sociable with either people and/or other cats, which have behavioural issues, etc.

Another point is beauty: I hope you merely mean this in the idea that cats are inherently lovely and you would not pass up a sociably suitable rescue kitten because it had one eye?

If the fear was that there would not be enough qualification among staff members, surely somebody with a background in volunteering at shelters could have become involved? Perhaps you already have one such person?

Is there an animal behaviour expert in contact with the café to a reasonable degree? I imagine one was approached for this venture anyway?

To move slightly back to any new cats coming in: in the event of an issue with several cats over a period of time, reducing the number, what is the plan? Will the café keep the remaining population and leave it at that or will new cats be bought and incorporated into the group? If so, where will they go after?

How long is the café hoping to run for?

/r/Edinburgh Thread Parent