for me, as someone who also does shelter work, the biggest disservice i think we do to the public is acting like returning or surrendering cats is evil.

typically when someone surrenders a pet there are two situations going on:

1) the person has really thought about it and feels terrible about it but doesn’t feel they have another choice. and usually they don’t! they are moving somewhere that doesn’t take pets, or losing their home, or can’t afford to take care of their animal, or have health issues, or whatever. people in this case aren’t just casting away an animal they don’t care about. they’re making a really hard decision. i have seen so many shelter workers be so mean to people in this situation, and i hate it. there is nothing to be gained from not just saying “you’re making the right choice, we’ll find your pet a good home, good luck with everything”.

2) the person genuinely doesn’t care about the animal at all, or doesn’t like it, in which case jesus christ yeah please surrender it! i’m not going to try to shame someone who is making the correct choice of giving their pet the chance to get a better home.

i think a lot of people go into pet ownership unprepared for how much of a responsibility it is, and if they end up having to surrender their animal for whatever reason the least we can do is be compassionate about it.

the second most important thing to tell adopters is that cats don’t pee outside the litterbox for no reason and if that’s happening ftlog take the cat to the vet before you do anything else.