Table 3.

Reasons for failure of cat (or cat and dog) rehoming

Study	Study overview	Number of people in study	Proportion citing allergy as a reason	Other, more common reasons cited	Other, equally or less common reasons cited (not necessarily all listed)
Neidhart and Boyd (2002) 24	Failure of cat adoptions from two shelters and two adoption campaigns, USA	42	10%	✜ Cat had died (36%) ✜ Cat ran away (17%)	✜ Behavioural problems (10%) ✜ Cat’s health (7%) ✜ Problems with other pets (5%)
Shore (2005) 49	Reasons for returning a cat or dog to a Midwestern rehoming centre, USA	78	10%*	✜ Problems with other pets (14%) ✜ Problems with children (14%) ✜ Other behaviour problems (12%)	✜ Elimination problems (10%) ✜ Pet’s illness (9%) ✜ Pet escaping (9%)
DiGangi et al (2006) 50	Reasons rehoming failed in cats from a research programme, USA	18	17%	✜ Problems with other pets (22%)	✜ Inappropriate urination (17%)
Hawes et al (2020) 51	Reasons for returning cats to a rehoming centre in Texas, USA	72	8%	✜ Moving house (19%) ✜ Aggression to humans (13%) ✜ Destructive tendencies (11%) ✜ Could not afford care (11%) ✜ Adopter’s medical needs (11%) ✜ Aggression to animals (10%)	✜ Medical reasons (6%) ✜ Resident pet behaviour (4%) ✜ Medical needs of cat (1%) ✜ Separation anxiety (1%) ✜ Death in family (1%)
Casey et al (2009) 43	Cats returned to 11 Cats Protection centres after being homed, UK	166	18%	✜ Behavioural problems (38%) ✜ Owner circumstances (23%)	✜ Stray/abandoned (5%) ✜ Multiple factors (4%) ✜ Pregnancy/young child (4%)

^*Reason provided was ‘Human allergies, human illness’ and the two were not separated