Today there were no arrivals or departures at the refuge so I thought that we would discuss adoption fees!
When someone arrives to adopt a dog a common question is why are adoption fees so high? Shouldn’t adopting a dog be free, or at least super cheap? To these people I say, remember, you get what you pay for.
When you purchase a pedigree pup from a dog breeder you may be paying anywhere from £500 for your new puppy, but often that’s all your getting for that cost. When you adopt a dog from us your adoption fees are going to pay towards the cost of care your adopted dog has received while at the SPA. Here is a break down of what the SPA has already put into your dog before you even adopt.
Vet check and vaccinations. On arrival all of our dogs are vet checked, treated if necessary and vaccinated.These vaccinations prevent against many horrible diseases such as distemper, parvo and kennel cough.
The SPA will not allow their animals to leave the premises without first being microchipped or tatooed. Even although a lot of pet owners insist that their adopted dog will never get lost, we see it happen all the time so all of our dogs leave identified and it’s the law!
Monthly flea, tick and ear mite treatments for dogs are also given and de-wormer medications are often given preventatively and so your dog will be flea and worm free!
Yours dog will also be spayed or neutered. There are simply too many dogs for too few homes and this is one way that we can make a bid difference to the future dog population.
Like most refuges the SPA struggles to financially break even. Our overhead costs are always in the increase and if we didn’t charge an adoption fee we couldn’t carry on and that would mean lots of dogs would die on the streets.
Those who think its cheaper to take a dog ‘free to a good home’ are in for a shock when they visit the vet. To have a dog identified, vaccinated, treated against kennel cough, flea and worm treatment and then sterilised you wont get much change from 500 euros.
We like to think that those who adopt do so as they are saving a life and saying NO to irresponsible breeders and puppy farms but its certainly good to know that you are also getting value for money whilst enabling us to carry on and help another dog!