Rescue Fees

[southcalihedgie]

Hello,

As you all may know I run a private hedgie rescue, and I have been very fortunate in the past to find wonderful homes and vets to hel me provide care and homes for hedgie in need.

After talking with a few other rescue people (dogs and cats mostly) the issue of adoption fees came up. I personally only charge the new owners for the vet care the hedgie needed to recover from the neglect if any of the past owner. Since the old owners obviously couldnt be bothered to pay for care. In the past I tried to charge the old owners a re homng fee to help offfset any possible bills the new owner would have to pay with no luck. The old owners basically feel that I am lucky to be getting "their hedgie for free" even though the reason why I am taking them is becuase they need care that the owner does not want to pay for. Some hedgies need extensive care, so thier adoption fee is quite high. Sometimes the best owner looses out (to another well qualified person) becuase thier finances cannot allow them to purchase the rescue and I end up feeling really bad. But I know I cannot help other hedgies if I am forced to stop due to financial burden. I do recieve vet discounts because I am a rescue and I really hustle to get the best deal on supplies and DIY as much as I can to cut costs which helps, but not as much as I hoped. My rescue friends disagree, they think I should take what the new owner can afford and just absorb the difference as a loss to a good cause. I was a little peeved by this opinion because they have the luxury of find raising publicly without fear of punishment and they have the option of sometimes free vet care for thier dogs and cats because a lot more vets can treat dogs and cats properly. Who is right?

As you know I have 2 rescues in my care: former screaming Janis, and another black eyed white female (no name yet) she was neglected and abused but is recovering nicely. The latter female has a vet bill attached to her that is $250. You can see picks of her in the rescue thread along with a small bio. I really wanted to adopt her out to who I think is the perfect person, but due to a personal emergency she cannot aford the adoption fee. I feel realy bad and wanted her to go wiith this family. What should I do? :dunno:

Thanks :dunno:

[Nancy]

I see both sides to this. I know rescueing can be expensive and it would be nice to try and re-coop some of the vet expenses but in reality, asking an adoption fee that is higher than someone could go buy a baby for is going to really limit the number of people willing to adopt the rescue.

The people that are adopting the rescue are also getting an animal from unknown background and care. It can come with life long health and/or emotional problems.

I guess I lean more towards finding the best home possible for the rescue so that it will spend it's life safe and well cared for. Someone who is aware and willing to accept the hedgehog for what it is and the problems it may have in the future. If the best person can't afford the fee that covers my expenses, then I guess I'd have to absorb them myself. No too many rescues break even on the animals they adopt out. :)

[hemi_mygirl]

I think it's fine to charge an adoption fee, because people are more likely to pay the vet fees for an animal they had to pay for. I've seen people say, "pay $300 for treatment for an animal I didn't have to pay for? No thanks."

I payed $75 to adopt my boyfriend's hedgehog, and I was fine with that. The girl I adopted her from sent along 6 pounds of food totalling $20, a large comfort wheel that was $20, a large plastic igloo which was about $10 and two food bowls that cost about $8. So, she sent about $58 of supplies with the little girl AND was going to send a cage too. So, I didn't mind the fee.

But when people charge $200 to adopt a rescue, that's just greed right there. Sometimes finding a good home for the animal is more important than recouping vet fees.

[Nancy]

I recently adopted a boy that was surrendered to the local humane society. He came with his My first home cage, a excellent metal wheel, his igloo and dishes. The whole thing was $30. I got him just so I could find him a new hedgehog knowledgeable home.

[hemi_mygirl]

Ahh yes, I remember adopting a little guy from our Humane Society. I couldn't stand for him to go to a non-hedgehog savvy house, so I adopted him for $30 and placed him. I educated my friend on hedgehogs, and he took great care of the little guy for 6 months, until he suddenly died. A necropsy proved nothing, and my friend was devastated.

He only came with himself though. I had to buy bowls and everything for him.

