What can you do? Sometimes people just won't listen.

Yeah. My parents don't have much patience with adoption centers at all. I understand that the people just want to make sure that the piggies are going to a good home. It was over the top though when a woman running a rescue insisted on seeing papers proving ownership of house (wouldn't take the ones used to show most schools that a house is owned) and visiting the house to make sure that everything was alright.

There is a point at which someone who is adopting out animal/s needs to just let go and trust someone who bothered to look up a rescue in the first place. I'm not trying to say that you crossed the line at all though, you were very reasonable.

I completely agree with you there Eolith, I've heard of some ridiculous requests when adopting animals from a shelter. They didnt happen to me personally - but one friend of mine was not allowed to adopt pigs from the main RSPCA here, because they weren't going to live outside on the grass. Nevermind she had a massive C&C cage ready for them and is one of the most responsible, loving guinea pig owners I could think off.
It's funny though because I didn't even demand anything, or really ask any questions even and she freaked out. I really don't like the fact she said poor piggies, as clearly them staying here would be better than going to her and her son (who were possibly going to house them outdoors, by her use of the word hutch).
Papers proving ownership of the house is a little extreme. I mean, it's a good idea and can see why they would do that - but it puts people of.

Oh well, you get some bad ones and you get some terrific ones!

At least you know that your foster pigs are in a better place now than that prospective home. It's obvious that that particular woman has done little research into adopting any animal because she shouldn't have been so mad if she had known that legitimate rescues/rescuerers have specific rules concerning whatever animals they're placing into homes.

Now that I think of it more, she probably just wanted you to come running back to her begging her to adopt one of your cavies since they would have had such a 'fantastic' home. She probably assumes that your main goal is to find them homes, not to scour everyone and make sure that they can offer all of the correct care.

I'm still adopting though. There are other rescues around if the other one doesn't work out. Also, I'm getting my first two from a friend who rescued a mistakenly pregnant pig from a classroom situation.

It has been a few years but I have heard from my family that the local shelter here wouldn't let them adopt a dog because they owned a cat! My cousin got her sister to adopt the dog. (maybe it was the other way around) I was fortunate with my rescues. Patricia called my vet of 20+ years and found out that I was a responsible owner and I got the girls. Of course when I first contacted her I sent photos of my original C&C cage and the remodel. We talked on a Saturday and she was going to call me that Monday after calling my vet. So Sunday we made the present cage knowing for sure we would get the girls and I sent her a photo. I don't know, I guess I knew I was a good owner and just volunteered all info she could possibly want.

I have to tell you that the adoption group we tried to go through was a nightmare of red tape, asking me all kinds of questions such as "How much are you willing to spend on a veterinary emergency?" They wanted an exact dollar amount, not a guess. How do you KNOW??? They did NOT want "whatever it takes" as an answer. They also wanted our landlord's name and phone number, as well as a home visit.

We gave up.

I did a lot of searching around for groups to adopt from and this was the only one I could find. After we got our piggies and I was searching for Oxbow product suppliers, I found another rescue group closer to home (after searching for FOOD, not rescues!). This is probably the group we will attempt to use should we ever decide to become owned by more piggies. Hopefully now that we are cavy owners, it'll be a little easier!

The lady I adopted from did surprisingly little screening, sad to say. However I tried to sound responsible and adult when we corresponded, perhaps that did it?

When I told my dad that when we went to the shelter they would be screening us he said 'what?! aren't we good enough?!'. Then i explained that they ask as some evil people would consider Fudge upstairs as nothing but snake food and so they ask to make sure the adopted piggy isnt going to get mistreated or eaten. Hes recently fallen for little fudge in a big way so once i explained the whole breeder/showing/petstore/snake food cycle to him he became a lot more understanding.