Excerpts from my correspondence with Kijiji Canada about its cat listing policy:

Barbara: Could you please provide an update on the discussions with your SPCA partners regarding the free cat policy since the statement was issued 9 weeks ago?

Kijiji Canada: I'm pleased to let you know that our SPCA partners have agreed to our policy change to no longer allow listings for free cats.

We have updated our filters, as well as our policy page to reflect this change:

"Dogs, puppies, cats and kittens posted in the Pets section may not be listed as Free (similarly, they may not be listed for nominal amounts) (Note: This applies to both ads rehoming/offering dogs, puppies, cats and kittens and wanted ads for dogs, puppies, cats and kittens). It is important to us that everyone who adopts a dog/cat can afford the care of the animal, and that they are committed to providing a safe and responsible environment to any dog/cat they take in."

Barbara: As you do for dog listings, when a listing is removed for offering a free cat, will you also send an email to the poster notifying them of the removal and the reason behind it?

Kijiji Canada: We will be including cats and kittens in our existing messaging currently in use for free dogs. This update has been passed along to our tech teams to implement, and should be in place shortly.

Currently, when we remove a listing for a free cat, we use a generic “Your listing has been removed for not complying with Kijiji policy” with a link to Contact Us for further details. If the user contacts us, we elaborate on the specific policy violation:

“Dogs/puppies, and cats/kittens listed in the Pets section may not be posted as "Free" or for a nominal fee. This applies to both rehoming/offering ads and wanted ads.

Our goal is to ensure that anyone adopting a pet can afford to properly care for them and is committed to providing a safe, responsible, and loving home. This policy was created in collaboration with animal advocacy groups to help ensure pets are placed in homes that are prepared for the responsibility of pet ownership.

We believe Kijiji should be a place where people can find a new, lifelong family member and setting a reasonable adoption fee helps ensure pets are adopted by individuals who are ready and able to provide for them.

If you’re uncomfortable accepting money for a pet, we encourage you to consider donating the proceeds to a local animal shelter or rescue organization.

Please feel free to update and repost your ad with a new price whenever you’re ready.

For a list of Kijiji policies relating to pet ads, please visit the following web page: http://help.kijiji.ca/helpdesk/policies/pet-posting-policies”

Read full correspondence with Kijiji Canada here.

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