My girlfriend and I visited Connecticut Cat Connection in hopes of adopting a kitten. We traveled an hour and a half from Western Massachusetts to the adoption center, mostly because of the positive reviews we saw online. I am a loving owner of two cats - one five years old and the other three years old. My hope was to bring a new kitten into our happy family. We were incredibly heartbroken to be turned away from the adoption center, in what was the most negative experience I’ve ever had with an animal adoption agency. Before we were allowed in to see the cats, we were asked a series of questions. The first question was whether or not my girlfriend and I were living together. I explained to the woman that my girlfriend is living in an apartment in Massachusetts while she finishes school, and that I live in New York City. In a few short months, we will be living together. I told the woman that our intention was that the cat would keep my girlfriend company in Massachusetts until she returned home to New York, where we would be re-united. This was apparently the “wrong” answer in the “quiz”, as we were told we could not adopt a kitten, as the shelter requires all kittens to be in a home with another cat. 

I wholeheartedly agree with the right of a shelter to make rules regarding the placement of its animals. So, I explained to the woman that instead, I could take the kitten to my home, where it would live with my two cats, who both get along great with other animals. This answer was not good enough for her, as she had already made up her mind that we could not adopt a kitten. Her tone suggested that I was somehow being dishonest, as she responded, “That’s not what you said what you came in.” 

 The reality was that I was trying to provide one of her kittens a loving home, and she had an alternative agenda from the moment we walked in. I don’t know why the woman wasn’t willing to hear me out regarding the fact that the kitten would be placed in a home with two other cats, and that our initial plan was simply one of the options we had for the cat in the first few months of its life. However, her first question of “Are you living together?” Is a good hint. 

 Perhaps if we weren’t both in our early 20s, we would have been taken more seriously. Perhaps if we weren’t an interracial couple that didn’t look like we were from Windsor, we would have been taken more seriously. Perhaps this woman was having a bad day and regretted her actions soon after. Either way, we will soon find a kitten to love, but it will take much longer to get over the degrading treatment we received at Connecticut Cat Connection.