Thinking of adopting at a show? Read this first

Every show we run has a table of adoptable cats brought in by a shelter. It is there for a simple reason: a show is several hundred people who already like cats, and a good number of them are one conversation away from taking one home.

If that might be you, it is worth arriving having already thought about a few things.

The shelter decides, not us

We provide the table, the volunteers, and the audience. The cats belong to the shelter and so does the process — their application, their fee, their criteria. We cannot wave any of it through, and you should be wary of anyone who offers to.

Most shelters will ask about your housing, whether other animals are already there, and whether everyone in the household is on board. None of it is a test you pass by saying the right thing. It exists because a returned cat has a much harder time the second time round.

Same-day is possible but not guaranteed

Some shelters complete adoptions at the show. Others take the application and finish it at their premises during the week, sometimes after a home conversation. Ask early in the day rather than at four o’clock.

Bring a carrier, or plan to buy one

If a cat does go home with you, it needs a carrier. Not a cardboard box, not your arms in a car park. Vendors at the show sell them, but they sell out.

Consider the cats nobody is looking at

Kittens leave first and always will. The animals that sit on that table all day are the adults, the black cats, the ones with a chronic condition that costs very little to manage, and the bonded pairs. They are frequently the easier choice — an adult cat’s personality is already visible, which is not true of a kitten.

If you are not ready

Then do not, and nobody will push you. Come and talk to the volunteers anyway, take a guide, and tell one person who might be ready. That is worth more to the cats on that table than a rushed adoption that comes back.