Only the lonely

@PetFinder tweeted today that it is "Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week" and it reminded me of several promotions we have done in the past at HART to try to get the "less adoptable" cats adopted. I did a brief Google search to see what the interwebs thinks is the least adoptable cat. The consensus seems to be that black cats are the least adoptable. Although I agree that black cats are harder to adopt, I don't agree that they are the least adoptable of all shelter cats. Here is my list of least adoptable cats, in order:

1. Senior cats (particularly those on medications.) We do get the occasional angel who comes into the shelter specifically looking for a senior cat, but most adopters want a young cat (even more prefer a kitten.)

2. Semi-feral cats. Though some, maybe even many, of these cats will eventual become very loving, not many people want to put the time and energy into socializing the cat. Foster homes help this process tremendously, but it is hard to place these cats in foster too.

3. FIV+ cats. Most people are turned off by the "aids" misconception. See this blog post for more info: FIV

4. Bonded pairs. You might think that most people coming to adopt a cat would want to have more than one, and that usually is the case. So why do they ignore the bonded pairs? In many cases, they already have other cats at home, and are looking to add just one to the mix. In many other cases, they like one of the pair, but not the other, and are far more likely to find 2 unbonded cats to adopt.

5. Pure black cats. Call it superstition, call it whatever you want, but pure black cats do stay longer at the shelter before getting adopted.