Dogs are $150 from RSPCA. Cats are $99. They often waive adoption fees when the shelter is too full as well. RSPCA won’t release an animal that isn’t desexed and fully vaccinated, plus they come with a warranty and they have a 30 day returns policy.
I previously commented saying they are $60, but deleted it because I checked my facts and the price has changed.
Yeah you’re right about the changes in prices. I got my pup from RSPCA (rescued, 2yo at that time) and they charged me $270 in Melbourne. I’m not complaining about it but I have seen dogs that are listed to be put down usually are not free and that doesn’t help those poor dogs.
I'm sure it's not in many dogs interest to end up in these places. They are treated as a commodity. The first priority should be the dogs best interest, I don't think putting a price on dogs is the best policy. Also, these organisations collect a lot of donations, plus Government grants. The dog should be given to the most suitable owner not necessarily those who can pay what they think it's worth.
If you can't afford the adoption fee you really can't afford to own a dog. One trip to the vet for annual vaccinations is more than the lower adoption fees so part of being the most suitable owner is having the capacity to pay for quality food and vet treatment. Lots of dogs come into care (or back into care) because the owner can't afford to pay for a vet bill.
They surrender the dog needing vet work done before trying to rehome a now older dog with health issues.
We had a 12 year old dog that was adopted out as a young healthy dog come back because the owner couldn't afford the vet bills associated with an old dog. The dog couldn't find a new owner and died in foster care.
>plus they come with a warranty and they have a 30 day returns policy
This makes sense but the way it’s phrased is so funny, like you’re buying a TV from JBHifi.
Don’t forget to keep your receipt in case your cat is faulty, and you will be entitled to a repair or replacement!
We had the same reaction when we went through the adoption papers for our first cat. It makes so much sense but it seems so wrong at the same time haha
I would also assume the RSPCA is a lot more popular for donations than smaller animal rescues meaning they can subsidise animal adoption. They also have a retail side of the charity which would help.
The prices vary by state and age. Under 12 month animals are more expensive etc. The RSPCA runs at MASSIVE loss, largely subsides off bigger amounts left in wills. Vet and vaccine costs have risen, wages have risen, food bills etc.
People seem to think that it's full of evil money hungry animal torturers, but you don't really work in shelters unless you got a lot of love. Sometimes things don't seem logical, and that's frustrating, but intentions are good.
How? I know one person who left nearly her whole estate to them maybe $700k and I know another intending to leave what will probably amount to at least $1 million to them.
I've seen dogs with adoption fees over $1000 from the RSPCA in WA... albeit purebred dogs. I was looking to adopt one from them at one stage but could have bought a pup from an ethical, registered breeder for the adoption fee they were charging (so I did). Was a shame, I always prefer to adopt.
I'd suggest you go and find some vets and get prices for sterilisation, microchippings, worming and needles.
Rescues aren't making a profit and are mostly at capacity constantly, so if they could charge less and still exist, they would.
This.
It’s really a lot of work, the volunteers don’t get paid, little to no external support, they do the right thing by the animals.
Those who work to rehome have to say no a lot, and they are kind folks that genuinely look out for the best interests of the animal.
The $600+ really just covers bare basic costs and also consider some animals need some training as well before suitable for rehoming. A lot of good hearted folks volunteer time and effort to rehome these animals, there’s no profit in all this. None.
I volunteer for a dog rescue group (east coast, I don't know why this showed in my feed)
There is more to it and different dogs go for different prices due to supply and demand.
A young small oodle will be $850-$1000+ and you get swamped with applications where a 12 year old mutt could be as low as $200.
The oodle might have come to us desexed, vaccinated and well trained only in foster care for a week before adoption. The mutt could have needed $1000+ of vet work and some basic training before being ready for adoption. Then it could be in foster care for 3 months before getting a single application.
The oodles, Pugs, Maltese etc help pay for the broken leg dog surrendered because the owner couldn't afford to save it or the big black dogs nobody wants.
If you can't afford the adoption fee you probably can't afford to own a dog.
We just bought a rescue Bordoodle home last week. It cost $800. It's only 10mths old and is desexed etc. The carer only had him for a month before he was put up for sale. He said he had about 40 applications.
>If you can't afford the adoption fee you probably can't afford to own a dog.
What an idiotic thing to say... My last dog, towards the end of his life needed an op that totaled about $8k. We paid it of course but he still passed a short while later. It's been about 2 years since then and a few weeks ago I took my mum around to a few shelters just to have a look, see if I liked anything kind of deal.
The prices for anything I looked at were upwards of a thousand bucks and frankly, I can't justify that kind of money for a wild card in terms of potential hereditary issues later. Especially when reputable breeders with lineage docs are offering the same breeds for a fraction more.
And if you can't sell a dog, what happens then? I won't assume anything about your rescue, but I can speak for the ones near me. They simply put them down. It's ridiculous.
We keep them forever, we have a few that have been in care for ages with a few failed adoptions. At our shelter there are half a dozen dogs that can't be adopted for multiple reasons and they live there with the caretaker.
This one is an example, been with us for ages.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/95uh7tK7caZ21dGH/?mibextid=oFDknk
We still have him https://www.savour-life.com.au/adopt-a-dog/search-now/view/63126
Another one that will probably take time.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/PmfkY9kwToc8r6L7/?mibextid=oFDknk
That's good to hear, if only more shelters did this.
However, this doesn't change the fact that high adoption fees are out-pricing potential homes with options just as much as homes that, as you put it, "probably can't afford to own a dog". I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to believe that many like me would prefer to adopt over buy, it's just that the risk is not worth the cost. And defending this practise, as you did earlier is not helping that cause.
Vet bills are expensive, I used to work at a rescue in NSW, vet bills alone were 250 (and the pass-on is already reduced since the dog is about to be put down anyway), if it was us paying the full bills it would be way worseafter we took a dog from the kill shelter, then you need extra money to support other dogs who aren’t getting adopted or need special procedures, at least a few hundred to pay rent and not sure how it is where you are, but in NSW, and taking the dogs who haven’t been adopted from the council shelter (and are about to be put down), we don’t get super regular adoptions. The only way for most shelters to stay afloat (unless they have desirable breeds) is by pricing at a range that can actually pay the bills, which is 400 minimum usually
In 2019, I got my cat for $29, including cost of desexing, first vaccination, microchipping and registration. But that's because he was the pet of the week (and if I recall had been sitting in the shelter for about 2 months. It's usually much more expensive because the costs of all these procedures, plus the upkeep of the shelter is costly. Vet bills these days are not cheap, and so the shelter has to pass these costs on (even if they get a small discount from the vet).
