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How much is too much? (For adoption fees?)

Lump of Kohl
April 22nd, 2006, 10:24 PM
I don't mean to sound cheap but how much is too much for an adoption fee? I have been on petfinder looking to adopt a friend for my Chi and have found that many of the rescues are asking $150+(the one I am looking at is $250) as their adoption fee. I do see on some of the bios that there were serious complications with the dogs or the mom(c-sections etc..) so those I understand. I notice however that it is mostly on the smaller dogs(chihuahua, anything with yorkie, pomeranians, etc...). The one I am looking to adopt had no complications but the fee is $250. My first dog was only $85. Am I just suffering from sticker shock?

BoxerRescueMTL
April 22nd, 2006, 10:36 PM
Hi there! I just want to pipe in and say that our adoption fee is roughly the same for all our dogs - complications or not. To explain, most of our rescue dogs cost us waaaay more than our adoption fee. For example, one has cost us $600 so far, another $500ish, another $560. So by asking a standard adoption fee even when the dog in question does not cost us as much, it helps us even everything out. Hope this helps..

Prin
April 23rd, 2006, 12:35 AM
Considering the SPCA here is now charging $175, I don't think $250 from a good rescue is so bad.

OntarioGreys
April 23rd, 2006, 01:41 AM
The difference in fees from one rescue group to another often is a result of the level of health care the dogs they adopt out recieve, some groups or pounds may not do any health checks or procedure, all the vetting becomes the adopter's responsibility, the next group may have a little higher fee, because they do spay and neuters and rabies shots , the next group may be slightly higher because they include full vaccinations, the next group may do the ultimate, like neuters, rabies, vaccines, heartworm tests, deworming and a fecal, run tick tests and so on before the dog goes to it's new home so when the adopter gets the dog there is no more vetting required. The more vetting a group does the higher their adoptions will be.

Now this particular group may have a different fee fee structure for certain dogs, the fee is not set by the actual individual dogs medical costs otherwise some would have 2 or 3 thousand dollar adoption fees but the group may set higher fee for dogs that are in greater demand that they can place quickly for example a purebred, puppy or small breed, or will allows the rescue to help offset somw od the medical costa for sick or injured dogs. In the same boat they may offer a reduced fee for a senior dog or one with special needs because who ever adopts will incur more vet costs usually

For example I adopted an persian kitten from a rescue, her fee was about a $100 more than the average cat there, but in the one week she was listed on their site, some 20 other applications came in for her, some of the older short haired domestics may be listed for a year before someone decides to apply for it, so that extra $100 will help to cover the food and litter needed until a home becomes available or it will help to partly cover the medical costs of a cat that gets hit by a car and survives or gets their leg caught in the engine belts of car that it was hiding in to keep warm.

Lump of Kohl
April 23rd, 2006, 06:39 AM
You all make perfect sense. I don't think I really thought it through. I used to work for a make-up line (that was started in Canada) and customers would alway ask when we were going to give out a free gift. I would always explain to them that if we did that it would trickle down as a cost to them and raise the prices.

BoxerRescueMTL
April 23rd, 2006, 06:57 PM
I used to work for a make-up line (that was started in Canada)
Did you work for M.A.C.? I did for 6 yrs...