The Adoption Process – Coventry Cat Group

All our cats and kittens are looking for safe indoor homes (unless stated in their bio), with the option of cat-safe gardens (that prevent roaming), catios or indoor homes with enrichment.

Our 6-step Adoption Process – Please read this carefully as it contains vital information about adopting from us.

Step 1: Do you Meet our Homing Criteria?

We will not normally rehome to the following:

Rented properties unless we have a letter of confirmation from the landlord or Letting Agent to say that cats are allowed at the property.

Kittens to homes with children under three years old, we will review each case individually so please don’t be put off by this.

Kittens to homes where there is no-one at home all day.

Kittens before they have been vaccinated, chipped and spayed / neutered before homing. However the adoption process can be done beforehand and kittens reserved so that they can go to their new home as soon as they are old enough.

You are a non smoking household or only smoke outside. We will not home our cats to homes if you smoke inside. This is due to the negative health impacts on the cats (and humans).

You will be asked to sign an Adoption form and consent to the following:

That you acknowledge adopting the cat(s) and accept that their welfare and any costs incurred are now your responsibility.
That you have never been banned from keeping animals by any court of law in any country.
That if the cat(s) require veterinary treatment to maintain their well being, you agree to obtain and meet the costs of such treatment.
That you agree not to have the cat(s) put to sleep without notifying CCG unless it is on urgent humane grounds.
That if the cat(s) are lost, you agree to contact CCG as quickly as possible.
That you agree to allow a member of CCG to check on the cat(s) progress by appointment and at reasonable times.

Fees

Once you have found your purrfect match and an adoption has been agreed, you will be asked for a minimum adoption donation of £85 per cat/kitten. If they are not yet ready for their next adventure with you, we will ask for a non refundable deposit of £50, with the balance payable 3 days before the adoption.

This helps to cover the cost of neutering/spaying, microchipping, vaccinating, de-worming and de-fleaing a cat whilst they in our care. All the relevant information will be provided on the adoption paperwork and the vaccination card, which you will receive when you come to pick up your new feline companion.
This barely covers the the cost of cat food / litter / vets bills / medicines / beds / scratch-posts. We also have the running costs of the cat centre, such as heating for the pens. On average, we care for between 70-90 cats at any one time (cats for re-homing plus ferals and permanent fosters – ‘Golden Oldies’ or ill cats) – so our weekly running costs are high and our volunteers have to do a lot of additional fundraising throughout the year.

And don’t forget If you can donate a little more, please consider gift aiding your adoption donation.
You need to be a UK taxpayer. This will add 25% to your donation.
As a small, local charity we receive no funding other than donations from the public, and we rely very much on the goodwill of our volunteers and supporters.

Step 2 : Our Cats

Once you have agreed to the above terms, please read the information on our Cats page, which contains photos and information about the cats that are currently available for adoption. We try to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, and we also post information regularly on our Facebook page.

Please consider adopting an older cat as these sometimes get overlooked! We can tell you about the temperament, personality, routines etc of all our cats, especially those in foster homes (how do they react to other animals or children for example).

If you are specifically looking for a playful cat, or a cat who likes sitting on the sofa next to you, or an independent cat, or a cat who can cope with small children or a retired household, then we can advise you.

We know our cats fairly well, and we will also tell you if we think a particular cat is not suitable for you for any reason – please trust our judgement on this.

Adopt cats who are the same age and activity levels. It usually works best to introduce cats to each other who are around the same age and have the same energy levels. Bringing home a young kitten to keep an older adult cat company often leads to problems. The kitten wants a buddy to incessantly play with, while the older cat would rather quietly nap by the window.

Adopting 2 kittens is better as they keep each other occupied!

Our current cats can be seen here

Step 3 : Complete a Enquiry Form

Adoption Enquiry Form – Click here

Please complete the adoption enquiry form. The form goes directly to our Homing Co-ordinator who is the person responsible for matching applicants with suitable Cats/Kittens.

Please be patient with us if you do not hear back straight away.

