Adoption fee debate

[CBrewton5]

I hate to even broach the subject but what the hay, I guess I'm up for a bit of abuse.......LOL

I know that most of you are dead set against pet store purchases, or 'purchasing' a guinea pig from say an ad in a thrift-type newspaper (here it's called the Thrifty Nickel I believe) but I'm curious on how you feel about paying small (not like the $35 a pet store would charge, more along the lines of $10 to $15) adoption fees for pigs. I know even the Humane Society here charges $50 for a cat or dog NOT including spay or neuter, never have tried to adopt a cavy from there. If you saw an ad for a gp needing a home and it had a small fee attached to it would you still consider it or would it turn you off all together? My own personal feeling is that asking a small adoption fee is a good thing, because as has been pointed out here before, people don't USUALLY buy an animal and then do something stupid with it like use it as snake food (!) or be careless with it. In other words it *weeds* out the ones who are not really serious about caring for and loving an animal for a long period of time. YES I am aware that some people will buy an animal only to neglect/abuse it later on......but without the benefit of a crystal ball you have to have some kind of criteria to go by, and I don't think very many of us would do home visits for people that wanted to adopt our cavies if we ever had to re-home them .

Just curious what your thoughts were on adoption fees, and whether you are for or against them, what other 'screening' process you'd have if you ever had to re-home one of your cavies or one of them had surprise babies.

[Hansel]

[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Arial]Adoption fees are not there solely to make a person think twice before investing in an animal. Many animals coming into shelters need medical attention. Where do you think that money comes from? Many shelters are non-profit and don’t have much in the ways of funding. Many dogs and cats have higher fees than say a guinea pig. Most shelters/rescues will spay or neuter the animal before it is adopted out. Many animals have to have medical issues taken care of before they are adopted and will generally have higher adoption fees. That is where the fees come in. I have no problem paying an adoption fee because it continually gives shelters the money and support they need to be functional.[/FONT] [/FONT]

[zambonigirl]

The adoption fees that I paid were much less than if I had bought two pigs at a store. That being said, you're not really paying for the pet, you're making a minimum donation to the adoption agency so that they can care for the animals that they have left. You don't even have to take a pet to give them money.

[kathmom26]

Are you talking about an adoption fee for a shelter/rescue or a fee in a newspaper ad?

[Ly&Pigs]

A lot of times people place ads in newspapers for pigs and other animals that they want to either "sell" or "give away free". Those are the ads that I would be wary of. Breeders place ads to "sell" (those should be avoided) and no one should ever put an ad in the paper for "free guinea pigs" as it will draw attention to reptile owners in search for free food. I think that if someone has pigs they are wanting to get rid of for any reason, they should at least charge a nominal adoption fee to ensure the person wanting to take on this pet will be somewhat responsible for it.

When I adopt out, I ask an adoption fee because I have had to house, feed and supply all the necessary supplies for the pigs and if the pig were to get sick, then there are vet costs to recoup. If the person/people are willing to drive to me to get the pigs, I waive the adoption fee in lieu of the gas they have buy to get here (if the location is over an hour away).

I do have a couple pigs that came from ads in the paper for "free guinea pigs". I took CoCo because I needed a buddy for Chatty. I took Boo because I didn't want her ending up as snake food or going to yet another bad home.

But be wary of any ad in a paper asking for money. Ask questions when you call. Ask the person where the pig came from, if they are a breeder then they should be avoided. There may be some breeders out there that place ads with "adoption fee" required instead of something like "guinea pigs for sale".

[CBrewton5]

When I adopt out, I ask an adoption fee because I have had to house, feed and supply all the necessary supplies for the pigs and if the pig were to get sick, then there are vet costs to recoup. If the person/people are willing to drive to me to get the pigs, I waive the adoption fee in lieu of the gas they have buy to get here (if the location is over an hour away).

That was what what I was curious about. I know you all feel breeders should be avoided, that was a given. I was more curious on whether you felt asking a small adoption fee for adopting out babies that are the result of an accidental pregnancy or the case like my friends that got one female that was already pregnant from the pet store, or my situation in getting these two females that were pregnant as a result of my friends neglegience. You're absolutely right, you have to feed and house whatever guinea pigs you end up with until you can find homes for them, so I don't think asking a small adoption fee is out of line. The only way you'd be supporting a breeder in those instances is if the breeder flat out LIED and said that the piggies were the result of accidental pregnancy when in fact they bred them on purpose, but again without the benefit of a crystal ball there's just no way to know that, so you have to choose to either trust the person you're talking to or not.

[PiggieMom]

When adopting from anyone a person must be wary. It is your responsiblity to ask questions, whether they are "Free to a Good Home" or not.

When I adopted out my sisters beagle, I posted an adoption fee of $50.00. I did this to avoid people who were not serious about the responsibility involved with caring for an animal. Dogs are expensive, you should be able to have $50.00 on hand. Even with this adoption fee posted, I got strange and frightening responses to my adds (including a man who said he wanted to ship her to africa for food, in other words a prank response). When I did meet with the dogs new family, I questioned them throughly. When I was comfortable with them, I chose to waive the fee. This was a personal choice for me. I did not have to house this dog or feed it or pay fo it's vet bills. I was out no money for this.

On the cases of pigs, "free to good home pigs" have been known to end up as snake food. So if you make them more expensive than feeder mice, you have one more barrier against the wrong type of adopter.

[Cavies2B3]

I am FOR adoption fee's because the fees you pay to adopt an animal are barely enough to break even for most rescues and shelters. I would rather help them financially than large pet store chains that don't NEED the money, their owners just WANT money and it's not to better the animals they keep in their shops either. There I have said my peace.

[Seralinne]

I believe that it is a good thing. It requires people to actually consider that GP's do cost money and will continue to cost money. Also it helps the organisation out. They often do alot of medical treatment for animals to get them healthy again. And while that may not be your piggy, it was probably somebody elses. As well as covering the cost of food, beddings, etc for the time that the GP stayed there. I believe the RSPCA in Aust charges app. $35 based simply on what I have said above. I'm too tired to think of my own reasons

[CavySpirit]

Anyone rehoming their guinea pigs should charge an adoption fee of around $25 per pig. More if possible, but that is reasonable and good enough to weed out those who can't afford it as well as bunchers or those looking for cheap snake food.

It's a given and understood that no one should advertise any pet as 'free to good home.' Therefore one must charge an adoption fee. If a private party wants to donate their adoption fee to a rescue or shelter, all the better, but it is neither required nor expected.

[zippysmom]

I would definetly adopt it even if there was a charge. Here, guinea pigs are for adoption for free all the time.