Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

Really lovely and clean environment. Nicely laid out. Excellent customer service. Calm atmosphere. Very welcoming and polite. Highly recommended. Thank you. 😊

I contacted this organisation hoping to adopt a cat. Instead, I was assessed as if I were a poorly designed building. According to this process, decades of hands-on experience caring for cats counts for very little. The fact that my cats are insured, regularly monitored, enriched, calm, and arguably better cared for than many children in the UK is, apparently, irrelevant. Welfare here is not about daily reality, but about floor plans. I have lived with cats for most of my life. I understand stress, slow introductions, behaviour, routine, health, and emotional needs. My cats are not accessories, they are family members. Yet none of this matters if your home does not include a garden and a pre-approved hole in a door. The logic is impressive in its rigidity. Love, time, financial stability, experience, and commitment are all dismissed in favour of architecture. First floor flat? Case closed. Checklist complete. Human disqualified. The irony is that adoption was a choice, not a necessity. Buying an animal privately was never an issue and, in the end, that is exactly what I did. I simply thought that choosing adoption might mean something. Apparently, ethics require planning permission. This feels less like animal welfare and more like a quietly classist filtering system, where compassion is reserved for those with the right postcode and property type. The cats deserve loving, knowledgeable homes. One can only hope that one day the process values lived experience and real care over square metres and floor level.

Wonderful charity. Philip who came to the door was incredible and such a lovely lad. Vicky who followed up on the phone was equally as excellent. Looking forward to further supporting this charity. I've heard such good things!

How amazing is this place? We have found the working cat of our dreams for our family business Surplex UK Limited, professional IT collection and recycling, set in the middle of the Gloucestershire countryside. They matched us with Jasper. He is loving life now, so happy and friendly and we are loving having him around! If you have a family business that needs a working cat please try Battersea! From first enquiry to delivery everything was brilliant.

Their rehoming policy results in dogs staying in kennels for longer then they have to, and puts off perfectly loving homes from adopting. Assessing an applicant is one thing but you've adopted an attitude of not rehoming any pets at all due to the risk of them going to the wrong home. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". You mean well but ultimately it's time to accept the policy is not only counter productive but causing the animals, you're charged to protect, to suffer. Hopefully you won't let pride and arrogance continue to get in the way of making the right decision and you'll do away with the current rehoming application process.

Lovely staff , very knowledgeable. We have just adopted our forever Guava ❤️

Absolutely amazing. We wanted to adopt a new member of our family but haven't had a dog previously. They spent time going through not only what type of dog would suit us but how we suit the dog. We've had Alfie for 5 days now and they got it spot on, would only ever rescue an animal and they proved why.

I went to the cafe and had dinner. I often go there to have something to eat. As it's so reasonably priced and it goes towards helping the cats and dogs. I had chicken with salad and chips, it was lovely only £7.50 and tea was only £2.10. They always do great meals they had a great choice of pasta last month, with different toppings. Also had hot dog and chips once and jacket potato with cheese and beans for only £5.50. The shop is lovely and sells toys for dogs a cats, also pens. Even a book by Paul O Grady. The staff are all lovely friendly and helpful. You have toilets available as well and can see Paul O Grady memorial.

my boyfriend and i come here regularly. you pay £2 and you get to walk round and interact with the well socialised dogs they have at battersea. they are oh so adorable. it's probably 90% staffies. it is SO TOUGH walking in there and not walking out with a dog, but i like seeing how well looked after they are (and the volunteers are very passionate about the dogs in their care) and by donating money each time we go, we're helping out the centre too. they also have a cattery which was opened only last year. it's very swish and the cats are of course AMAZING but the last three times we've been it has been closed for various reasons. it's also VERY DIFFICULT going to visit the cats and not returning home with one. i've fallen in love every single time i visit!

Have had two old cats from here no one wanted, they were such lovely souls, just wanted to be loved and be your friend, please don't just go with a plan as to what you get, pick one that touches your heart be it young , middle aged or older, there are different times they leave us, some die young others live for more than 20 years, just take that chance on which cat or dog, picks you out, you will never regret it, we haven't. They are family and give us love as we do them, just take one one, treat them well and make the time with them count, you'll not regret a rescue. Xx

A troll sent me this "compliment" as shown in the photo below. Apparently some people think that anyone who gives a bad review of an animal shelter doesn't do any volunteering nor has any experience with shelters and helping animals.

Although the work they do here is commendable the place didn't wow me. There wasn't actually that many dogs and the kennels are now so old. The new cattery was much better but again not many cats - obviously good in a way as they are being rehomed but seems to suggest they could take in more stray animals? Very friendly staff and cute animals - hard to walk away without one!

