So why raise this in relating to the rehoming of cats online?  Online friends (really virtual friends) are not friends at all. They are no more your friends than strangers who may respond to an online advert or respond to question on a forum.

This is important because of the growing number of people selling  or adopting or rehoming cats without doing the necessary checks on where there cats are going adn who to. Whether you’re a French maine coon breeder thinking of shipping a kitten to Argentina or a private individual trying to rehome your own cat – care and caution should be your watch words. Even a vet reference can’t be relied upon.

Recently a Scottish rescue was contacted about rehoming a 19 year old cat.  But rather than put the cat into a “real world” rescue that could have easily been visited the owner rehomed the cat via a forum to a complete stranger hundred of miles away. To be fair the owner belives the individual has a rescue background. But the owner has done no further checks – almost priding herself on being so smart that she didn’t need to. Sadly private individuals dabbling in rescue can prove to be unfit caregivers, just like anyone else or possibly more than anyone else.

The range of situations where cats find themselves moving between homes online is extremely wide. However a fair proportion appear to be moving from owners who simply ‘want rid’ of a pet as soon as possible. Surrendering your cat to a registered rescue is a very difficult situation to deal with. A rescue, if properly run won’t look like home. At best the cats will be penned with access to an exercise area at regular intervals. There are good reasons why cats are penned and not simply allowed to free range in rooms. But naive owners can fall into the trap of believeing that someone they found online is a better option, is ok or has their cats interests at heart. 

We know of a number of cases where this online rehoming has gone very badly wrong.

Cat owners need to face facts and do what is really in the best intests of their cat rather than what makes them feel better.

It could almost be funny if someone wasn’t trying to scam the ignorant or exploit their pet! as anyone with more than 2 brain cells will know a maine coon is never a short haired cat. while the advert may be funny to some, its just the tip of the iceberg. It illustrates pefectly well why online ads involving animals need to be banned or regulated.

Its been clear for years that the likes of kittenlist, gumtree and preloved are not capable correctly scrutinising their own ads.  Pets need to be protected from people.

How do these adverts managed to get published in the first place? And how can online publishers continue to perpetuate the status quo? It seems that greed rules.

The Preloved advert linked to above  claims to offer the stud services of a short haired maine coon. The ad shows a picture of what is clearly a ginger moggie. Of course we’ve asked Preloved to remove it.

While it’s not actually offering pets for sale it does illustrate the typical IQ of buyers and sellers on Preloved. There are of course genuine adverts, but sites like these are resposible for a unhealthy trade in pets where the animal’s welfare is not the uppermost consideration.

Friends who operate a Scottish charity are asking for an urgent review E-Petition – Urgent Review of the Laws Governing The Sale of Animals Online.

Each year thousands of animals and owners get into difficulties via the sale of pets online.  The evidence is irrefutable. Just speak to those at the sharp end – charities and rescues the length and breadth of the UK. Calls come in every day from people who end up buying animals they can’t cope with. While not every rescue or charity adoption goes according to plan, there’s always backup. That can’t be said of back street breeders, and people who sell pets to fund their lifestyle or worse.

Of course people are suffering as the outlook for the economy is bleak. But sorry, that’s no excuse.

The festive season and beyond is usually the ‘silly’ season in cat rescue. Friends took a call sometime between Christmas and New Year from an Edinburgh couple who wanted rid of their cat of five years the very same same day.

The reason? They’d bought a puppy. Not knowing (or caring) how to introduce the two pets they’d simply places the cat infront of the bouncy puppy and got themselves scratched. The result, they were now terrified of the cat and wanted it removed from the house with immediate effect. These people were too thick and terrified to take any information in. However it’s the type of situation that is all too common among certain classes of people who won’t think twice about ‘sacrificing’ their pet cat or kitten when things don’t go according to plan.  Or take the next thicko who wishes to rehome her cat because it has fleas (really).

At this time of year cat rescues in the UK and US are stealing themselves for calls from owners who find themselves with an unwanted kitten or two. Usually the calls start around the third week of January. The phone never fails to ring.

A high proportion of people who will be calling will have acquired a cat or kitten from Gumtree (or a similar source) and find that it’s too much work or that junior has lost interest or the new arrival doesn’t get on with existing pets. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Whilst rescues will attempt to vet new kitten owners and will do home checks, those selling kittens in the free ads don’t care. Indirectly these sellers simply contribute to the post Christmas glut of cats and kittens looking for new homes. They will sell kittens to anyone. Just another argument to make it harder for people to buy or adopt kittens.

Unwanted Christman kittens usually come into rescue exhibiting signs of a lack of handling and stress. People never seem to learn that young children and kittens don’t mix. Each year rescues face the same uphill struggle.  There’s no ‘cat sense’ test for prospective cat and kitten owners but there probably should be.

Fergus has been FOUND

Lost cat, from Middlebank KY11 has returned home.

. Last seen in his garden at Middlebank, KY11.  Also missing from the same area is a tortie and white female cat. Can you help find them?

Fergus has now been missing for more than 48 hours which is very out of character for this gentle, friendly boy. Everyone who knows him is very upset by his disappearance.  

