Last week we had a discussion on Facebook about whether it’s a better use of your donation to sponsor an adoptable dog or to pay the adoption fee for a dog in advance.
A single theme emerged: If someone adopts a dog simply because the adoption fee is free, then that person probably can’t afford to care for a dog for its life anyway.
That got me thinking… then researching… then wondering… Should pet adoptions be free?
I found some interesting arguments on both sides, but in the end, what I found went a long way to convince me that free adoptions – at least occasionally as a special promotion – are a great idea! So I wanted to share some of what I discovered.
Misconception #1: All those lunatic hoarders/dog fighters/animal abusers will flock to collect “free” animals.
A free adoption does not mean a shelter lowers their adoption standard. If the shelter requires an application for a full-price adoption, the shelter requires an application for a free adoption. If the shelter requires a home visit for a full-price adoption, the shelter also requires a home visit for a free adoption. And so on.
That fact goes a long way, in my opinion, to assuage the idea that free adoptions draw in the crazies who are just wanting to collect free animals for hoarding/fighting/torturing/whatever.
Misconception #2: People who can’t afford an adoption fee can’t afford to take care of their animal.
There is actually a ton of research out there to counter this argument. (Here are a couple comprehensive studies on fee-waived cats from Maddie’s Fund and ASPCA.) In essence, what shelters that have tried free adoptions have found is that it doesn’t attract people who can’t afford their pets. Instead, it draws in people who were on the fence about adoption and encourages them to go ahead and adopt.
Also, Christie Keith over at Dogged tackled this issue a year ago, and she raised an interesting point: “There is almost always at least a hint of judgment that poor people will be bad pet owners in a myriad of other ways, too.” But, the reality is, a Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science found that free adoptions did not devalue the pet in the adopter’s eyes, nor did it result in less attachment between pet and owner (versus a paid adoption).
Misconception #3: Giving away pets will take much-needed money from the shelter.
Shelters spend a ton of money on every animal they take in. I tried to find actual numbers, but they vary so widely from source to source that I didn’t feel comfortable quoting one specific thing. There’s no question that it’s an expensive endeavor to fully vet, groom, house, and feed animals in a shelter. However… If a shelter is relying on adoption fees to sustain operations, that shelter is in trouble at a more fundamental level. Instead of focusing on bringing in $125 or whatever for each animal – which comes and goes seasonally, at the whim of the economy, by what animals are “in stock,” and so on – a shelter in that position should be pouring its efforts into attracting and retaining donors, establishing a legacy giving program, cultivating “angels,” and diversifying their revenue streams. But that’s a post for another day. The bottom line, though, is that shelters can’t and shouldn’t rely on adoption fees to sustain operations.
One last point: From the studies linked to above and from this super honest post from Pets Alive, there’s another added benefit to free adoptions. Shelters that offer free adoptions for harder-to-adopt animals – say, cats over 3 years of age, senior dogs, etc. – decrease the amount of time those animals are in the shelter. In other words, they’re finding homes for them faster.
To me, it seems that the concerns that stop shelters from offering free adoptions have been alleviated with real-life examples like ASPCA, Pets Alive, and Maddie’s Fund. If it results in more animals ending up in loving homes, it seems like a home run. But I’m open-minded! I’d love to hear your experience.
What do you think? Should pet adoptions be free? Do you have examples or thoughts for either side of the argument?
Nichole
I agree 100% with all the points about “free” adoptions. It’s a little different when it comes to rescues, however. We NEED that adoption fee. We count on the adoption fees to help sustain our meager budgets. We do our best to fund raise and attract donors, but we’re all volunteers (usually) usually with full time jobs and families of our own.
Since your question was about sponsoring several dogs versus paying for the adoption fee of 1 dog, my response was to sponsor more dogs. Often rescues are limited intake driven by the funds they have and the foster homes they have available. I’ve known many rescues with open foster spaces but no money to care for another animal. Rather than saving 1 dog’s life by covering the adoption fee, by helping a rescue with funds – you are saving 2. The dog they pull, and the one in the shelter that takes its place 🙂
Maggie
I think it’s a valuable point to differentiate between shelters versus rescues. I guess I wonder whether it would benefit the rescue to adopt a dog out much quicker at a free (or discount?) rate so that they wouldn’t have to pay for sustaining care? I’m not sure there’s a right or easy answer… just thinking…
richard havel
free is always good but not in this instance.i think that potential owners should get a back ground check. maybe from a veternarian or some that can vouch for them.i think it good that there is a feeof some sort to take care of shots,med. attention etc.
