Appointment only to meet a new Pet

Since the pandemic, many processes have changed to reduce both contact and un-necessary travel. It is no longer possible to visit any of our centres without a specific appointment to see an animal. This reduces contact and is less stressful for the animals in their pens and kennels, making them calmer and happier. As soon as a pet is ready for rehoming it is advertised so that people can read about it and see photos before applying if interested

Adverts for pets are placed on the RSPCA National Website, the Danaher Website and sometimes on the Danaher or the RSPCA Essex Mid & North Facebook. From here you can apply for the pet you want to meet. Staff will review all the applications and the best match will be invited to meet the animal. This is the first time that the potential adopter will go on site. This reduces people traffic on site. Note that forms now tend to be electronic rather than paper as well.

Depending on the circumstances, there could be one or several meets. If it is a single person looking for a e.g. a cat, and there are no other people or pets in the home, it may be a single visit. A family who already have a dog and are looking for another dog will require more meets. The first meet will be just the new adopters with the dog, then on another meet, the two dogs can meet on lead and progress to a meet off lead, perhaps on the same day or another day. It all goes at a speed to suit the rescue dog and the family

Once there is a successful match, the pet can be reserved, a home check carried out and then the pet can be adopted. Home checks are sometimes face to face or in some circumstances virtual via e.g. WhatsApp video call

Please note that you must be able to safely secure your new pet in your car for the journey home. This could be a cat carrier for a cat. For a dog, it could be behind a dog guard or wearing a harness attached to a seat belt clip on the backseat

There may also be a post adoption visit to check all is going well after a short period