Scoobie is gone missing since Wednesday night the 7 of June .He usually hangs around with ginger cat r orange cat that come n and eats his food . I am really missing him ,I did put out posters in lot of places and there is no sighting of him .Please please help .

Each animal here is so cute and adorable. You can't resist, want to take all of them home!

In addition to my previous comments it appears some who write a bad review about this organization will get attacked by a supporter who assumes nobody else volunteers, donates or has any experience with rescue, shelters or animal welfare. The person the comment below was sent to won't say it but I will. Actually, that person that the comment was directed at was in London visiting on her own dime from another country to assist with a group helping dogs rescued from Asia's dog meat trade. And since the response brings up the subject of other charities and shelters that let you walk around without a donation...PAWS Chicago, every SPCA I've visited in 3 different countries, Tree House Humane Society, and I can go on with at least 5 others off the top of my head that I've also visited and yes, I ended up donating much more than 2 GBP as they did not make a donation a requirement. If this organization's supporters are so hateful that they need to send messages attacking someone stating their opinion of their experience it just reinforces my opinion about unfriendliness observed there compared to other shelters.

..I rescued my dog from a shelter in italy, i first went to see the most known one, it xcounted over 600 dogs, sometimes 5 of them in a cage, large sizes and all. The cages were outside in the cold, the government is not paying for the volunteers and there are fewer and fewer heroes doing this job for the animals. They directed me to a worse one, called Villa Andreina, my dog was so huge and about to die when i got him that i thought he may not last the week. We both drove via car to London where i now wish to rehome another rescue female to have a little sister. I visited Battersea and i was so happy to see how clean the cages were, there was one maximum two dogs per cage and indoors. Everything was so clean and everybody so helpful. I am struggling (though maybe it's the christmas period) to rescue another dog as there weren't many left but this is for such lovelier reasons than what i witnessed in italy. my dog used to be walked once a month and had to do his needs in the cage, was hosed morning and night and outside in the sun, his eyes have discolourations because his cage was in the scorching sun on hot italian summers and i won't even start on his legs conditions, he is 12 years old and spent 10 years in a cage. When i read reviews here on "2£ being too much to pay to visit" when the staff is doing so much for these fellas, it breaks my heart, or when i read here that the staff were unhelpful, in that sense i cannot comment cause most scenes i haven't witnessed, but i find myself skeptical when it comes to comparisons with what i saw back home: I basically had to get my dog out of the shelter so quickly so that the owner of the privatised shelter wouldn't try to keep him, as they earn per dog. So, Battersea, i haven0t got my new friend yet and hopefully that will be soon, but THANK YOU for all that you do for these guys the quite high standard when it comes to basic human rights for these animals.

Those that did not see Paul OGradys take on this wonderful place missed a treat!

We will looking for a cat and tried the other organisations but was very disappointed in their response. However Battersea were welcoming and very quickly matched us with what has turned out to be the most perfect cat. She is fitted into the house beautifully and the family is hugely enhanced by her presence. I would thoroughly recommend Battersea to anybody looking for an addition to their family

I went with my husband and daughter this past weekend to see if we could adopt a cat. Our previous cat died 6 months ago and we were excited to bring a new family member home. We were unprepared with the question of a "cat flap" as that was expected in order to adopt a cat. I felt a bit defensive as I told the interviewers that a cat flap wasn't possible in our rental house with a garden. When were approached by a second volunteer upstairs, and she mentioned that simply opening a window may work. But a photo of "proof" was needed and then we would have to have that reevaluated. I felt like an irresponsible potential cat owner rather than one that had adopted previously a medical case (cone head and all) and then shipped her across the Atlantic to move with us last year. We've also had numerous older dogs under our care that we took care of until their last breaths and I've spent many a weekend volunteering at a rescue when I had more time to do so. The facility was lovely and the people were doing their jobs, but I was a bit put off by the whole process. It's easier to buy a gun in the U.S. than adopt a cat at this place.

This review is for the Old Windsor branch. My dog escaped and was brought here. The facility and people here are amazing. They were quick to get back to me and took really good care of our dog until we could pick her up. They do an incredible job looking after lost pets and finding homes for abandoned ones. Thank you guys

My reason for going to Battersea Dogs Home was to get a cat, I am not crazy, Battersea Dogs Home does also rescue a small number of cats. In order to actually get to see the animals you have to go through rather a rigorous screening process and interview deeming you fit to actually care for an animal so this is not a pop in and out to the pet shop way of buying a pet. They have a vast number of dogs in the home, so the smell is not the most pleasant and the noise at times unbearable. We managed to get through all this barriers and found our way through all the deranged dogs to a fat and sleepy ginger cat. You will find all sorts of dogs and cats here, and if you do not find one to suit then you can always come back at a later time, but knowing that you are giving a home to a rescued animal is that little bit pleasing. As for my fat ginger cat, he was perfect but rather questionably named. The cat stayed, Mr Jones was soon replaced.