Ernest Prine
I’m all for paying a fee for shots etc for a dog but for a 125 dollars I can by a dog
from a breeder . I can afford to pay the 125 dollars . I was just looking for a little dog to play with my dog because I’m getting too old to run and chase a dog that wants to play all the time. I went to one center that wanted 350 dollars . and it’s very easy to call someones Vet and find out how people take care of their dogs
and if they don’t have a vet then follow up on the dog to see if they are being treated properly . I would must rather see them go out the door for just a small fee
than to see them put down . I have had to put down several of my dogs down over the years when they got to old to go anymore and I insure you that’s not a pretty site .
Bren
I have to agree with Nicole on the part of “rescues”. The need that adoption fee to cover a lot of their expenses. Not all rescues have grants or extra funds coming in however, the occaissional “Fees waived” month isn’t so bad. I also would say poor people wouldn’t be bad owners, I just don’t feel they could give the animal everything that it would need, and that includes a nutritious diet, spayed/neutered, required shots.
I think you’ll find both sides of the story on this kind of topic. Some pro, some against. Either way, makes good convo. 😉
Maggie
Definitely a good convo! And it’s something I never thought about in depth, so I’m hoping in the discussion, combined with the research, that we can all gather some new insights!
Jodi Chick (+ Kolchak & Felix too)
Our shelter’s adoption fees are on a sliding scale. Young, healthy easy-to-adopt animals cost more to adopt and older, animals and those with special needs are reduced or free. They use the funds raise by the younger animals (often around $200-$300) to offset the cost of care for the older/special needs animals.
Another shelter in the area charges an adoption fee, but then recruits volunteers to help with “bonuses” – for example, they have a few volunteer trainers that offer 1 in home consultation a month after they’re adopted to combat any issues they’re having, other volunteers offer mid day walks a couple times a week for the first month to help ease the transition, there’s a groomer that will do your first groom free etc. They justify the cost of the fee by adding value to it – and it doesn’t cost them a dime.
I don’t know that pet adoptions SHOULD be free, but I can definitely see a case for making them free in a very controlled way. You specifically mention that home visits would still be done, but there are an awful lot of shelters that don’t do home visits. Those shelters would be my concern. And how do they get away with charging adoption fees when no one else does…I can see it being a bit of a slippery slope…
Maggie
That’s a good point – if one shelter adopts out for free, another shelter charging a fee might be out competed. But I can’t help but wonder… is a little bit of competition a good thing? I know nonprofit is a different world from corporate, but all the shelters and rescues I’ve volunteered for seem to be missing that “thing” that comes with running a business – a competitive edge, perhaps? The compulsion to think ahead strategically rather than focusing on the day to day? I think this is a whole other post with a whole other set of issues, but I’ve felt and thought and pondered for a while now that shelter management could probably use a little OOPH from corporate management… Not entirely related to your point at all. Sorry 🙂 You just got me thinking!
Jan K
I don’t think they should necessarily be free, but they certainly could be less expensive. And I think running promotions is great too. Not everyone looking for a bargain is a poor person….people just like to get good deals on anything. (in my experience in the retail business rich people are sometimes the tightest with their money!) A lot of people I’ve run into have the mindset that they shouldn’t have to pay a lot for a pet if they are not buying one from a breeder. People are always looking for someone who has “free kittens” and those people might be more likely to go to a shelter if they only had to pay a small fee (or if they were free as you suggested). But if the studies say that free adoptions are helping the less adoptable, then I’m all for it in those cases.
Maggie
Less expensive + promotions! EXCELLENT points! I think shelters forget that they’re sort of running a retail operation. It’s hard to think of it like that since they’re lives, right? But I think it can’t hurt to take that angle, and your ideas are definitely in line with what I’m pondering… More food for thought, I suppose! 🙂
Jan K
Yes, I hate to think of it as retail, (which reminds me of pet stores and puppy mills, etc.) but if some aspects of it are looked at from that angle, I do think it could help. As long as applications are still being used, then it’s not the same, it’s adding a family member. But as long as money is exchanged, that factor has to be considered. It’s like what you said in your reply to Jodi…in some ways looking at it as a business could bring in some new ideas to help.
Singing Dogs
The time and effort rescues and shelters put in I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for an adoption fee.
Maggie
I absolutely agree! It’s completely reasonable for them to ask for an adoption fee. I guess my interest in the subject was to tackle the forceful response that free pet adoptions = pets going to bad owners. I don’t think that’s true, and if used judiciously, free adoptions can find lots more pets loving homes!
Liam
I volunteer for a rescue group and anytime someone has asked for a free cat, it is because they THINK they can afford kibble but they have no money to take the animal to the vet, neither for wellness care nor if it gets sick or hurt. We always counsel them to save up a monetary reserve before taking on the additional responsibility of a pet.
I have also seen people come in for cats at the local animal control, and leave when they find out they are NOT free. Invariably, they have a restaurant or grocery store with mice or rats. We have rescued cats from these places, and they are NEVER neutered nor giving vaccinations nor any other vet care. It is a dog’s life for them!
