Adoption fees?

First off Im not sure if this is the right forum or not. If not please switch it over to whatever one it belongs to.

Ok the question. What do you feel is a fair adoption fee? For dogs and cats? Do you think a rescue/shelter should have special rates for senior citizens, adopting pairs, special needs and senior pets?

Our rescue is trying to get some of our animals adopted. Though things have picked up they are way slower then last year. And we need to get some adopted or we cant take any more for a long time.

When we adopted Roxie it was $90 and I thought it was very reasonable. She was 8 wks and had been spayed, microchipped, wormed, tested, utd on all shots and they even gave her her boosters for free. That $90 went a long way and I know they use it to do the same for all the other kitties. It was very worth it to me

Marcie was "on sale" and was only $25 and she came with a really nice carrier and she had been spayed...her medical records were incomplete as to which shots she had been given, but we were shocked at how low her price was.

Darcy was $60 or $75. The ladies couldn't decide what to charge us, so we gave them the $60 plus and extra $15 donation. Her records were also incomplete and we only got a cardboard carrier with her. But she was from a different agency.

Originally Posted by Fostermomm

First off Im not sure if this is the right forum or not. If not please switch it over to whatever one it belongs to.

Ok the question. What do you feel is a fair adoption fee? For dogs and cats? Do you think a rescue/shelter should have special rates for senior citizens, adopting pairs, special needs and senior pets?
I think a rescue should have special rates for these kind of things, sometimes senior citizens are on a limited budget and couldn't afford a larger adoption fee. As for senior or special needs pets, they are usually so hard to get adopted out so I definitely think there should be some sort of discount, and if it helps for pets get adopted than a 2 for 1 deal should be offered too
Our rescue is trying to get some of our animals adopted. Though things have picked up they are way slower then last year. And we need to get some adopted or we cant take any more for a long time.

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I think a rescue should have special rates for these kind of things, sometimes senior citizens are on a limited budget and couldn't afford a larger adoption fee. As for senior or special needs pets, they are usually so hard to get adopted out so I definitely think there should be some sort of discount, and if it helps for pets get adopted than a 2 for 1 deal should be offered too

Good luck!

Hennessy was 90 dollars. That seemed fair. He was neutered, UTD on all shots, with documentation for everything, microchipped, vet checked, and he came with two free bags of food (Hill's... but it was what he was eating at the rescue, so no upset tummy).

Add it all up and that was definitely a bargain. I think the local shelter charged 112 per dog or cat, which also includes license.

I'm sure it varies by location - but one shelter near me that I really like is up to $85 I believe. It is a bargain. Smidge had all her vet stuff done, a spay, and work on her shattered paw. She was really cheap considering!

I actually went looking for a special needs or elderly cat, but I'm unusual like that. The main thing I was afraid of was high vet bills if I took a cat like that. If the shelter was able to let me take the cat to their voluteer vet for certain conditions for no charge to me, I would have been more likely willing. Instead though, Smidge chose me and I had no choice. She was an older kitten. Even though I didnt want a kitten I knew she was the right one and took her anyway. But she does have a bad paw!

I think "deals" is a good way of thinking, esp. that 2 for 1 idea. I didnt know, like I do now, how wise it is to get two at the same time. If it was suggested and explained up front and was a "deal" I'd think it mre likely people would take the two.

To increase adoptions, we're running a 2-for-1 adoption special on cats. We also have 3 sets that absolutely have to get adopted together. We also have a senior citizens rate.

My county animal care & control (where I adopted my two cats) charge $100 per animal - includes neutering, basic shots and vet check, microchip, etc. They also require you to go to your own vet within 3 days for a health check-up. If there's a serious illness, and you desire, you can 'swap' animals, so to speak.

I believe senior animals (e.g., cats over 7 years) have a $75 fee. And, a senior citizen can adopt one animal per year for a $1 fee.

I think most shelters in my area (DuPage County, IL) charge around $100-125. I have seen some two for one, or get one, get 50% off the second, on occasion.

60-85 seems to be the norm here for shelters, some breed rescues are $125 and up. This includes all the things others listed.
Also, there are different rates for puppies and certain breeds at times, and different rates for older and special needs animals sometimes. There is not an uniform rate across all shelters and rescues.

Loki was adopted from the Humane Society. The fee was normally about $85 or $90, but I found out when I was filling out the paperwork that they were running a special, so I got him for $30 or $35. It included the neuter, microchip, and shots/vet. I briefly thought about getting another cat, but my mother would have killed me. (It wasn't the right time to get my second cat, because if I had, I wouldn't have been able to adopt Possum.)

