Removing Barriers to Adoption

Most of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It’s interesting that this prayer is often – though inaccurately – attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. In our world of serving homeless animals, accepting the things we cannot change often feels like it takes more courage than changing the things we can. It can certainly be more painful.

But if we are to succeed, we cannot afford to pour our precious resources into attempting to control situations that simply can’t be controlled, or trying to fix problems that can’t be fixed with the tools we currently have at hand.

For better or worse, one of the many things beyond our control is whether people get cats. There are already many cats available at minimal or no cost, with no long trip to the shelter, no wait in line, no interrogation (however well intended) and no paperwork required. Craigslist, friends and family, and people on the sidewalk with boxes of unplanned kittens all offer an abundance of free cats for those looking to add a feline family member. Even those who aren’t planning to adopt a cat may have a cat adopt them simply by appearing at the door where the unsuspecting person lives, works, or plays.

A 2012 national survey by the American Pet Products Association showed that 32 percent of cats were acquired from acquaintances and 35 percent were found as strays, whereas only 26 percent came from shelters.

People in low-income and under-served communities are even less likely to look to shelters as a source of pets. In a Pets For Life survey of under-served communities, only 3 percent of 25,413 pets were acquired from shelters. Most cats came from acquaintances (38 percent) or were found as free-roaming strays (29 percent). To look at it another way, the shelter’s competition for placing its cats is the abundance of cats that are easily obtained without cost or effort at a moment’s notice.

-ASPCApro blog commentary

Over the past few decades, a number of traditions have developed regarding the pet adoption process in an effort to prevent animals who have found themselves homeless and in a shelter from suffering a similar or worse fate in the future.

In reality, there is little evidence that a battery of screening tests, including extensive applications, home visits, landlord checks, veterinary references, background checks, waiting periods, and visits with the entire family or their other pets does anything more than drive good adopters out of shelters and to more welcoming sources of pets.

Open adoptions address this reality by doing away with rigid policies and adoption applications and instead focusing on conversations designed to help anyone walking into a shelter feel respected, and anyone walking out to be more educated, and hopefully, with a pet to love.

Open adoptions allow shelter staff to engage potential pet parents in a way that elevates both the adoption experience and a pet’s quality of life in its new home. Long-term partnerships are created between shelters and adopters with the shared goal of a long and happy relationship with a new pet.

The philosophy behind open adoptions acknowledges that eliminating barriers to adoption will not result in people getting pets who otherwise would not have done so, but may make it more likely that people will obtain a pet from a shelter rather than from another source. The shelter can place a cat who has been neutered and vaccinated and comes with cat care education and future support, possibly leading to a reduction in shelter cat intake in the future.

After some initial trepidation, shelters across the country have begun experimenting with fee-waived and discounted pet adoptions. Promotions have rolled out in a variety of ways, including weekend events in which hundreds of animals were adopted and promotions targeting specific populations that were lingering in the shelter, such as adult cats, black cats, senior cats, and cats with the longest length of stay.

In one spectacular showing, 16,665 cats were adopted free during a single weekend. These promotions triggered increased foot traffic, a spike in adoptions, and positive media coverage.

Campaigns to increase shelter pet adoptions by reducing or eliminating adoption fees have been criticized due to a perceived increase in risk of poor care, abandonment, and failure to provide adequate care in the future. There is concern that fee-waivers may lead to irresponsible impulsive adoptions or a reduction in the perceived value of the pet, leading to a poor relationship and low attachment or that free cats may be acquired for cruel purposes.

Fortunately, several studies (Weiss 2009) have found no difference in retention and attachment to cats regardless of whether or not a fee was charged. In a survey conducted at the University of Florida of more than a thousand adopters at a fee-waived event, more than nine out of 10 adopted cats were still in their homes 6-12 months later, eight of 10 had been to a veterinarian, and nine of 10 owners reported high or very high attachment scores.

These findings should not be surprising since acquiring a cat free is actually the norm in North America, and paying for a cat the exception.