At CCG we are all volunteers trying to balance our charity activities with our own jobs and other commitments! We aim to get back to you in approx four days, but at busier times this can take a bit longer. Please don’t contact our helpline for an update, as this is a different team who are not involved in the adoption process.

When you first contact us we will need to know some basic information about you. This information will be for Coventry Cat Group use only and will NOT be shared with any other organisations:

Step 4 : Home Visit (virtual and/or in person)

We hope to provide all our cats with good new homes, therefore a home visit is required for all cats, even for people known to us. Please don’t worry about this – it is just for us to make sure that your house is suitable and safe for the particular cat you have chosen. We mainly cover Coventry and the surrounding area. We are all volunteers and so time and cost are a factor in how far we can rehome any of our cats.

We can sometimes rehome to further afield if a visit (physical/virtual) is possible for a volunteer, but we cannot guarantee this. We will always support our cats in their furrever home and this can limit how far we can rehome certain cats.

Step 5 : Visit the Potential Adoptee

Once your application has been accepted, we will contact you to arrange for a time for you to visit and meet the cat(s); we like to see any children at this point to see how they interact with the cat. You should take your time with this meeting and spend as much time getting to know the cat as possible as it is a new family member who may well spend the next 20 years with you!

Step 6 : Welcome your Forever Cat to your Home

Most cats in new surroundings will be nervous and may take some time to adapt. Please see our homing advice on how to help your cat adjust to his/her new home. We wish you many happy years with your new feline friend! Once your new family member is settled, please make a note of these important Health considerations:

Pet medical insurance: Recommended once the cat is in your care. Please choose your policy carefully to ensure that it meets your needs as policies can vary a great deal (eg general medical bills, accident/injury insurance, dental work, boarding fees if you are in hospital and so on…). Policies start from around £4 a month.
Vaccinations: Your cat has been vaccinated but will need a booster every year for the rest of their life. Vaccinations are vital as they keep your cat safe from harmful diseases, and if you board your cat while on holiday you will need to show an up-to-date Vaccination card.
Spaying/Neutering: this has already been done, but if you have other cats who are not neutered please see our separate section!
Worming: Your cat has already been wormed by us, but it is important to worm your cat every 3-6 months. Take your cat to your vet for worming tablets and they will show you how to give your pet their medication. Kittens need to be wormed more frequently, every 2 weeks until 6 months of age, then monthly from 6-12 months.
De-fleaing: Your cat has already been de-flea’d. It is recommended to de flea your cat every 1-3 months depending on the product used. Again have this treatment carried out by your vet as they use effective de-fleaing products. Using a vet-bought de-fleaing treatment is much more effective and cheaper in the long run than using a non veterinary approved treatment like a flea collar.
Microchipping: All our cats are automatically microchipped to the Coventry Cat Group and you will be given the chip number with your adoption paperwork. It is vital that contact details are kept up-to-date if you move house or change telephone number, as many of the cats in our care cannot be reunited with their owners due to incorrect microchip details. When you take your cat to see your vet for check ups, boosters etc ask your vet to scan for a micro chip to make sure the chip is still active and hasn’t moved down the cats body and to register the microchip number on your pets records. We are happy to amend these details on adoption to register the cat to the new owner but ask that we be kept on as backup. We cannot stress enough the importance of microchipping cats, and keeping those details up-to-date!

Thank you for choosing to adopt from Coventry Cat Group! By adopting from us you are not encouraging those people who allow their cats to have kittens as a way of making money (which is a cause of the current cat overpopulation problem). You also have the reassurance that we will take the cat(s) back if you cannot keep them – not always immediately, but as soon as we can.

All of our cats, unless stated otherwise, are healthy as far as we know, but please understand that these are rescue cats which come to us with an unknown history in many cases. If a cat has an identified pre-existing health condition prior to adoption we may be able to help with vets bills within the first 6 weeks as long as this is discussed with us before treatment commences (dental work is exempt from this).

If you, or someone that you know, are looking for a new cat please consider adopting from a rescue such as ours, rather than buying a cat or kitten privately or online.