Reasons Cats Were Returned to Atlanta Shelter Break Hearts: 'Please Don't'

A pet shelter in Atlanta has revealed some common reasons why people keep returning cats and kittens to rescue centers, breaking hearts on the internet.

In a video shared on TikTok on Sunday by FurKids Atlanta Cat Mama, under the username Atlmotherofkittens, the poster listed some surprising reasons why people return their cats, including for being too affectionate.

The viral clip comes with a caption that explains: "Reasons people return cats to the shelter that don't make sense to me." The first reason is: "Cat is too clingy," followed by: "Kitten plays too much; new boyfriend doesn't like cats; cat eats too much; cat is too high maintenance," and finally: "Cat needs to sit in my lap all the time, it's annoying."

That was followed by: "Please don't adopt a pet unless you're ready to make a lifelong commitment."

The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 1.1 million views and 245,000 likes on the platform.

The poster told Newsweek: "I'm an adoption counselor for FurKids Atlanta, we are the largest no-kill animal shelter and rescue in Georgia. Being an adoption counselor I am on the frontlines when it comes to adopting out animals, but I'm also on the frontlines when it comes to receiving requests to return previously adopted animals or surrender animals that are currently someone's pets.

"Some reasons that people give me for returning or surrendering these animals really break my heart, I don't understand how some people can be so heartless. I took those feelings I had and made that video which garnered a bunch of attention, I'm super happy though because it means that there are more people out there who feel the same way that I and my organization FurKids feel about animals. They have feelings just like us!"

While being clingy could be a sign that your cat needs medical attention, it's most likely not the case. In fact, according to pet nutrition experts at Hill's Pets, some cats are just clingy by nature, with some purebred cat breeds like the Siamese and the Abyssinian known for their clingy personalities.

Most users in the comments pointed out that they can actually "only dream" of having a clingy cat, and that they'd get rid of a new boyfriend who doesn't like their cat, rather than having to give up their furbaby for them.

Each year, 6.3 million pets are surrendered to U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January this year, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet 'Shelter Watch Report' found. Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year.

Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and with behavior rehabilitation.

One user, Laura P-C, commented: "Meanwhile most of us could only dream of having a clingy cat." And zam_zam said: "BRO I WOULD DIE FOR A CLINGY CAT."

Khione/Loire wrote: "The way I'd kill for a clingy cat, mine doesn't really show she cares about me, I do hope she does though, cause I care about her." And user6149639462550 added: "Get rid of the boyfriend if he doesn't like cats my [boyfriend] didn't like cats before he met me now we have 5."

Newsweek reached out to Atlmotherofkittens for comment via TikTok comments. We couldn't verify the details of the case.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

Update 09/21/23 at 9:48 a.m. ET; This article was updated with comments from the person who posted the video.