Giving a pet as a gift, especially as a surprise, has long been considered inappropriate. After all, adoption procedures focus on matching pets with adopters and understanding what the adopter’s circumstances are. Trusting a friend or relative to stand in for the adopter has been viewed as too risky.

This belief, however, was shown to be unfounded in a recent survey of people who had received gift pets. The researchers found no correlation between receiving a pet as a gift and an owner’s love and attachment. Gifted pets nearly always remained in the home, even if they were given as a surprise.

In another study, which compared pets relinquished to shelters and those still in their home, gifted pets were at lower risk of relinquishment than pets acquired from a shelter, acquaintance, pet store, or as a stray.

This is not to say that pets should be handed out without regard for the recipients’ wishes and lifestyle, but gifts should be considered as another tool in the life-savers’ armamentarium.

Shelter adoption lore once held that pets acquired around holidays were more likely to be returned after the glow of the holidays passed. This myth has been solidly debunked, and now holiday adoption promotions have become an annual event for thousands of shelters in which more than a million pets are adopted each year. Some shelters even deliver pets on Christmas or to birthday parties.

Another myth that has been more difficult to dislodge is that certain colored cats are at risk for abuse around Halloween. The thinking goes that followers of the occult and pranksters will adopt cats, usually black, tortoiseshell, or other colors, for the purpose of cruel rituals.

Although cruelty occurs year-round, there is no evidence that it increases at Halloween. Even if it were true, it is unlikely those intent on breaking the law would acquire a cat from a shelter, where their identification and address would be recorded and the transfer documented with an adoption contract, when it is a simple and discreet task to acquire a cat anonymously via Craigslist or other methods.

Blocking the adoption of black cats, which are already handicapped by long stays in the shelter, is especially counterproductive. Some shelters instead even find ways to promote adoption of Halloween’s iconic black cats.

Although commonly performed with the best of intentions, many traditional barriers to adoption are based on tradition more than evidence for their value in protecting pets. Landlord checks, home visits, meeting the entire family (and possibly their other pets), prohibitions against households with children, frowning on those who work full time, and waiting periods all stem from the notion that a shelter staff member or volunteer is capable of judging the character and suitability of another person to care for a pet.

More commonly, adopters turned away from adopting a shelter cat will find a cat from another source, or go to another shelter armed with all the “right answers.”   Sadly, many shelter pets have been euthanized while eager and qualified adopters left empty-handed.

It’s unlikely that many responsible pet owners reading this have not at least once in their in their lives kept a pet in a no-pets apartment, let their pet’s vaccines lapse, or lied about their home, yard, fence, outdoor access, or references in order to have a pet. Open adoption policies treat potential adopters as adults who can make their own informed decisions with the support of the shelter.

Given the amount of effort and emotion involved in rescuing, rehabilitating, and placing shelter cats, it is common to think of the return of a cat to the shelter as a failure, a second loss for the pet. This can lead to tightened adoption restrictions, bitterness toward adopters, and a climate that makes it difficult for adopters to view the shelter as a support resource or a safe haven should the adoption not work out.

In further effort to control animals’ lives after they leave the shelter’s care, it is common for shelters to require the return of cats if they cannot remain in the home. Developing strong supportive relationships with adopters and a judgment-free return procedure enables everyone involved to trust each other and create the best outcomes for cats.

In a world where cats are selected in a process equivalent to speed-dating and half of all marriages fail, it’s not reasonable to expect that every cat adoption will survive for a lifetime. Even if the original adoption did not last, the cat at least had a break from shelter life, similar to a foster home. More was learned about the cat that could help in selecting its next placement.

Most studies of pet retention report that 5-10 percent of cats are not in the original home six months after the adoption. Of these, about half are returned to the shelter and half are rehomed by the adopter. Empowering adopters to rehome their cats expands the reach of the shelter to new audiences beyond its walls, similar to other intake diversion methods.