I lost my cat about half a year ago. Finally decided to start looking for a new cat and I spend this past weekend visiting several rescues. There were a lot of cats, mostly kittens, available.

I was a bit taken aback at the aggressiveness of some of the staff, who were like pushing and almost arguing with me that i had to have multiple cats and how superior having multiple cat is and it’s not responsible to only have one cat. I am really looking for an adult cat, but I’d consider a kitten, but the staff were aggressively insisting I had to take two kittens or a kitten and an adult and didn’t really listen to me when I tried to claim my lifestyle isn’t really the best for two cats as I travel quite a bit and I can only travel with one cat, they kind of them went sour grapes on me. It was really jarring and off-putting.

Anyway, least to say I didn’t really get any one on one time with any cat I was interested in and I walked away disappointed. I put my application in anyway, and now I’m getting voicemails and texts again like pleading for me to take 2-3 kittens or bonded adult pairs. When i reply I’m not looking for a kitten and I already have a dog who would be more than happy to play and be friends with a single cat, they just kind of come back at me insisting no you need two cats. This is across five different shelters this same kind of thing happened.

Is this a new thing? I have adopted cats before and never had I had this experience. Both times I adopted before it was far more laid back and the rescue staff were far less pushy, and I ended up adopted an single adult cat who were surrender for behavior issues I was able to rectify after a few months of focused attention and training, who became amazing animals. This is what I’m looking to do again. I am more than happy to put personal effort in, and it is weird to me the staff are like insisting ‘two cats is easier than one’. I don’t want easy. I don’t see why that is problematic?

Are the shelters just like desperate to get rid of animals now and bullying potential adopters? Or is this another kind of trend like raw dog food, that rescue folks insist on pushing on new prospective pet owners? I had to deal when I adopted my dog a few years ago, there were some dog rescues who were like insisting you had to go on a raw dog food diet and it was… weird and offputting. Nobody was insisting you had to adopt two animals or a puppy or anything.

I will even say I have adopted from two of these rescues before, but I also applied to some new ones who seemed to have some cats who fit my needs, but they all actively steered me away from the cats i asked about and were pushing kittens or adults pairs on me that I had not inquired about.

Would having a dog already in my home also be why they are kinda pushing kittens on me? I understand that might be easier to integrate, but I kinda know what I’m looking for and have introduce animals before very successfully.