So, I was able to buy some things (it's just not good when all of a sudden you realize that while you do have kitty litter at home, you have nothing to put it in!). Then I was able to give the rest of the gift card back to my sister who had given it to me for Christmas.

Possum was adopted from a local rescue, and his fee was $100. That included the neuter, vacs/vet, and I guess the microchip. Whether to microchip or not seemed to be up the the foster parent.

Tricia

We charge $90 which includes spay/neuter, shots, etc. We rescue a lot of special needs or sick cats that the other rescues leave in the pound (kitties with broken legs, needing eye surgery, lots of things) so we generally have much more money into them than 90.

We do give a discount to someone adopting a pair usually.

We charge (Canadian $$) $125 for cats and already neutered kittens, $150 for kittens with $50 rebate with proof of speuter and $80 for seniors

When we adopted Bayley, it was $85.00, which included his shots & neuter. I think kittens & seniors are the same price. Dogs are a bit more expensive tho, like $150 I think? He also came home with a big bag of food & stuff too.

I work at my local county animal shelter.. most of the dogs and some of the cats are sponsored if they have been with us a long time. it's $25 for a cat or 2 cats. they come with a month of free health insurance, a free health check from your vet that expires in two weeks, a free bag of food, and some other goodies we make adoption packs with brochures for dogs and cats and they are microchipped, vaccinated, and wormed and have all their shots except their rabies because we do not have a vet on staff and all of them are spayed and neutered. for dogs it's $50 and it includes everything I said above with the cats. I think it's pretty reasonable. plus we usually don't charge for the senior animals, we just care that you give them a good home.

At our shelter we charge $65 per adoption ....for cats and dogs. We frequently do 1/2 price adoptions just to try and encourage more good homes to adopt. Right now the adoption price is $32.50 to adopt until the 22nd of this month then it will go back to the regular rate. The half price adoptions do seem to help a little. For cattle (yes, it's not uncommon for us to get goats!) or small animals such as rabbits, we typically do not charge an adoption fee as it can be harder to find a good home for them sometimes- but we screen potential adopters very well.

The costs of the adoption fees do not even begin to cover the costs to vaccinate/altar/ feed/ and keep them all comfortable though- i would likely say a more fair adoption fee would be closer to $100, but since we are able to offer lower adoption prices- it opens up more opportunities for others to adopt- so it works for our shelter

Originally Posted by Fostermomm

First off Im not sure if this is the right forum or not. If not please switch it over to whatever one it belongs to.

Ok the question. What do you feel is a fair adoption fee? For dogs and cats? Do you think a rescue/shelter should have special rates for senior citizens, adopting pairs, special needs and senior pets?

Our rescue is trying to get some of our animals adopted. Though things have picked up they are way slower then last year. And we need to get some adopted or we cant take any more for a long time.

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Honestly I think it's a bad year for everyone. I just researched prices in our area because adoptions are down at our shelter too. Our standard prices are currently $85 for one & $120 for two cats. We have always had a lower each for 2 than for 1. As far as special needs it just depends on the animal. I know that we have adopted out FIV positive cats at no cost to the right person, and lower pricess on other special needs animals. We do not advertise that fact, we deal with those on a case by case basis. You don't want a special needs animal to be adopted just because they are cheaper, but you do want to encourage the right person. Again for seniors & senior citizens we go on a case by case basis. I know that here the humane society charges much more for kittens, but there is no fee for adult cats. I don't happen to agree with having no fee for any animal. The only other group in our area that charges substantially less than we do was the shelter run by our domestic animal contnrol. The Rescue groups in the area are all around the same price as we are.

I just wanted to add you should check out the other shelters in your area. They are the one's your "competeing" with for adoptions. Charges in another state may be totally differnt.

When I adopted Geran and Lucius it was $200 for both of them and that included vaccinations up until then, deworming, neutering when they were old enough, and rabies vaccine. The woman I adopted them from has been a big help and even dewormed them a second time, the first dose was administered improperly, and gave me some medication when they had ringworm. Unfortunately the organization that did all the treatments did not provide microchipping. Most of the rescue shelters I looked at were in the $80-100 range. Usually people who did this in their spare time were a little cheaper.

Gigi was 65$ .. spayed , shot utd and her "papers"

Zoey was 25$ but had not had any shots ... so in reality I spent 125$ within 48hrs

We adopted Delilah from an area shelter for $135. (10 weeks old, spayed, shots, microchip) I know one other local shelter charges up to $160 for young altered kittens. The adults were cheaper though, I think around $90, less for the senior kitties.

I think the foster-based rescues around here generally charge $100+ for adult cats, not sure about kittens.

Most places around here only charge $25 for spayed or neutered cats or kittens.

Leslie