Why We Don't Waive Adoption Fees

We get asked this more often than you might think, and it is a fair question. So here is an honest answer.

We don't waive adoption fees because those fees are how we save the next dog.

A Dog's Expenses Don't Stop When They Get Adopted

When a dog is finally adopted, the costs of getting them there don't disappear. They were already spent, and they keep going for every dog still waiting.

Every dog in our care needs:

• Medical care and medications
• Quality food
• Treats and chews
• Toys and enrichment
• Beds and blankets
• Bowls and supplies
• Leashes and collars
• Unexpected vet visits
• Everything else it takes to feel safe and loved

What It Actually Costs

Our adoption fees are $350 for puppies under six months, $250 for adolescents and adults, and $150 for seniors aged eight and up. Fees can run higher for a dog who came to us with significant medical needs.

Caring for one dog through their first month with us — before any medical expenses at all — runs about $200 to $500.

And some dogs arrive needing real medical work. A dog with special medical needs can cost anywhere from $500 to $4,500 or more, depending on what they need. That can mean surgeries, diagnostics, medications, dental work, specialist care, and ongoing treatment.

For most of our dogs, the adoption fee does not cover what we spent on them. It was never meant to.

So Where Does the Fee Go?

It creates a circle of rescue.

One dog finds a home. Their adoption fee helps offset what their care cost us. Those funds become available again — and that is what lets us say yes to the next dog who desperately needs us.

Waiving a fee doesn't make a dog free. It just moves the cost onto the dogs still waiting for a foster, a vet appointment, or a spot with us at all.

What Your Fee Already Bought

By the time you meet your dog, their adoption fee has gone toward spay or neuter surgery, current vaccines, a rabies vaccine, a microchip, and the martingale collar and leash they go home in. That is care you would otherwise be arranging and paying for yourself in the first weeks.

Fostering saves lives. Adopting saves lives. Adoption fees help us keep saving lives.

We know an adoption fee can feel like an extra expense at the end of a long process. But it is a real part of how a small rescue keeps operating and keeps helping dogs who have run out of other options.

Thank you for understanding, for supporting rescue, and for helping us save the next misfit.

Read the original post on Facebook.