[southcalihedgie]

"But when people charge $200 to adopt a rescue, that's just greed right there. Sometimes finding a good home for the animal is more important than recouping vet fees."

Wow, that is a really rude comment to make. I thought the definition of greed is when a person seeks to gainn more than he or she deserves or needs strictly for thier own befit. Asking for a new owner to pay for the veterinary cost only means that I do not recieve a dime. In fact I loose my own money because I am not compensated for my time, travel expenses, and sometimes the money I use to buy the sick hedgie...not all neglectful owners will simply surrender sick animals...to me that is true greed and selfishness. I also accept the fact that if I cannot find a new home for any hog I rescue I keep them for the rest of thier days at my expense because I believe every animal deserves love, and care.

So in the end I get nothing (but the satification of knowing that in some small way I have made a difference), or the resposibility of caring for an animal the rest of its life because they are not wanted or require expensive special care. And that makes me greedy? Okay.

[hemi_mygirl]

No, I'm sorry if it sounded rude. I should have worded it a bit better. I really should have mentioned that I've seen people "adopt" a free animal that didn't require any vet care, and then turn around and let someone adopt it for $200. That's greed there. They paid nothing for the animal, save for some food, and they ask $200 or so for it.

Giving countless hours to an animals, vet fees, medicine and food and then charging for it is fine, although I still really believe letting someone adopt a rescue for more than they'd pay for a baby is defeating the purpose. The way I see it is that if you charge $200 for a rescue who may have problems, or may not live long, and then there's a baby for $100, people will likely just buy the baby.

[j4782]

More often than not, someone making comments about adoption fees being too high don't know the story of the animal. It might help to explain what an animal has gone through to explain the fees.

I tried adopting out my ferret with a fee that wasn't even half the vet bills or cost of a ferret in a store, and I was reading comments about 'if the kid came down in price' etc., etc.

They didn't know anything about me, but I made it clear that the ferret needed an experienced owner and needed continued medication--kids don't give out information about sick pets and the particular vet I went to charges a higher flat visit fee for exotics--not cheap and certainly not greed on my part!

I ended up going to the local ferret shelter to find him a home. They're huge and have far more resources, but I know they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with the vet bills without donations.

Perhaps fundraising and connecting with area rescues can help bring down your operation costs so the adoption fees will be lower.

[southcalihedgie]

I do not adopt out any animal that I believe is in bad shape due to a genetic defect. In cases were the animal is suffering due to irreversable damage or genetic health problems I provide them with the best care at my expense until it is clear that thier quailty of life is no longer acceptable for the hedgie to live a happy live, then they are humanely euthanized. If the vet or I think that there is any chnage that the hedgehogs life has been dramatically shorted or may be prone to more seriour reoccuring/ cronic health problems in the future I do not offer these hedgie for adoption period. Unless th new owner understands the risks involved. The hedgies I feel are adoptable are healthy except for the problems caused by neglect: infected feet from untrimmed nails growing into the foot pads... then the animal living in a filthy cage with open woulds, mite infections, infected wounds, adcesses, or malnutrion caused by an incorrect diet or no food being fed at all.

Most of these hedgies I rescue are pet store hedgies, but a fair few are from breeders thay were purchased out of state and driven into ca illegally. I have come accross some pedigree quality hogs. Which is even more confusing to me...why they would drive to NV and select a mre expesive hedgie only to bring it home to neglect it???

If I won the lottery tommorrow I could be happy to offer no cost adoptions, until then....

Thanks!

[j4782]

I agree, that wouldn't be fair to the new owner.

FYI, I wasn't adopting out a ferret with a permanent condition. I did make it clear that he needed to continue his medication for a number of weeks before his condition (ECE) would be cured.

As for the illegal owners that go through all that trouble, some people get a thrill out of being able to say 'I have a(n illegal exotic animal).' It's sad that a breeder is being tricked (or possibly doesn't care what might happen to the baby).

You're literally saving those hedgie from euthanization on top of the difficulty of not being in an area where there are an abundance of legal options. Where do most of your adoptions end up?