Adoption fees

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millitiger

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Morning all, quick question from curiosity please.

What is the average adoption fee for a dog/puppy from rescue?

I'm about to put an application in with a local rescue and saw the adoption fee was £450 for all dogs.
It did make me balk a little; I know they have lots of costs and want to recoup what they can but that is high enough to be a selling cost.
Particularly as I am looking at a 4yro rough coat lurcher. I could buy a pup for only slightly higher without the rigmarole and hoops of adoption and home checks etc.

Just a musing: I am still planning on applying but it made me wonder if I am out of touch and that is a standard cost for rehoming.
 
I've just looked and Dogs Trust are £250, Blue Cross are £300 and the other local rescue we've had a previous dog from are £200.
 
It varies: I would say £450 is on the higher side of the spectrum. We were looking around 2/3 years ago and it had risen during Covid, to generally £250ish.
There was one, SpanielAid, who varied the charge according to age of the dog you'd want to adopt and they charged £450 for younger dogs. Almost all of their dogs seemed to be dogs who had a history of biting, too.
 
My son and daughter-in-law got a four year old Staffie from a Rescue Centre in October. The fee was £80.00. We live in Northern Ireland. Rescue fees might be cheaper here.
 
These are the fees from the rescue we got ours from. I was wrong about what we paid for the older one.

  • £300 for a dog under 12 months
  • £250 for a dog between 1-8 years old
  • £225 for dogs aged 8 and over
 
SashaBabe said:
My son and daughter-in-law got a four year old Staffie from a Rescue Centre in October. The fee was £80.00. We live in Northern Ireland. Rescue fees might be cheaper here.
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I think I paid £50 for my lad, admittedly 12 years ago now. £450 seems very expensive, but that could just be comparatively to here.
 
Around £400 is pretty normal these days. Sometimes it’s a suggested donation and depends on the age of the dog. Remember from a well managed rescue centre you’re getting a vet checked healthy dog who has been spayed or neutered with vaccinations up to date. If you work out how much it would cost to do the vet work that’s pretty reasonable. The costs have to be met somehow and dogs need feeding and care before they’re adopted as well in many cases some training. Dog breed related rescues or breeders who take their puppies back may do things slightly differently but only if they know the full circumstances of all concerned.
 
2 of the 'import' rescues in the South are around £450/500, if the animal is not yet neutered, you get £100 discount.
As a spey is around 300/400, you can see how costs rack up.

OP, this is why, when we couldn't find a small breed,(and were turned away by a specific small breed rescue! ) we went for a puppy. At least this meant I could train myself and most issues would be the result of me.....
 
I've always been told that the adoption fees are deliberately set at a level that would make a person who hasn't thought it through stop and think. When I was personally involved we homed them already neutered and the adoption fee paid for the op. but how much income we needed wasn't the deciding factor on the amount. It was meant to send a message along the lines of "if you baulk at that maybe you wont afford his vet bill next year".
 
We paid £450, which we didn't have a problem with and i'd rather the money went to a charity.
To me a dogs a dog (in a good way, they're the best) it baffles me people pay thousands.
Remember when you're comparing the cost of a puppy you'd have to pay for initial vaccinations and potential spaying.
 
Goldie's mum said:
I've always been told that the adoption fees are deliberately set at a level that would make a person who hasn't thought it through stop and think. When I was personally involved we homed them already neutered and the adoption fee paid for the op. but how much income we needed wasn't the deciding factor on the amount. It was meant to send a message along the lines of "if you baulk at that maybe you wont afford his vet bill next year".
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Completely agree. Hopefully it'll make people stop and think before adopting.
 
To be fair, microchipping, vaccinating, and neutering a lurcher costs exactly the same as it would a Golden Retriever, so I don't think the breed comes into it.

Unfortunately a lot of rescues do price themselves out of the market now, although I don't think they're struggling in the slightest (aside from the lesser known, pound type rescues) so it's an adopter's market and has been for a good few years now.

I ended up buying from breeders for my two as I quite literally didn't get a look in when I was looking to adopt again.
 
Thanks all and most people managed to avoid being sanctimonious about it, hurrah!

I understand the costs involved so don't need that explained- I already have 2 dogs here which I've paid to have vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.

I've done my videos today of house and garden, which all rescues want now, so I have them ready regardless of whether this is the right dog for us.

I have looked at Lurcher Link before, however I find their website/forum really hard to navigate tbh and most dogs seem to be the other side of the country to me.
Only an issue as I'd like my dogs to meet any potentials before we bring him home, to make sure everyone gets along 😃
 
gallopingby said:
Around £400 is pretty normal these days. Sometimes it’s a suggested donation and depends on the age of the dog. Remember from a well managed rescue centre you’re getting a vet checked healthy dog who has been spayed or neutered with vaccinations up to date. If you work out how much it would cost to do the vet work that’s pretty reasonable. The costs have to be met somehow and dogs need feeding and care before they’re adopted as well in many cases some training. Dog breed related rescues or breeders who take their puppies back may do things slightly differently but only if they know the full circumstances of all concerned.
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This
 
Around me (East Midlands), £250 is about average for adoption fees. Some do 'two dogs for the price of one' for bonded pairs though!
 
teacups said:
It varies: I would say £450 is on the higher side of the spectrum. We were looking around 2/3 years ago and it had risen during Covid, to generally £250ish.
There was one, SpanielAid, who varied the charge according to age of the dog you'd want to adopt and they charged £450 for younger dogs. Almost all of their dogs seemed to be dogs who had a history of biting, too.
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The bite history can mean many things, SAUK declare everything, warts and all. Often there is a valid reason for a nip, pain, infection etc, often they're puppy mouthing that is misunderstood. The dogs are generally not 'nasty' but more mishandled.

Many other rescues don't declare a bite history because they don't fully assess the dogs and/or have no history
 
I was looking on a local rescue page and some of the dogs have the adoption fee waved.

There is a particularly nice border collie type who has had a fair bit of recognised training and on the most part is a ready made dog, just needs more work on reactivity.

I would snap him up if I was looking.
 
£200 from Beagle Welfare in around 2016.
And £27.50 for my dog I got from the dogs home in 1991, I remember she cost me the same as a weeks giro cheque at the time.
Two years ago a friend paid £400 for a rescue.
 
I paid £350 for my latest Dobe girl who I adopted last year. I fostered with a view to adopt if it worked out as I already had 2 bitches and this girl had been rehomed before but had not got on with one of the resident dogs. There were a few other issues too which I found along the way mainly down to her hormones as she hadnt been spayed. At the time the rescues vet would not spay unless they had a season and she promptly went on to have a phantom. All sorted now and she is a lovely girl who gets on well with my current 2 which is a big improvement as she wanted to kill them when she first arrived.

One of my other dogs is also a rescue(Romanian) who I was fostering, she turned out to be completely feral who was literally climbing the walls when she first arrived having bitten the transport girls several times in transit. Poor terrified girl she still had her ear tag in, thanks to my dogs she turned a corner after a few months and she was rehomed. Sadly her adopters lost her in the mountains of Wales so I spent several days searching before I found her. Her adopters wanted her back so they were told if it happened again they wouldnt be getting her back. Unfortunately they lost her again in Cornwall and didnt tell the rescue until she had been missing for 10days. I again went down there and found her and brought her back home, after a conversation with the rescue it was agreed I should keep her as she had bonded so strongly with me and my dogs. The rescue didnt want a adoption fee as they realised it was going to be really difficult to find the right home and keeping her safe. She still lives with me and is as happy as Larry and is loved dearly.
 
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