# What could help you in the adoption websites?



## aba (Mar 9, 2017)

Hello everybody, 


I am Aurore and love animals for as long as I can remember! I did voluntary work in a shelter for years. I now have a bengal cat (Mati) of 6 years old and a ginger and white cat of 2 years old (Bananas). 


I have now the project to open a website to help people finding animals. The concept is to gather all the animals to adopt from differents shelters and websites in one place. 


I look on different websites (gumtree, preloved, adopt a pet, petfinder) to see what could be improved. I would like to get your opinions. What could help you when you search to adopt an animal online? Which tool could be usedfull? What can be improved on the websites you currently used? 


Very curious to see your opinions!


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## cows573 (Apr 20, 2017)

How about being able to refine searches by sex, age, ability to be re-homed with other cats/dogs/children, distance, indoor or outdoor?

I recently tried to find a cat to rehome as my purrfect pets are getting elderly and we had to get one put down. Unfortunately, within a drive of 2 hrs for us, there were no cats at that time that could be re-homed in a home with other cats and children. We ended up buying a kitten from a private breeder which was not our preferred choice.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@aba - The only place I would adopt a cat from would be a recognised reputable Cat Rescue. These all have their own websites, showing some of the cats available for adoption. The rest can be seen by visiting the Shelters by appointment.

I would never adopt a cat without having met the cat at least twice and spent time with them. I would also want the advice of the Shelter staff as to their suitability for my family circumstances, and to know of any health or behavioural issues the cat may have.

None of those checks could be done by buying a cat online from Gumtree, Preloved, Pets4homes etc. Buying privately you would have no idea of the cat's true temperament or what health or behavioural issues they may have. All you would have to go on is what the seller chooses to tell you. Which may not be reliable.

So I would not give my support to any website that made it easier for people to find cats on sites like Gumtree, Preloved etc. Cat Rescues are the best places to adopt from, where the staff are experienced in cat care and are not making money from the cat, so therefore have nothing to hide.


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## cows573 (Apr 20, 2017)

I took this post as correlating cats from various shelters and welfare agencies, not private sales... I thought they were only looking at gumtree etc. for ideas.

It would be nice if the poster could confirm their intentions...

I found it very time-consuming using the welfare agencies websites as I couldn't select various requirements like living with kids, dogs and other cats. Distance, within reason, wasn't a problem for me.

I made my suggestions based on my experience trying to find a cat from welfare agencies and shelters....


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@cows573, you may be right about the OP's focus and I misread her intentions - perhaps she will come back and clarify. 

But I do agree all Rescues ought to put details in the cat's profile on the websites as to whether they could live OK with kids, dogs, other cats etc.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

cows573 said:


> I took this post as correlating cats from various shelters and welfare agencies, not private sales...


Me too, @cows573: I sort of understood that all the cats in present rescues would stay there, and be adopted under the rescue's terms, but this new one would sort of put them into categories so you wouldn't have to trawl thro' loads of sites; maybe I misunderstood. Hopefully OP (@aba) will clarify.


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