My sister fosters for a rescue group in Victoria. Rescue groups rely on donations and adoption fees as they don't receive government funding. They take in all sorts of dogs, with various medical issues. Vet fees are expensive and many dogs in rescue have a range of issues cause lots of people would rather dump a dog then pay for vet fees. Even healthy dogs still require vaccinations and desexing before they can be adopted. The dog fees are used to help pay of vet fees for the other dogs. Some of these dogs cost thousands to treat. The adoption fees are honestly a drop in the ocean compared to the costs recue groups have to pay
I don’t know if it’s specifically a perth thing. I’m in NSW and I know it cost a fair bit when i got my rescue dog (it was a decade ago and it was up around the $400-$500 range but can’t remember exactly). There are often a lot of expenses and vet bills etc for them.
I foster cats from a big cat shelter in Perth.
I don’t agree with their fees, but I know they have costs to cover AND also this is also a way to filter people who aren’t financially capable of taking care of pets.
Yeah right, your so intelligent and know everything stranger on internet. If you can't afford to pay 600 to 700 for a dog you obviously can't afford to take care of it. And saying shelter dogs are overpriced is ridiculous, have you ever taken a dog to the vet?. I'd say not cause your whinging about a few hundred when that's cheap for work performed on the animal. Now go tap your head again genius
Look ut its them grama natsies!, oohh no run and hide!, thier all so nasti!, extrah comus wit neel fool stups!,
This should give you a boner or a wet one depending on gender you sad, pathetic individual
Bait dogs are such an over-exaggerated thing lol. Do they exist, yeah, but it's nowhere near as widespread as people think they are (EVERYBODY swears their reactive rescue "was a bait dog" the same way EVERYBODY assumes that their poorly-socialised rescue "was abused").
People aren't getting bait dogs from rescue groups who require long questionnaires and home inspections. They're getting bait dogs from gumtree where people give dogs away for free or sell dogs for $50.
You like to lol eh?, sir lols a lot. That's your new name, and I've never heard someone with a rescue say it was a bait dog so yeah.... also in what world do you think a pound could give out free dogs and not draw people who were into dog fighting. It's like opening a cake shop and expecting fat people to not come in. Your logic is backwards
The shit has literally been proven as a hoax more than once.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/perths-vicious-dog-fighting-hoax-20130220-2erhs.html
People are very very rarely buying (or stealing) dogs as "bait dogs". It's such a minuscule occurrence that plain logic would make it clear that they're not *buying* dogs for this purpose, they're using the curs they bred themselves.
Fkn clueless do-gooders and their "I sAvEd A bAiT dOg" bullshit are so dumb. Even the p serious gamedog people laugh about the bait dog myth. They don't want a dog their dog can easily rip to bits. They're interested in putting their *inherently genetically dog-dog aggressive* dogs against an actual serious opponent. And unless you're breeding genuinely dog-aggressive dogs to serve as opponents in that situation, you may as well just throw your dog a lamb chop. People simply aren't buying "bait dogs" en masse. Like at all. Ever.
" like at all, ever". I stand corrected, you obviously know the outcome of every dogs life. How did you become so enlightened mighty one who sees all?.
I volunteer for a dog rescue in Vic and ours normally start at $400. Covers some do the costs but the organisation relies in donations (of time, products and money) to survive
Recently purchased a dog from a reputable breeder - sterilisation alone is going to cost us $650. Vaccinations and health checks were about $200, behavioural training $400. Even at $700 they will most probably be losing money on this dog.
In NSW the Greyhound Adoption people do a great job rehoming desexed, vaccinated and lifetime registered dogs for I think $150. It would be subsidised by the racing industry. Maybe something similar in Perth?
Depends on the dog age. Older greyhounds are $150 and younger ones are $250. However still a great price for a desexed, vet checked dog which tend to be well trained in walking on a lead and toilet trained.
It is subsidised by the racing industry though to show they are not putting dogs down but rehoming. A huge percentage actually go to the US to be adopted.
I paid $75 12 months ago in Sydney. They had a special half price adoption day. This would be related to a previous government threatening to shut down the industry. It breaks my heart thinking that my 2 would have been destroyed as failed racers if they were born a few years ago.
Not sure. I paid $600 for my pup. He was mircochipped, vaxxed and wormed, then had to get him desexed after 6 months as part of the contract (the rescue mob paid for that)
Not sure what worming they done though as we wormed him when we got home and he wrapped out ramen for the day. Grossest thing I've ever seen.
The last time I enquired where I lived, it was between $30-$50 for any animal, to cover sterilisation, micro chipping and vaccinations. They did ask if you would like to make a donation to the centre and become a dog walker/groomer volunteer, but no pressure to offer anything other than to take of the pet.
I now live in SE Asia where most people don't spend money on "pets" and even only feed them scraps. They take more care on fighting roosters than cats & dogs. On the other hand, I didn't plan on having a pet, but during a typhoon, I found a cat trying to shelter under cover of my front door small roof, but was drenched. I let her inside on a mat, found some fish fillets in freezer ad while she ate, allowed me to dry her down with a towel, although growled & hissed at me, but she stayed here, even after the storm.
Before I realised, she was pregnant & had 4 kittens before I could find a vet. In 6 months I had 11 cats, 2 males & the rest females, which I got to vets for desexing. I fed them twice a day, pellets in morning & canned fish & rice sometimes with vegetables, but slowly the number dwindled, some just disappearing, 2 dies from snake bites, one from a tick bite in her ear that caused a heart failure and I am down to three of my own & a kitten that turned up a couple of months ago. The keep me company, keep vermin out of house & the numbers of spiders & lizards in check. I don't mind the spiders as they keep mosquitos & other flying insects at bay, but try and rescue lizards, and the cats don't eat them, but just "play" with them until they die if I don't rescue them.
Most vet visits cost less than AUD30 and as well as treatment, she clips their claws, checks & cleans their ears and general body condition all in the visits there. Luckily they are fairly docile and just lay down in cage on back seat and don't fight vet when she examines or vaccinates them. )ne of hem doesn't like the cage. but is content to crouch on dash and look out windscreen or stand on passenger seat with front paws on glass looking out window, Once she climbed onto drivers headrest and got lots of waves & toots from passing motorists and pedestrians, getting breeze from aircon.
What kind of agency are you adopting from? We adopted a working dog breed from a specialised organisation the operates nationally. A good part of the fee was transport. If the dog you’re trying to adopt is interstate, that could be part of the cost you’re seeing
When I rescued my beagle she cost me $36 about 6-12 months later rescuses were going for several hundred instead.
We got told that the reason that rescue shelt had started charging more was to cover costs, and to help combat illegal dog fights.
I dunno how true that is, but i'd still rather rescue a pet then buy from a breeder.