Amy Jones
If adoption fees were free or even as little as $300 from most rescues, there would be no more rescues. The healthcare cost that go into rescuing dogs is quite High. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in vet bills. This is a horrible idea and all you’re doing is getting people to think that rescues could actually do this when in fact they can’t if they want to stay a rescue. Most rescues use their donations to go towards animals with major medical bills. The ones that have thousands upon thousands of dollars invested into them because their heart didn’t work or their knees were no good or their eyes were no good are they were terribly sick with Cushing’s or parvo, many many possibilities. This is where most donations go. The adoption fees themselves, cover the work the dog has had done and the cost of being in rescue. The writer of this piece clearly knows nothing about how rescues or shelters operate.
Maggie
Hi, Amy! Thanks for sharing such a passionate opinion! I’m the writer of the piece. My name’s Maggie, and I’ve been involved in animal welfare for the past 10+ years in all sorts of capacities. I certainly don’t know everything, but I certainly don’t know nothing either–partly because a big part of my job is to research the data and then write about it. I spend an inordinate amount of time talking to, researching, and writing about these topics. That said, I’m always HAPPY to learn more and would love for you to point me to any studies that disprove any of the points in the post.
I’d also like to clarify that I’m not advocating that ALL pet adoptions be free. That’s unsustainable. But, like the research from Maddie’s fund shows, it helps get more animals in more homes. Some of the comments in the thread above yours mention first-hand experience at other shelters where that’s happened.
I think, too, it’s super important to acknowledge that a lot of animals DO require extremely high medical bills to care for them. I’m not sure how many rescues truly pay those expenses through adoption fees, though. Most pay those from donations. An example of a few thousand dollars to treat a dog who needs knee surgery, well, his $300 adoption fee won’t even come close. However, a plea on social media goes miles to cover those costs. You even mentioned that donations go toward major medical bills–that’s correct! Adoption fees simply wouldn’t cover it.
I understand that you’re looking out for the best interest of the animals. That’s wonderful and we need more people who feel as strongly as you do! I do also think that the data just doesn’t support some of the fears you’re putting forth. And I believe, at the end of the day, we all want to get more animals in more homes!
Heather
To the writer of “Should adoptions be free…”
Do you also feel animals that need major medical care should just be euthanized?
Do you feel litters of puppies and momma pups should just be euthanized?
Do you feel that any dog with some behavior issues should just be euthanized?
Do you feel that that scared breeder dog that lived in a cage for the past several years should just be euthanized?
Please go to ANY rescue page and see some of the cases they get. They get the dogs that irresponsible people have abused, abandoned….simply FAILED!
Do your research before you get on your high horse! I think fostering for a rescue should be a goal of yours. Then you just might get it!!
Maggie
Hi, Heather! I appreciate you taking the time to comment! I want to reiterate that I’m not saying ALL animals should be adopted out for free. And, unfortunately, I think that equating an adoption fee–which can range from as little as $25 to upwards of $300–as covering all the issues you mentioned is a mistake. Periodically discounting adoption fees or offering low-cost or no-cost adoptions as a promotion (or like the Maddie’s Fund study found, for harder-to-adopt animals) just means more pets going into loving homes. That will not impact animals that need major medical care, mamas and puppies, behavior issues, or puppy mill dogs. It’s simply not the same conversation. Donations, fundraisers, major gifts, angel funds, etc. are the ways to cover those exorbitant costs, NOT a $75 adoption fee.
I’ve done a TON of research on all of this and have several more posts I’d love to share with you if you’d be willing to consider the data. I copied the links below. If you want to discuss further, I’m always happy to talk animal welfare topics. I spend a large part of my day researching these issues, in fact. As for goals, thanks for that suggestion: I’ve done a ton of fostering for rescues! My dog Cooper is a foster fail, and I’ve volunteered for clinics, shelters, and even served on the board of directors for a humane association. I’m thoroughly invested in this world, which is why I spend so much time and effort conducting this research!
Thank you for sharing your passion. I hope some of the data is interesting to you! Here are two more for consideration:
https://ohmydogblog.com/2015/06/the-cost-of-pet-ownership/
https://ohmydogblog.com/2019/01/how-not-to-adopt-a-pet-removing-barriers-to-pet-adoption/
Connie
In the case of rescues, it isn’t that free adoptions mean bad adopters, but most of us have to have those to continue to operate. The adoption from dog #1 pays for vetting for dog #2. Most of us base our fees on the cost of a typical healthy adoptable dog. Groups like mine that have a heavy medical case load we are always upside down from that perspective, thankfully we have donors that will take care of the difference. But those are the reasons we can’t do free, much as we might like to.