Visiting Battersea Cats & Dogs home

[Fragolina]

Our son turns 2 this month & loves cats & dogs, so we were thinking a visit to Battersea Cats & Dogs Home might be nice... Has anyone been? I was wondering if the visitors have any interaction with the animals or if you just go and look at them in their cages / kennels , & possibly see them excersising? (We won't be bringing any new friends home with us, no matter how cute!)

[echo]

We've been as it is on our way to Granny's. Your gut feeling is right, you do walk around looking into their living areas. The cats area is quiet and calm. The Dog areas depends on what dogs they have and how unsettled they are. My girls are a bit fearful of dogs so didn't like it.

You could pop in on your way to Battersea Children's Zoo, who are much more set up for kids and have feeding activities etc. If you are around in the week, they might have toddler activities?

[jamster]

I wouldn't have considered Battersea as a tourist attraction. All the animals in there need homes, not visitors. If your son loves cats and dogs why not adopt one?

Good advice for the Children's Zoo instead.

[Bellenden Belle]

Actually Jamster Battersea does welcome visitors and even provides a cafe and gift shop to support this facility. As their website puts is 'We have over 180 dogs and 100 cats onsite at any one time and, even if you aren?t planning to rehome a moggie or mutt, you can sniff out our caf? and gift shop and get to know more about the Home, our history and our plans for the future.'

Just keep expectations low.

[jamster]

I didn't suggest that they do not welcome visitors who want to learn more about the great work they do.

In my opinion, though, to treat it like a petting zoo is to do a disservice to the people who are volunteering their time to rehome the cats and dogs.

[jamster]

Of course if you do go, give a big donation :)

[cactus]

Avoid visiting at weekends. It does get very busy, and on occasions they have to close the cattery and kennels early, to avoid the animals becoming stressed. I believe you can only interact with the cats and dogs if you are there to re-home one.

[Fragolina]

Thank you for your advice & comments. It's good to have a better idea of what's on offer for the visitors that they encourage, there isn't a great deal of information on the website.

Jamster, we're not in the position to adopt a cat or dog at the moment, however, I still like to find ways to responsibly encourage my son's enthusiasm & love of them. Why do you assume that our visit would have such a negative impact? I would trust that the people who work there know how to manage the visitors so that the animals are not stressed any further than they already have been.

We went to Battersea Zoo last year and we were trying to think of something different that isn't Christmas related or weather dependant. I'm not sure that this is it!

[oimissus]

what about one of the city farms - Vauxhall and Surrey Quays are both in easy distance

[devsdev]

Not immediate, but the London Pet Show is something you could do in the future. Some friends recommended it and we plan to take our little one there next year.

[Mustard]

I went there a few times to look for a dog and came away in tears. Some of the dogs are angry and upset, some are quiet and upset, and some are pleading with you to take them home. It's not a petting zoo. When I went, most of them were staffy type dogs. You can look at the dogs on their website.

There is also a farm in New Malden. One of the sheep from there is often at the Herne Hill Market.

I think you would be better finding dog owners with child friendly dogs at the parks who will allow your little boy to pet their dogs. My dog is very friendly and responds well to children petting her.

[civilservant]

my niece went to Battersea with a friend who was looking to rehome a dog

they came away upset because so many of the dogs were clearly begging to be taken home

Mustard's suggestion is a good one, or perhaps you could check out https://www.borrowmydoggy.com/

[wonderwoman]

How about trip to Hackney cat cafe, eat cakes and play with cats, I think there's even a dog cafe now.

[treehugger]

Battersea is best visited if you want to adopt a dog or a cat. Note, it is not easy to do this as they have a very strict policy (or at least did, some years ago when we got our rescue dog) of interviewing all family members and really understanding who you are and what you have to offer. we went back twice to try and choose a dog and each time was told that our choice would not work with our family. After the second time they rang us up and told us they had they perfect dog for us. we rushed round and met the six month old puppy who became a very much-loved part of our family. They had clearly "got" us and "got" the stray we adopted. How they managed this perfect match is very impressive.

I agree - it is not really a children's pet activity...

[sedm]

I have adopted a cat from Battersea in the last month. They do welcome visitors. There are about 10-15 cats on the floor that you can look round - they are very sweet and seem happy enough. When I've been in there was one pen of kittens both times, apparently they keep most kittens away from the main visiting floor.

I'm not sure if you can go in and handle the cats though, I tend to think that if you can't it might be best to go elsewhere as there isn't a huge amount to see/do.

However call up first. Not sure how it is with dogs but with cats handling them is quite important at the rescue centre so they might want volunteers to help out playing with them that could be fun

[simonethebeaver]

They have 'cat socialisers' to play with the cats, but they are all adults. Many of the cats that arrive at Battersea display difficult and aggressive behaviour that needs to be addressed before they can be rehomed.

A friend of mine has never approached a strange cat after her time working at Battersea as she is so aware of the unpredictability of them.