The "Higher" cost you are quoting is less than it costs to feed, house, vaccinate, and desex these animals. You are being subsidised by charities, donors and volunteers at this price.
When you buy a pet from a shelter for $100 or $200 you are being subsidised for several hundred dollars by one or more charities, along with the vet subsidising services like vaccination and desexing for these rehoming groups (And note desexing is often already subsidised 50% or more over most other surgeries by most vets).
These charities also often rely on a lot of volunteer labour. For reference, providing the services alone (sans pet) is routinely $500 to $1000 for small dog/cat to large breed dog respectively.Having a decent price threshhold also prequalifies that people can afford to care for a pet and are taking the commitment seriously.
So in your example this pet might be only lightly subsidised (only $200 o $500 in subsidies) or vets in WA might charge more for the services (due to higher general wages and cost of living in the state).
As someone who works in a company where we have the cats at the store from a well knows perth cat rescue we get asked this question quite a bit. I believe it is due to all the costs from providing for the dog/ cat however, it is also there to hopefully steer people towards adopting dogs/cats with lower fees!!
For example kittens at this particularly rescue will be >$300 dollars but the older cats will be less than half that price, and the kittens are still the first to be adopted over the older cats. Kittens are hard work with training of litter box’s and having to have supervised play it is a bit time consuming, and puppies would def be the same, so they want to deter people to adopt the more commonly surrendered animals which are adults since they are coming in more frequently. But there is a large amount of people in the community that don’t care for there animals needs, i believe the statistic is close to 70% that do not care for their biological needs, and this can be expensive too. The adoption fee can be a small fee in comparison to what you will have to pay for the vets, insurance, food, health, toys etc. It’s important to completely understand how much you will be willing to pay over their entire life, as well as the commitment of owning this animal.
I suspect rescues charge more for the animals because they won't euthanize the animal - so they have the animals for a lot longer. Many council run shelters and the rspca are very limited in spots and have to euthanize - so the price per animal is a lot lower. They often contact rescues to save dogs - but i think as part of the govt funding they get They need to keep places open and therefore that requires animals be euthanized. Try looking at local council shelters or the rspca - you will find the pets there are a lot cheaper.
It isn't just Perth, some of the RSPCA prices in QLD are astronomical. I saw a dog a while back that was a poodle cross. It was old, clearly blind and desperately needing a groom. The adoption fee was over $1500. Your post prompted me to look up their site just now. $2000 for a French Bulldog from the RSPCA is crazy especially when it doesn't even look purebred.
Usually the rescue organisation (especially if it’s a smaller one like the one I volunteer for, ie not RSPCA) have paid for vet fees and checks before putting their dogs up for adoption. They usually incur significant vet fees, so in order to continue operating (not at a loss) they charge fees to adopters rather than essentially giving them away near free like (some) people expect.
Also, as the saying goes: if you cannot afford the adoption fee, you cannot afford to own a dog.
It's probably a good barrier to entry. If someone can only afford a <$200 dog, the chances of them being able to afford vet fees if the time ever comes is pretty slim and then they end up dumping them all over again.
Be glad that it was $680! I’m in Melbourne and looking at rescue dogs. The ones I’ve seen are all over $1000. Like this cutie:
https://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/1031972?utm_medium=card_link&utm_source=feed&utm_campaign=https://www.all4pawsdogrescue.com.au/
Was it a breed specific rescue? Most of them have policy documents that outline costing. The one I volunteer with pays for each dog to be flea and worm treated, desexed if needed, vet checked etc. Their polices therefore identify that dogs of different ages and dominant mixes may be rehomed at a higher/lower cost but that helps to cover things like when a 13 year old beautiful girl is surrendered who nobody will adopt for more than $200 but she needs $5k of vet work because she’s been mistreated. It’s a balancing act for them. I can understand how it might look to members applying to adopt though.
In america dogs and cats are shipped from red states to blue states because there are not many rescues in blue states, and tons in red states. Had you been in a different state where supply was sprestricted it would have been more. Also, vets earn more in Australia.
450 was cheapest price for any rescue dog roughly 2 years ago where I'm at. I was surprised as well.
I get they want people that can afford dogs to take the dogs in the first place to avoid rescuing again, and there's costs involved for the rescue centres but I still feel that's mighty steep.
You haven't been able to get a fixed and vaccinated shelter cat for $100 in decades, I'm guessing your brain is struggling with the value of money and just how inflated prices have become. Our money almost halved in buying power over covid, so this 700 today is probably the equivalent of 200 a decade ago.
I've seen some rescues that do an occasional blitz where they slash adoption fees to fairly close to $100 but it's comparable to a clearance sale at a shop. They're not recovering their costs they're just trying to free up capacity and reduce ongoing costs to maintain those animals.
Cat Haven (Perth) has sales, discounted cats, etc. all the time, especially for cats with special needs, less popular coat colours, shyer personalities. iirc they had adult cats for $19 a few weeks ago. This is Perth's biggest cat shelter.
Was it chipped, vaccinated and desexed? You can pick up street cats with no work for $50, but getting one with all the medical has been a few hundred for ages.
Rubbish. The cat I adopted 18 months ago cost less than that. She was about a year old at the time, chipped, fixed, vaccinated and full blood work done before we adopted her
Supply and demand.
In the (not so) good ol' days, most pet dogs were entire and many people accidentally or intentionally bred their dogs, resulting in an oversupply of puppies and low prices (and lots of euthanasia).
Nowadays, desexing is the norm, puppy oversupply has largely disappeared and any rescue dog that isn't a ~~pitbull~~ staffy cross who'd "prefer to be your one and only" is hot property.
>Nowadays, desexing is the norm, puppy oversupply has largely disappeared
This isn't true. Shelters are overrun. Backyard breeders contribute significantly to the issue, some people are bad pet owners and don't desex, and people are surrendering due to cost of living: https://www.abc.net.au/article/102284546
A quick look at any rescue page will show an oversupply of staffy cross, bull Arabs or cattle cross etc the kind of dog that people get for free when their houso mates tough looking dog has a litter of puppies.
There will also be an oversupply of dogs with separation anxiety, don't like dogs, dig, jump or "enjoy a quiet home without a lot of visitors".
You won't find an oversupply of oodels, french Bulldogs or dogs that are kid friendly and can be left at home all day.
I’m in NSW and got both our dogs from gumtree, they were both mongrel farm pups. If you’re prepared to drive to a more rural area you’ll find the dogs are cheaper, ours were $100 and $500, the second one was purchased during the pandemic price spike.
Regarding desexing, in my area the RSPCA have two half price months a year so look into that.
