A home visit is not a house inspection. It runs 30 to 45 minutes, covers 12 checks, and 8 of those 12 are things you can fix in the 48 hours before it. The visitor is looking for 1 answer: can this room hold a cat safely for 20 years, and is there a person home enough hours to notice when it cannot.
Work the 3 categories in this order — space and safety, records, then access and time — because the first one is the only category that can fail you outright. Nothing on the list costs more than $60, and 6 of the 8 items are under $20.
What actually happens in the 30 minutes
Expect 3 phases. Minutes 1 to 10 are the walk-through: 3 rooms, 2 windows, 1 balcony if you have one. Minutes 11 to 25 are the interview: where the cat will sleep, who feeds at 7 a.m., what happens during a 3-day trip. Minutes 26 to 45 are paperwork: ID, landlord permission, vet name, and the signed agreement.
Most visitors take 3 photos: the window that opens widest, the litter box location, and the kitchen counter. If those 3 look safe, the rest of the visit is a conversation.
Category 1: space and safety, 8 items
This is the category that produces refusals. The standard used by most rescues is simple: no openable window without a screen, no balcony without netting, and no plant within a cat's jump of a resting spot. A cat clears 5 times its body height, so a 90 cm counter is a step, not a barrier.
| Item | Target | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Window screens, every opener | 4 cm mesh, holds 5 kg of push | 10 |
| 2. Balcony netting | 2 m high, anchored every 50 cm | 40 |
| 3. Toxic plants removed | 0 lilies, 0 sago palms in reach | 15 |
| 4. Blind and curtain cords | Clipped at 1.5 m, no floor loops | 5 |
| 5. Litter boxes | 2 boxes, 1.5 times body length | 10 |
| 6. Carrier out and open | 1 hard carrier, door off, 3 days early | 3 |
| 7. Vet booked | 1 appointment within 72 hours | 12 |
| 8. Food and water station | 2 bowls 3 m from the litter box | 5 |
The list is 100 minutes of work, which is why 48 hours is enough and 2 hours is not. Item 7 is the one people skip, and it is the one visitors ask about first: a cat with no appointment inside 72 hours reads as a plan that ends at the front door.
Category 2: records, 4 documents
Have 4 things printed and on the table: photo ID, a landlord letter or the ownership paper if you rent, the name and phone number of the vet you booked, and the adoption agreement with the return clause read out loud. Renters get refused over 1 missing line in a lease, not over the cat.
If you rent, ask the landlord for the pet clause in writing before the visit, not after. A 1-page letter with the deposit amount is enough, and it takes 2 days to get, which is the real reason the visit is scheduled 48 hours out.
Category 3: access and time
Visitors count hours, not love. Have 3 numbers ready: how many hours a day someone is home, who feeds at 7 a.m. and at 7 p.m., and the name of 1 person who can take the cat for 3 days. A household where nobody is home for 11 hours and there is no backup still gets approved, but only with a plan for the 11 hours: a timed feeder, 2 water bowls, and 1 window perch.
Say the honest number. A 6-hour day with 1 person working from home passes easily; a claimed 20 hours that the visitor can check against 2 work addresses does not.
The 48-hour countdown
T-48: book the vet for day 2 or 3 after pickup, and text the landlord. T-36: screens on every window that opens, and walk the room at cat height, on your knees, for 5 minutes. T-24: boxes set up, 1 on each floor, 1.5 times body length, 3 m from food. T-12: cords clipped, plants moved to 1 high shelf or out. T-2: carrier open on the floor with 1 worn T-shirt inside, bowls filled, litter untouched. T-0: lights on, no music, and 2 chairs at the table for the interview.
Do not clean for 6 hours the night before. A visibly scrubbed flat with 1 bucket in the corner looks staged, and visitors read staging as a short-term plan.
What they do not check, and 5 reasons visits fail
They do not check the sofa, the 12 matching cushions, or whether the kitchen is renovated. They also do not score the number of toys; 5 is plenty, and 40 in a basket reads as optimism rather than preparation. What fails a visit is narrow: no screen on 1 window, a balcony with netting over the top half only, 1 lily on the table, 1 box for a 2-cat home, and no vet appointment. Those 5 cover most refusals, and 4 of the 5 cost under $30 to fix.
Day of the visit: 3 sentences to have ready
Prepare 3 answers, each under 30 seconds: where the cat will sleep in week 1 and in month 6, what you will do at 2 a.m. if the cat vomits 3 times, and who takes over if you are hospitalized for 4 days. The second answer is the one that separates a prepared adopter from a hopeful one, and the details are the same ones on the 72-hour vet visit.
Print the full list from the 12-point home visit checklist and tick it as you go; a visitor who sees a ticked sheet spends less time on the windows. Then price the first 12 months with the cost tool, because the 1 number that ends adoptions after approval is a $900 first-year bill nobody budgeted.
48 hours, in 5 steps
- T-48: book the 72-hour vet visit and get the landlord clause in writing.
- T-36: screen every openable window and crawl the room at 30 cm for 5 minutes.
- T-24: set up 2 boxes, 1.5 times body length, 3 m from the bowls.
- T-12: clip cords at 1.5 m and remove every lily from the flat.
- T-2: open the carrier, add 1 worn shirt, and stop cleaning.
If 1 item cannot be done in 48 hours, say so at the start of the visit and give a date. A netted balcony booked for day 6 is a pass; a balcony promised with no date is not.
Frequently asked
Do I need to make my flat spotless for a home visit?
No. Visitors check 12 items and none of them is cleanliness: screens on windows, balcony netting, plants, cords, 2 litter boxes at 1.5 times body length, a carrier, a vet appointment inside 72 hours, and food 3 m from the box. A scrubbed flat with 1 bucket in the corner reads as staging. Spend the 100 minutes on the list instead, and start 48 hours out.
What if I rent and the landlord has no pet clause yet?
Get 1 page in writing with the deposit amount before the visit, not after. Most refusals of renters come from a missing line in the lease rather than from the cat itself, and a letter takes about 2 days, which is exactly why the visit is booked 48 hours ahead. If the clause is not signed yet, say so at minute 1 and give the date it will be.
What single item fails the most home visits?
One openable window with no screen. It is 10 minutes and under $30, and it is the item most often left until the morning of the visit. The other 4 common failures are a balcony netted only on the top half, 1 lily on the table, 1 box in a 2-cat home, and no vet appointment booked. Four of those 5 cost under $30 to fix inside 48 hours.