This is a wonderful place. When I was little I came at least once every month in the futile attempt to ry and get my parents to allow me to have a dog. Apparently there is quite a rigourous vetting process for people looking to adopt. This is particularly pleasing because the most important thing is for them all to have good homes to go to!

Sounds like Melinda has more than just issues with Battersea - 'accosted by a common East End woman' - heaven forbid one of those awful working class types should burst your bubble! We adopted a fantastic staffie from Battersea earlier this year. Yep, there is a little bit of waiting around, but then in fairness it's not a supermarket it's a charity that does a great job on limited resources. All the staff (even the Londoners!) were friendly and knew their stuff and I'd urge anyone who is thinking about getting a dog or cat to go to Battersea.

Very nice people to help advise, we took a dog in last year and are so happy with little alfie!

We all went to look for a kitten and just to see what it is like in there. At the time we went the cattery was closed due to the flu and problem with the air conditioning, so we could not go to see the cats, at the point that's what we came for. So we signed up and it cost us £2 adult and £1 for children. So that was the cost of the entry to get in each time you go. But all the money goes to the dogs and cats home there. We was very surprised to see the dogs in there kennels and beds they have and there toys they were given. They look so sad, but soon as you make a fuss of them they are so lively and gentle to you. There are so many of them and different types of old ones and young ones there, we could not get over all the staff's there so gentle and looking so well and healthy, as if we could of we would of took seb there he was so gentle and soft he just wanted to get out. But we have not got room in our house though for a big dog. The staff there look after them really well and take them out for walks and even when we signed in the staff member had a dog(husky) lovely dog caroline friendly with my kids aswell. It takes about half hour to register. They have a cafe on the grounds aswell but no parking about in ground, so we parked round the side which was free as it was a sunday. I would reckomend other people to go here if your looking for a pet. It is about £74 to have a cat/kitten which does include the injections and other parts and bits you get. Worth going on there website.

I have raised funds and supported the Battersea Dogs Home long before they added cats to their roll call. You can imagine how horrified and disgusted I was that when I went to rehome a dog in place of my beloved lux who passed away recently, that I was told firstly by the 'computer' and secondly by the 'team leader', that I was not suitable to home that one dog I wanted and had selected even on line as of interest.. An initial interview followed by 2 hours of looking, searching and meeting dogs in their 'rooms', led me to a list of 2 dogs of interest, of which there was just the one I wanted.. It seems that giving a dog a home with plenty of space and loads of love from a wide family circle is not suitable.. To add to the insult, the 2 staff were hardly experienced in life, let alone for them to call me unsuitable.. I will never again give a penny to this dogs charity, I will never support them at any level and I work with several charities as a volunteer including 2 dog charities for the disabled. The Battersea Dogs Home has been a first port of call for most Londoners when it came to animal rehoming, what a shame that this has been shot down in flames.. Thankfully I am allowed the freedom to buy any dog I feel able to look after and to become part of my life, so rather than give a dog a loving home and care, someone will be making a large profit in selling me the same!

Keep up the excellent work, really friendly staff and a nice place to go ....really enjoyed. Just had to write something after visiting yesterday.

We applied to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to rehome a cat, went through the application process, and the interview and the home visit, which all went fine. We were accepted as a potential new home for a cat and saw one on their website that we thought would be perfect and who we could offer a good loving home to, on the day we went to collect him, we were accosted by a common East End woman in her 50s, who came up to us in a rush, did not introduce herself by name and said very loudly infront of everyone "I'm not happy about you getting another cat!" She then explained we couldn't rehome a cat because she not battersea dogs home, didn't like the idea of us having 3 cats! As we already have 2, she then told us to leave. I left in tears and have been crying all day. We were trying to do them a favour and offer a loving home to a cat who had been there a long time due to medical problems and no one wanting him. DO NOT GO THERE! JUST BUY A CAT, IT'S MUCH BETTER IN THE LONG RUN. We did nothing wrong, and have previously rehomed 2 cats who are happy and healthy, I am home all day to look after them, we have a vet, they are vaccinated, wormed and fed very expensive food, and our house is clean, cat friendly and they had no problem with us or our house before we met this woman. So why can't we rehome another cat? The woman who did this to us was common, rude and arrogant! What a low life! And a terrible organisation. She also told us that we were poor and demanded that we have our cats castrated! There is no law saying that any animal should be castrated!