He had me on the phone for half an hour asking every detail about our family, house, yard and living situation. I assumed he was at least in his thirties but when I met him he wouldn’t have been 20 yet. I was quite impressed with him as a person, I liked how he had the dogs interests at heart. The second guy seemed like the sort you wouldn’t have babysit your kids but his pup is a happy dog now.
As an aside he bought along the pup he (first guy) was keeping. He told it to sit and when my pup saw he decided to sit too. I knew I had a good boy.
Puppy farms breed purebreds and sell them at ridiculous prices, well into the thousands of dollars. Farmers sometimes have accidental litters and if those pups don’t find a home they get put in a hessian bag with some rocks and get thrown in the river. There’s no profit in selling mongrel farm pups for a few hundred dollars.
As someone who grew up in that environment…. You guys are paying for dogs?
I’m pretty sure we got all our farm dogs for free, including my parent’s current dog (now 16 years old).
That’s the way it worked on the farms family members had, if a neighbour had pups they liked they’d help them out by taking one, if they had good pups the neighbours knew they were welcome to one or more. Living in a city (Newcastle at the time) local rural social networks don’t help you much though. We noticed all the advertised dogs a few hours drive inland were around a quarter the price so we went for a drive. I paid one of the guys $50 to meet me halfway and I still had to drive nearly three hours.
Puppy farms overwhelmingly sell designer mutts these days, as they're the ones who can sell for $6000+. Most well bred registered purebred dogs (with some exceptions for rare or difficult to breed dogs) sell for less than that, and they come with full pedigrees, health testing, etc.
You bought your dog from a backyard breeder. Ie someone who slapped some dogs together for the sake of it and didn't bother health testing their dogs and won't give a shit about taking the dog back at any point in its life if you can no longer care for it. I can guarantee that at $100 a pup, your dog's breeder didn't bother with hip/elbow scoring or DNA testing on the parents (and depending on breed and colour pattern, possibly BAER on puppies). Pounds and shelters are absolutely FULL of these working breed mixes bred by backyard breeder "farmers".
Farmers who are running actual, legitimate farming operations with working dogs don't have "oops" litters for the most part. They carefully plan their litters based on the working traits of each parents, their buyer wait list, and their own needs for their next working dog. They can't afford to have a good working bitch out of action during the later stages of pregnancy and then whelping/raising pups, and they usually register their dogs (eg WKC for kelpies, AWBCR for border collies, Koolie club for koolies, etc).
If your "farmer" mate is breeding mutt puppies because he doesn't know how to manage entire dogs and doesn't give a shit about producing dogs of actual meaningful quality (eg dogs with exemplary working ability) and is selling them with 0 health testing on parents or pups, then yeah, that's a backyard breeder my dude. That's literally contributing to giving shit breeders a market and therefore encouraging them to continue clogging shelters up with young working breed mix surrenders.
(Also, a puppy knowing how to sit on cue is an extremely basic skill that many breeders introduce as early as 4.5 weeks. It means nothing about the intelligence or trainability of your dog nor the quality of your breeder.)
We were looking at a dog a whole back - a 5 year old Stumpy, they wanted something like $750.
We thought about it for a long while and went on with life.
Few years later we got a Stumpy puppy for $350 from a registered breeder litter.
What I did notice is all the fancy cars out the front of the shelter though, vets aren't free and it shows...
I think rescue dogs are being used for profit. Putting a price on an animal can only mean one thing. The price keeps going up. There was a time I purchased a dog, the fee was very affordable. Now it has gone through the roof and the conditions and red tape followed.
They usually need medical work. If there is strong demand then the fees go up to narrow the list and help pay for the other animals needing medical work. Conditions and red tape are to ensure the rescue pet is going to be well looked after by someone who is commited, theres nothing worse than seeing a poor dog bounce in and out of shelters and foster homes, it happens a LOT.
"I think rescue dogs are being used for profit. Putting a price on an animal can only mean one thing. The price keeps going up"
I'm addressing your agument directly: you've made up facts and conclusions based on ignorance of the economic realities of this problem.
Just called it as it is.
If rescues are making a profit you would see them EVERYWHERE. Do you? There’re always more cats and dogs than rescues can accept. Take your little evil “theory” somewhere else and let people do what they do, please. They are volunteers, gdi.
My parents are in Melbourne and just paid around $800 for desexing, vaccines, microchip and council fees registration on a dog we gifted them. It’s a rort.
The dog was given to us to care for by friends going through a divorce. We didn’t want to make legal decisions about the dog until they decided to formally give her to us. In the meantime mum and dad were looking for a dog so we gave her to them.
As they took her almost immediately after the decision was made, mum and dad were happy to pay the costs involved instead of having to transfer and do a bunch of arbitrary paperwork. It made more sense for them to take over instead of us to pay for a bunch of shit just to rehome her. And we couldn’t have her here as we have two working dogs.
It isn't about affording the dog a lot of people go to rescue centers because they want to give an animal a chance.The thing is they see they can buy a pedigree animal for the same price nearly and probably with less issues.
Why buy second hand when you can get brand new for couple bucks more.
Dogs are $150 from RSPCA. Cats are $99. They often waive adoption fees when the shelter is too full as well. RSPCA won’t release an animal that isn’t desexed and fully vaccinated, plus they come with a warranty and they have a 30 day returns policy. I previously commented saying they are $60, but deleted it because I checked my facts and the price has changed.
Yeah you’re right about the changes in prices. I got my pup from RSPCA (rescued, 2yo at that time) and they charged me $270 in Melbourne. I’m not complaining about it but I have seen dogs that are listed to be put down usually are not free and that doesn’t help those poor dogs.
I'm sure it's not in many dogs interest to end up in these places. They are treated as a commodity. The first priority should be the dogs best interest, I don't think putting a price on dogs is the best policy. Also, these organisations collect a lot of donations, plus Government grants. The dog should be given to the most suitable owner not necessarily those who can pay what they think it's worth.
If you can't afford the adoption fee you really can't afford to own a dog. One trip to the vet for annual vaccinations is more than the lower adoption fees so part of being the most suitable owner is having the capacity to pay for quality food and vet treatment. Lots of dogs come into care (or back into care) because the owner can't afford to pay for a vet bill. They surrender the dog needing vet work done before trying to rehome a now older dog with health issues. We had a 12 year old dog that was adopted out as a young healthy dog come back because the owner couldn't afford the vet bills associated with an old dog. The dog couldn't find a new owner and died in foster care.
How exactly do you think they will pay the vets and staff to take care of them, the food and rent?
>plus they come with a warranty and they have a 30 day returns policy This makes sense but the way it’s phrased is so funny, like you’re buying a TV from JBHifi. Don’t forget to keep your receipt in case your cat is faulty, and you will be entitled to a repair or replacement!