Fergus is a male neuter, with a semi long hair coat. He is very distinctive because of his longer than average coat and his size – he is a maine coon and you simply don’t see many of these out and about.  He is microchipped and lives near the SSPCAs Fife rehoming center. This boy is very friendly, and a much loved family pet.

We are also aware of a female cat (from a different family on Masterton Road) who are missing one of their cats – a female tortie. She went missing a few days before Fergus. Co-incidence or not?

If you have seen or heard anything suspicious please get in touch at the number at the end of this post.  or So please if you have welcomed this handsome chap into your home thinking he was a stray – he’s not. His mum thinks he could have wandered off in reaction to guests staying at his home. His family have had him for 6 years and desperately want him back as he is an important member of their family.

If you live in the masterton road /middlebank area of Dunfermline please check sheds, water butts and garages. Sightings of this lovely boy, should be telephoned immediately to Sunny Harbour Cat and Kitten Rescue on 01592 783732.

Also if you know of removals vans or trades’ vans in the area its possible this cat has gone into a vehicle and left the Masterton Road area. Please check with any workmen you have using over the weekend.

Missing Long Haired Tabby

Missing cat Masterton Road area,  Dunfermline. This cat has been missing in Dunfermline, Fife since 21 August 2011. That’s only 24 hours we know but it’s very out of character for this boy not to come home for his grub. His human and feline family are distraught.  This cat is a male neuter, with a semi long hair coat. He is very distinctive because of his longer than average coat and his size – he is a maine coon and you simply don’t see many of these out and about.  He is microchipped and lives near the SSPCAs Fife rehoming center. This boy is very friendly, and a much loved family pet.

So please if you have welcomed this handsome chap into your home thinking he was a stray – he’s not. His mum thinks he could have wandered off in reaction to guests staying at his home. His family have had him for 6 years and desperately want him back as he is an important member of their family.

If you live in the masterton road /middlebank area of Dunfermline please check sheds, water butts and garages. Sightings of this lovely boy, should be telephoned immediately to Sunny Harbour Cat and Kitten Rescue on 01592 783732.

Also if you know of removals vans or trades’ vans in the area its possible this cat has gone into a vehicle and left the Masterton Road area. Please check with any workmen you have using over the weekend.

The problem for the public is that there so-called hobby breeders are not bound by any code of ethics with regard to their cats and kittens. They also have the nerve to charge the same or more than registered breeders.

Sadly there are also decent breeders using these sites, which further compounds the problem. It is easy for unsuspecting kitten buyers to be duped about the quality of and care received by the kittens for sale.

Sadly sites like kittenads.co.uk and gumtree.com really only care about the money. Gumtree’s so called guidelines are inadequate.. 

Sites like kittenads.co.uk are simply increasing the numer of unwanted cats and kittens or cats and kittens that are not properly cared for.  These so-called ‘hobby’ breeders who are not  registered simply do not have potential kitten owners interests at heart. And obiously if they had the kittens interests at heart they would register them and invest in cats on the active regsiter.

We don’t blame kittenads.co.uk and gumtree.com exclusively. There ought to be more regulation of animal for sale adverts, and buyers need to wise up. In our experience of rescuing cats sold through these sites, these breeders simply don’t get the quality of buyers that registered breeders do.

Shame on you kittenads.co.uk.

LEIGH, Affectionate Female Cat

Here we have a female cat for adoption in the Ware Shoals/Laurens/Greenwood County Region. Isn’t she beautiful? If you are looking for a well adjusted companion cat for a quiet home, then Leigh may exactly fit the bill.

Originally rescued from Greenville County Animal Care Services where she was sheduled to be put to sleep, Leigh was an owner surrender. No matter what your misgivings are about shelter cats being wild or sick, Leigh was not a feral cat, nor was she sick.

Leigh spent six months at Furry Friends Rescue Center before being moved to a fosterers where she could receive more one to one care and assessment that’s not always possible in a rescue enviroment. As a result of this move, we know much more about Leigh.

Leigh has shown herself to be a quiet, affectionate, people orientated cat, who just loves to sit on your lap. In fact her foster carer reports that it’s extrememly difficult to take a photo of Leigh. ot just because of her coloring. Tortie’s are always hard to photograph. But because as soon as you point a camera at Leigh she just moves towards to say hello. Very cute.

We are looking for a home for Leigh where she can preferably be the only pet or possible with one other well behaved quiet cat.

Leigh looking pretty

Leigh has been vetted, spayed, tested and innoculated. An adoption fee is payable of $115. If you are looking to adopt a female cat in the Ware Shoals area or Laurens or Greenwood or Greenville Counties then please consider Leigh. Her foster carer has a number of other female cats for adoption in the same location.

To find out more about Leigh and the other loving cats available for adoption in the first instance please contact elisablacktaylor@nospam@yahoo.com, removing the ‘no spam’ before sending.

Lola (Hope)

Lola the cat (formerly HOPE) is missing in the Magdala Crescent area of Edinburgh’s West End, just off Haymarket Terrace. Lola is an indoor only cat who escaped from her home on Monday 18 July after workmen left the front door open.

We are aware of black and black and white cats who have been in rescue at Furry Friends Rescue Center for more than 6 months. A rescue center of any description is not a good long term option for cats, as although the cats are safe, most cats experience a degree of stress.

Happy Buttons

Handsome Kellan

Gentle Oreo