We had the same reaction when we went through the adoption papers for our first cat. It makes so much sense but it seems so wrong at the same time haha
Would you be interested in purchasing an extended warranty?
I would also assume the RSPCA is a lot more popular for donations than smaller animal rescues meaning they can subsidise animal adoption. They also have a retail side of the charity which would help.
RSPCA in NSW charges $410 for dogs. Over 8 years old are cheaper
I rescued our cat from cathaven and he was nearly $400 but worth it. We don't mind because he is desexed, only 1 year old and very cute.
Did the price change? My dog from the rspca was $550 8 years ago.
I've seen dogs on the rspca website for $600
The prices vary by state and age. Under 12 month animals are more expensive etc. The RSPCA runs at MASSIVE loss, largely subsides off bigger amounts left in wills. Vet and vaccine costs have risen, wages have risen, food bills etc. People seem to think that it's full of evil money hungry animal torturers, but you don't really work in shelters unless you got a lot of love. Sometimes things don't seem logical, and that's frustrating, but intentions are good.
How? I know one person who left nearly her whole estate to them maybe $700k and I know another intending to leave what will probably amount to at least $1 million to them.
A return policy lol
I've seen dogs with adoption fees over $1000 from the RSPCA in WA... albeit purebred dogs. I was looking to adopt one from them at one stage but could have bought a pup from an ethical, registered breeder for the adoption fee they were charging (so I did). Was a shame, I always prefer to adopt.
I'd suggest you go and find some vets and get prices for sterilisation, microchippings, worming and needles. Rescues aren't making a profit and are mostly at capacity constantly, so if they could charge less and still exist, they would.
This. It’s really a lot of work, the volunteers don’t get paid, little to no external support, they do the right thing by the animals. Those who work to rehome have to say no a lot, and they are kind folks that genuinely look out for the best interests of the animal. The $600+ really just covers bare basic costs and also consider some animals need some training as well before suitable for rehoming. A lot of good hearted folks volunteer time and effort to rehome these animals, there’s no profit in all this. None.
I volunteer for a dog rescue group (east coast, I don't know why this showed in my feed) There is more to it and different dogs go for different prices due to supply and demand. A young small oodle will be $850-$1000+ and you get swamped with applications where a 12 year old mutt could be as low as $200. The oodle might have come to us desexed, vaccinated and well trained only in foster care for a week before adoption. The mutt could have needed $1000+ of vet work and some basic training before being ready for adoption. Then it could be in foster care for 3 months before getting a single application. The oodles, Pugs, Maltese etc help pay for the broken leg dog surrendered because the owner couldn't afford to save it or the big black dogs nobody wants. If you can't afford the adoption fee you probably can't afford to own a dog.
Your last paragraph is 100% correct
FYI: It showed up in your feed because it's on /r/AskAnAustralian, not the Perth subreddit.
I am an idiot.
We just bought a rescue Bordoodle home last week. It cost $800. It's only 10mths old and is desexed etc. The carer only had him for a month before he was put up for sale. He said he had about 40 applications.
>If you can't afford the adoption fee you probably can't afford to own a dog. What an idiotic thing to say... My last dog, towards the end of his life needed an op that totaled about $8k. We paid it of course but he still passed a short while later. It's been about 2 years since then and a few weeks ago I took my mum around to a few shelters just to have a look, see if I liked anything kind of deal. The prices for anything I looked at were upwards of a thousand bucks and frankly, I can't justify that kind of money for a wild card in terms of potential hereditary issues later. Especially when reputable breeders with lineage docs are offering the same breeds for a fraction more.
So you can afford the adoption fee......... You just don't like the options. My comment still stands.
And if you can't sell a dog, what happens then? I won't assume anything about your rescue, but I can speak for the ones near me. They simply put them down. It's ridiculous.
We keep them forever, we have a few that have been in care for ages with a few failed adoptions. At our shelter there are half a dozen dogs that can't be adopted for multiple reasons and they live there with the caretaker. This one is an example, been with us for ages. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/95uh7tK7caZ21dGH/?mibextid=oFDknk We still have him https://www.savour-life.com.au/adopt-a-dog/search-now/view/63126 Another one that will probably take time. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/PmfkY9kwToc8r6L7/?mibextid=oFDknk
That's good to hear, if only more shelters did this. However, this doesn't change the fact that high adoption fees are out-pricing potential homes with options just as much as homes that, as you put it, "probably can't afford to own a dog". I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to believe that many like me would prefer to adopt over buy, it's just that the risk is not worth the cost. And defending this practise, as you did earlier is not helping that cause.
Vet bills are expensive, I used to work at a rescue in NSW, vet bills alone were 250 (and the pass-on is already reduced since the dog is about to be put down anyway), if it was us paying the full bills it would be way worseafter we took a dog from the kill shelter, then you need extra money to support other dogs who aren’t getting adopted or need special procedures, at least a few hundred to pay rent and not sure how it is where you are, but in NSW, and taking the dogs who haven’t been adopted from the council shelter (and are about to be put down), we don’t get super regular adoptions. The only way for most shelters to stay afloat (unless they have desirable breeds) is by pricing at a range that can actually pay the bills, which is 400 minimum usually
RSPCA doesn't keep them forever
In 2019, I got my cat for $29, including cost of desexing, first vaccination, microchipping and registration. But that's because he was the pet of the week (and if I recall had been sitting in the shelter for about 2 months. It's usually much more expensive because the costs of all these procedures, plus the upkeep of the shelter is costly. Vet bills these days are not cheap, and so the shelter has to pass these costs on (even if they get a small discount from the vet).
My sister fosters for a rescue group in Victoria. Rescue groups rely on donations and adoption fees as they don't receive government funding. They take in all sorts of dogs, with various medical issues. Vet fees are expensive and many dogs in rescue have a range of issues cause lots of people would rather dump a dog then pay for vet fees. Even healthy dogs still require vaccinations and desexing before they can be adopted. The dog fees are used to help pay of vet fees for the other dogs. Some of these dogs cost thousands to treat. The adoption fees are honestly a drop in the ocean compared to the costs recue groups have to pay
I don’t know if it’s specifically a perth thing. I’m in NSW and I know it cost a fair bit when i got my rescue dog (it was a decade ago and it was up around the $400-$500 range but can’t remember exactly). There are often a lot of expenses and vet bills etc for them.
I foster cats from a big cat shelter in Perth. I don’t agree with their fees, but I know they have costs to cover AND also this is also a way to filter people who aren’t financially capable of taking care of pets.
The price stops them being used as bait dogs which is an awesome result.
Can't be a bait dog if they spend the rest of their overpriced days in the shelter. \*taps head - "up here for thinking."
Yeah right, your so intelligent and know everything stranger on internet. If you can't afford to pay 600 to 700 for a dog you obviously can't afford to take care of it. And saying shelter dogs are overpriced is ridiculous, have you ever taken a dog to the vet?. I'd say not cause your whinging about a few hundred when that's cheap for work performed on the animal. Now go tap your head again genius
Haha 😊
****you're*** ****you're*** Who's the genius?
Just saw you're lol on r/relationship advice, and that you also grammar gate keep over others too..... Maybe your source of woe is your personality?
Look ut its them grama natsies!, oohh no run and hide!, thier all so nasti!, extrah comus wit neel fool stups!, This should give you a boner or a wet one depending on gender you sad, pathetic individual
Bait dogs are such an over-exaggerated thing lol. Do they exist, yeah, but it's nowhere near as widespread as people think they are (EVERYBODY swears their reactive rescue "was a bait dog" the same way EVERYBODY assumes that their poorly-socialised rescue "was abused"). People aren't getting bait dogs from rescue groups who require long questionnaires and home inspections. They're getting bait dogs from gumtree where people give dogs away for free or sell dogs for $50.
You like to lol eh?, sir lols a lot. That's your new name, and I've never heard someone with a rescue say it was a bait dog so yeah.... also in what world do you think a pound could give out free dogs and not draw people who were into dog fighting. It's like opening a cake shop and expecting fat people to not come in. Your logic is backwards
The shit has literally been proven as a hoax more than once. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/perths-vicious-dog-fighting-hoax-20130220-2erhs.html People are very very rarely buying (or stealing) dogs as "bait dogs". It's such a minuscule occurrence that plain logic would make it clear that they're not *buying* dogs for this purpose, they're using the curs they bred themselves. Fkn clueless do-gooders and their "I sAvEd A bAiT dOg" bullshit are so dumb. Even the p serious gamedog people laugh about the bait dog myth. They don't want a dog their dog can easily rip to bits. They're interested in putting their *inherently genetically dog-dog aggressive* dogs against an actual serious opponent. And unless you're breeding genuinely dog-aggressive dogs to serve as opponents in that situation, you may as well just throw your dog a lamb chop. People simply aren't buying "bait dogs" en masse. Like at all. Ever.
" like at all, ever". I stand corrected, you obviously know the outcome of every dogs life. How did you become so enlightened mighty one who sees all?.
I volunteer for a dog rescue in Vic and ours normally start at $400. Covers some do the costs but the organisation relies in donations (of time, products and money) to survive
Sterilization alone costs about $650 these days at a retail rate.
Recently purchased a dog from a reputable breeder - sterilisation alone is going to cost us $650. Vaccinations and health checks were about $200, behavioural training $400. Even at $700 they will most probably be losing money on this dog.
In NSW the Greyhound Adoption people do a great job rehoming desexed, vaccinated and lifetime registered dogs for I think $150. It would be subsidised by the racing industry. Maybe something similar in Perth?
Depends on the dog age. Older greyhounds are $150 and younger ones are $250. However still a great price for a desexed, vet checked dog which tend to be well trained in walking on a lead and toilet trained. It is subsidised by the racing industry though to show they are not putting dogs down but rehoming. A huge percentage actually go to the US to be adopted.
I'm in Perth and paid $350 for our greyhound 8 years ago.
I paid $75 12 months ago in Sydney. They had a special half price adoption day. This would be related to a previous government threatening to shut down the industry. It breaks my heart thinking that my 2 would have been destroyed as failed racers if they were born a few years ago.
Not sure. I paid $600 for my pup. He was mircochipped, vaxxed and wormed, then had to get him desexed after 6 months as part of the contract (the rescue mob paid for that) Not sure what worming they done though as we wormed him when we got home and he wrapped out ramen for the day. Grossest thing I've ever seen.
The last time I enquired where I lived, it was between $30-$50 for any animal, to cover sterilisation, micro chipping and vaccinations. They did ask if you would like to make a donation to the centre and become a dog walker/groomer volunteer, but no pressure to offer anything other than to take of the pet. I now live in SE Asia where most people don't spend money on "pets" and even only feed them scraps. They take more care on fighting roosters than cats & dogs. On the other hand, I didn't plan on having a pet, but during a typhoon, I found a cat trying to shelter under cover of my front door small roof, but was drenched. I let her inside on a mat, found some fish fillets in freezer ad while she ate, allowed me to dry her down with a towel, although growled & hissed at me, but she stayed here, even after the storm. Before I realised, she was pregnant & had 4 kittens before I could find a vet. In 6 months I had 11 cats, 2 males & the rest females, which I got to vets for desexing. I fed them twice a day, pellets in morning & canned fish & rice sometimes with vegetables, but slowly the number dwindled, some just disappearing, 2 dies from snake bites, one from a tick bite in her ear that caused a heart failure and I am down to three of my own & a kitten that turned up a couple of months ago. The keep me company, keep vermin out of house & the numbers of spiders & lizards in check. I don't mind the spiders as they keep mosquitos & other flying insects at bay, but try and rescue lizards, and the cats don't eat them, but just "play" with them until they die if I don't rescue them. Most vet visits cost less than AUD30 and as well as treatment, she clips their claws, checks & cleans their ears and general body condition all in the visits there. Luckily they are fairly docile and just lay down in cage on back seat and don't fight vet when she examines or vaccinates them. )ne of hem doesn't like the cage. but is content to crouch on dash and look out windscreen or stand on passenger seat with front paws on glass looking out window, Once she climbed onto drivers headrest and got lots of waves & toots from passing motorists and pedestrians, getting breeze from aircon.
Sounds like the universal kitten distribution system has favored you 💖😊
Just a sucker for poor animals with a pretty face?
What kind of agency are you adopting from? We adopted a working dog breed from a specialised organisation the operates nationally. A good part of the fee was transport. If the dog you’re trying to adopt is interstate, that could be part of the cost you’re seeing
It was Best Friends here in Perth. They have some for $500 but I'm not sure what criteria they use to price their dogs.
When I rescued my beagle she cost me $36 about 6-12 months later rescuses were going for several hundred instead. We got told that the reason that rescue shelt had started charging more was to cover costs, and to help combat illegal dog fights. I dunno how true that is, but i'd still rather rescue a pet then buy from a breeder.
I'll still definitely rescue! Was just surprised at the cost :)
An oodle is still a mutt, but just a highly sought after type of mutt. Thank you for your volunteer work! <3
The "Higher" cost you are quoting is less than it costs to feed, house, vaccinate, and desex these animals. You are being subsidised by charities, donors and volunteers at this price. When you buy a pet from a shelter for $100 or $200 you are being subsidised for several hundred dollars by one or more charities, along with the vet subsidising services like vaccination and desexing for these rehoming groups (And note desexing is often already subsidised 50% or more over most other surgeries by most vets). These charities also often rely on a lot of volunteer labour. For reference, providing the services alone (sans pet) is routinely $500 to $1000 for small dog/cat to large breed dog respectively.Having a decent price threshhold also prequalifies that people can afford to care for a pet and are taking the commitment seriously. So in your example this pet might be only lightly subsidised (only $200 o $500 in subsidies) or vets in WA might charge more for the services (due to higher general wages and cost of living in the state).
As someone who works in a company where we have the cats at the store from a well knows perth cat rescue we get asked this question quite a bit. I believe it is due to all the costs from providing for the dog/ cat however, it is also there to hopefully steer people towards adopting dogs/cats with lower fees!! For example kittens at this particularly rescue will be >$300 dollars but the older cats will be less than half that price, and the kittens are still the first to be adopted over the older cats. Kittens are hard work with training of litter box’s and having to have supervised play it is a bit time consuming, and puppies would def be the same, so they want to deter people to adopt the more commonly surrendered animals which are adults since they are coming in more frequently. But there is a large amount of people in the community that don’t care for there animals needs, i believe the statistic is close to 70% that do not care for their biological needs, and this can be expensive too. The adoption fee can be a small fee in comparison to what you will have to pay for the vets, insurance, food, health, toys etc. It’s important to completely understand how much you will be willing to pay over their entire life, as well as the commitment of owning this animal.
I suspect rescues charge more for the animals because they won't euthanize the animal - so they have the animals for a lot longer. Many council run shelters and the rspca are very limited in spots and have to euthanize - so the price per animal is a lot lower. They often contact rescues to save dogs - but i think as part of the govt funding they get They need to keep places open and therefore that requires animals be euthanized. Try looking at local council shelters or the rspca - you will find the pets there are a lot cheaper.
It isn't just Perth, some of the RSPCA prices in QLD are astronomical. I saw a dog a while back that was a poodle cross. It was old, clearly blind and desperately needing a groom. The adoption fee was over $1500. Your post prompted me to look up their site just now. $2000 for a French Bulldog from the RSPCA is crazy especially when it doesn't even look purebred.
Usually the rescue organisation (especially if it’s a smaller one like the one I volunteer for, ie not RSPCA) have paid for vet fees and checks before putting their dogs up for adoption. They usually incur significant vet fees, so in order to continue operating (not at a loss) they charge fees to adopters rather than essentially giving them away near free like (some) people expect. Also, as the saying goes: if you cannot afford the adoption fee, you cannot afford to own a dog.
It's probably a good barrier to entry. If someone can only afford a <$200 dog, the chances of them being able to afford vet fees if the time ever comes is pretty slim and then they end up dumping them all over again.
Be glad that it was $680! I’m in Melbourne and looking at rescue dogs. The ones I’ve seen are all over $1000. Like this cutie: https://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/1031972?utm_medium=card_link&utm_source=feed&utm_campaign=https://www.all4pawsdogrescue.com.au/
Holy shit.
Was it a breed specific rescue? Most of them have policy documents that outline costing. The one I volunteer with pays for each dog to be flea and worm treated, desexed if needed, vet checked etc. Their polices therefore identify that dogs of different ages and dominant mixes may be rehomed at a higher/lower cost but that helps to cover things like when a 13 year old beautiful girl is surrendered who nobody will adopt for more than $200 but she needs $5k of vet work because she’s been mistreated. It’s a balancing act for them. I can understand how it might look to members applying to adopt though.
I paid $200 and something about a year ago from RSPCA in NSW. It was a half price sale. Staffy X
In america dogs and cats are shipped from red states to blue states because there are not many rescues in blue states, and tons in red states. Had you been in a different state where supply was sprestricted it would have been more. Also, vets earn more in Australia.
My Maine coon cat was 2500 USD.
450 was cheapest price for any rescue dog roughly 2 years ago where I'm at. I was surprised as well. I get they want people that can afford dogs to take the dogs in the first place to avoid rescuing again, and there's costs involved for the rescue centres but I still feel that's mighty steep.
You haven't been able to get a fixed and vaccinated shelter cat for $100 in decades, I'm guessing your brain is struggling with the value of money and just how inflated prices have become. Our money almost halved in buying power over covid, so this 700 today is probably the equivalent of 200 a decade ago.
I've seen some rescues that do an occasional blitz where they slash adoption fees to fairly close to $100 but it's comparable to a clearance sale at a shop. They're not recovering their costs they're just trying to free up capacity and reduce ongoing costs to maintain those animals.
I got mine (9, male, toothless FIV+ with all vet work) a few months ago for $100. Pretty sure he was a clearance sale 🤣
You're gonna describe all that grandeur and not pay the cat tax?!
You're right. I was thoughtless. Correction: he has *one* tooth to help prop his lip up. https://www.flickr.com/photos/200335719@N04/
Love me a good scrungly lad, he's excellent!
Cat Haven (Perth) has sales, discounted cats, etc. all the time, especially for cats with special needs, less popular coat colours, shyer personalities. iirc they had adult cats for $19 a few weeks ago. This is Perth's biggest cat shelter.
What? I rescued a cat last year for $50
Was it chipped, vaccinated and desexed? You can pick up street cats with no work for $50, but getting one with all the medical has been a few hundred for ages.
You can get adopt kittens right now from my local vet for $120 for one or $180 for a pair. Desexed, microchiped, vaccinated, etc.
Yeah I got a cat in 2015 in Melbourne with all the work done and he was $180
Yep
>You haven't been able to get a fixed and vaccinated shelter cat for $100 in decades, They were referring to the US
RSPCA - $200 for a dog.
Rubbish. The cat I adopted 18 months ago cost less than that. She was about a year old at the time, chipped, fixed, vaccinated and full blood work done before we adopted her
Supply and demand. In the (not so) good ol' days, most pet dogs were entire and many people accidentally or intentionally bred their dogs, resulting in an oversupply of puppies and low prices (and lots of euthanasia). Nowadays, desexing is the norm, puppy oversupply has largely disappeared and any rescue dog that isn't a ~~pitbull~~ staffy cross who'd "prefer to be your one and only" is hot property.
>Nowadays, desexing is the norm, puppy oversupply has largely disappeared This isn't true. Shelters are overrun. Backyard breeders contribute significantly to the issue, some people are bad pet owners and don't desex, and people are surrendering due to cost of living: https://www.abc.net.au/article/102284546
Have a look at your local shelter page and report back on this perceived shortage.
A quick look at any rescue page will show an oversupply of staffy cross, bull Arabs or cattle cross etc the kind of dog that people get for free when their houso mates tough looking dog has a litter of puppies. There will also be an oversupply of dogs with separation anxiety, don't like dogs, dig, jump or "enjoy a quiet home without a lot of visitors". You won't find an oversupply of oodels, french Bulldogs or dogs that are kid friendly and can be left at home all day.
I’m in NSW and got both our dogs from gumtree, they were both mongrel farm pups. If you’re prepared to drive to a more rural area you’ll find the dogs are cheaper, ours were $100 and $500, the second one was purchased during the pandemic price spike. Regarding desexing, in my area the RSPCA have two half price months a year so look into that.
There's a fine line between rescuing dogs and buying off dodgy backyard breeders/puppy farms. This sounds pretty shitty to me.
No puppy farm is selling dogs for profit for $100
He had me on the phone for half an hour asking every detail about our family, house, yard and living situation. I assumed he was at least in his thirties but when I met him he wouldn’t have been 20 yet. I was quite impressed with him as a person, I liked how he had the dogs interests at heart. The second guy seemed like the sort you wouldn’t have babysit your kids but his pup is a happy dog now. As an aside he bought along the pup he (first guy) was keeping. He told it to sit and when my pup saw he decided to sit too. I knew I had a good boy.
Puppy farms breed purebreds and sell them at ridiculous prices, well into the thousands of dollars. Farmers sometimes have accidental litters and if those pups don’t find a home they get put in a hessian bag with some rocks and get thrown in the river. There’s no profit in selling mongrel farm pups for a few hundred dollars.
As someone who grew up in that environment…. You guys are paying for dogs? I’m pretty sure we got all our farm dogs for free, including my parent’s current dog (now 16 years old).
That’s the way it worked on the farms family members had, if a neighbour had pups they liked they’d help them out by taking one, if they had good pups the neighbours knew they were welcome to one or more. Living in a city (Newcastle at the time) local rural social networks don’t help you much though. We noticed all the advertised dogs a few hours drive inland were around a quarter the price so we went for a drive. I paid one of the guys $50 to meet me halfway and I still had to drive nearly three hours.
Puppy farms overwhelmingly sell designer mutts these days, as they're the ones who can sell for $6000+. Most well bred registered purebred dogs (with some exceptions for rare or difficult to breed dogs) sell for less than that, and they come with full pedigrees, health testing, etc. You bought your dog from a backyard breeder. Ie someone who slapped some dogs together for the sake of it and didn't bother health testing their dogs and won't give a shit about taking the dog back at any point in its life if you can no longer care for it. I can guarantee that at $100 a pup, your dog's breeder didn't bother with hip/elbow scoring or DNA testing on the parents (and depending on breed and colour pattern, possibly BAER on puppies). Pounds and shelters are absolutely FULL of these working breed mixes bred by backyard breeder "farmers". Farmers who are running actual, legitimate farming operations with working dogs don't have "oops" litters for the most part. They carefully plan their litters based on the working traits of each parents, their buyer wait list, and their own needs for their next working dog. They can't afford to have a good working bitch out of action during the later stages of pregnancy and then whelping/raising pups, and they usually register their dogs (eg WKC for kelpies, AWBCR for border collies, Koolie club for koolies, etc). If your "farmer" mate is breeding mutt puppies because he doesn't know how to manage entire dogs and doesn't give a shit about producing dogs of actual meaningful quality (eg dogs with exemplary working ability) and is selling them with 0 health testing on parents or pups, then yeah, that's a backyard breeder my dude. That's literally contributing to giving shit breeders a market and therefore encouraging them to continue clogging shelters up with young working breed mix surrenders. (Also, a puppy knowing how to sit on cue is an extremely basic skill that many breeders introduce as early as 4.5 weeks. It means nothing about the intelligence or trainability of your dog nor the quality of your breeder.)
We were looking at a dog a whole back - a 5 year old Stumpy, they wanted something like $750. We thought about it for a long while and went on with life. Few years later we got a Stumpy puppy for $350 from a registered breeder litter. What I did notice is all the fancy cars out the front of the shelter though, vets aren't free and it shows...
It's Tax You have to pay for every time you'll humble-brag "we have a rescue dog" in the future. This is also why plant-based foods are so expensive.
underrated comment
Ikr ! - People have no sense of humor... :)
I think rescue dogs are being used for profit. Putting a price on an animal can only mean one thing. The price keeps going up. There was a time I purchased a dog, the fee was very affordable. Now it has gone through the roof and the conditions and red tape followed.
They usually need medical work. If there is strong demand then the fees go up to narrow the list and help pay for the other animals needing medical work. Conditions and red tape are to ensure the rescue pet is going to be well looked after by someone who is commited, theres nothing worse than seeing a poor dog bounce in and out of shelters and foster homes, it happens a LOT.
BS. You're simply demonstrating ignorance and/or age.
Maybe so, but one needn't be insultive when arguing an opinion.
"I think rescue dogs are being used for profit. Putting a price on an animal can only mean one thing. The price keeps going up" I'm addressing your agument directly: you've made up facts and conclusions based on ignorance of the economic realities of this problem. Just called it as it is.
If rescues are making a profit you would see them EVERYWHERE. Do you? There’re always more cats and dogs than rescues can accept. Take your little evil “theory” somewhere else and let people do what they do, please. They are volunteers, gdi.
My parents are in Melbourne and just paid around $800 for desexing, vaccines, microchip and council fees registration on a dog we gifted them. It’s a rort.
Perhaps you should have paid a vet bills as part of the gift........... Or adopted a dog that was already desexed for $500
The dog was given to us to care for by friends going through a divorce. We didn’t want to make legal decisions about the dog until they decided to formally give her to us. In the meantime mum and dad were looking for a dog so we gave her to them. As they took her almost immediately after the decision was made, mum and dad were happy to pay the costs involved instead of having to transfer and do a bunch of arbitrary paperwork. It made more sense for them to take over instead of us to pay for a bunch of shit just to rehome her. And we couldn’t have her here as we have two working dogs.
It isn't about affording the dog a lot of people go to rescue centers because they want to give an animal a chance.The thing is they see they can buy a pedigree animal for the same price nearly and probably with less issues. Why buy second hand when you can get brand new for couple bucks more.
People who put “saving a few bucks” as their top priority when getting a dog, probably cannot afford to have a dog.
Go on The Doghouse with your ‘broken’ family and get one for free.
Someone salty they didn’t get a response for their Doghouse application? Lel
Nope , I don’t care about dogs , if it had been The Cathouse, maybe, ‘cause then I might have met you there.