Dog shelters and the "Current economic climate"

[Sarah]

Just though i'd throw this out there for a bit of a discussion?

With the "global recession" in full swing, do you think animal shelters are seeing an increase in animals - not just dogs, that are being brought in to be rehomed?

Also, so you think that shelters should offer payment schemes / plans for people who want to give an animal a second chance but maybe can't afford to make the payment all in one go?

[valkyries]

a payment plan may be a good idea in theory but could open the doors to bad people with no real interest in wanting a dog as a pet but maybe to breed and make money off, or as fighting dogs you hear of.

it may open the doors to people wanting a dog as a present for xmas but loose interest later on, it's a great idea as long as people are checked properly and sign contracts stating they will take the dog back to the shelter if it became unwanted, you hear of to many animals not just dogs being bought then just abandoned.

for genuine people it's a great idea

[Val (Zebedee)]

reading the papers, there are more stories than normal about abandoned animals - I am a member of a reptile forum (having snakes & bearded dragons) and there is a section, like here, about animals for rehoming, but from the members themselves, and the number of people selling or requesting whole collections be rehomed is very sad and they are the ones who are trying the best for their pets, let alone those who abandon them or take them to a shelter or rescue.

While I can see the benefit of having a payment scheme to assist with being able to afford to rehome, for those who are genuine, I also feel "if you can't afford to buy, you can't afford to keep", and wheedling out the genuine pet lovers from the Xmas pressie brigade may be difficult.

I dunno - I'm a bit on the fence with this one!! lol

[ISDW]

I know that here in Ireland all of the rescues and shelters are nearly at bursting point. The 'payment scheme' sounds like a really good idea, but I think that if people can't afford to make the donation, then they probably can't afford the vets bills that might occur as well.

I rehome sibes and mals. I ask for a minimum donation of €120. However, I have the dogs neutered/spayed, vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and treated for fleas. This costs well in excess of €120. The dog has to be with me for 2 weeks before I even think about starting vaccinations, just to make sure they're not carrying anything which would make the vaccs void. Then after the neutering, they can't go anywhere for another 2 weeks, until the stitches are out. So all the dogs are here for a minimum of 6 weeks, being fed, heating during the winter etc. I need the money when I rehome a dog, it usually goes straight to the vet. LOL

[rmm001]

I can certainly answer these questions for my area, though it may be a different situation in the UK. Our shelter is constantly full to bursting now. JUST IN MAY we brought in over 500 animals. We have twenty two pens on the adoption floor, with two dogs in each kennel. Now, we do also have a building out back where the animals stay for the first week after they come in, and where special issue dogs and those who need medical treatment before adoption can stay, and we have our foster homes. However, at the end of the day, we can still only show a maximum of 44 dogs to a potential adopter. Not only are the number of abandoned animals up, we've had more owner surrenders this year than in the shelter's history. Adoptions are down, and there are some pretty clear links to the economic situation. When we have the dogs out at community events, we hear a lot of people saying that they plan to get a dog, or another dog, but they can't afford it right now, or can't do it until they can get a bigger place, etc. It gets harrowing for us as foster parents, because part of our function is to provide economically for the dogs and take some strain off the shelter, but we can only take so many in! We're seeing the same trend of owner surrender with cats, but cats do have an advantage once they are in the shelter- they are lower cost both to adopt and maintain, and often people adopting a cat already have at least one, making the additional cost negligible (just the food and a collar, as opposed to the fifty things a dog needs).

Now, the payment plan idea for me varies enormously depending on what the cost is. Our shelter asks for 65 dollars as an adoption fee for the pet. The pet has already been (like Karen's dogs) neutered/spayed, vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and started on flea, tick, and heartworm medication. The fee also includes the city license and a small bag of Science Diet to make the transition easier. To put the cost in perspective, 65 dollars is the cost of two bags of ProPlan dog food. So in our situation, I feel that a prospective owner should have 65 dollars easily accessible if they're planning on having a dog. HOWEVER, there are some rescues that ask for 300-500 dollars for their dogs. I can understand that they have high costs, but these would eventually be recouped through a payment plan, and usually these rescues do thorough background checks anyway- it seems to me that they would be able to do this conditionally by your credit score. I have money set aside for emergencies, and for me that includes anything major that might happen to Gambit. However, since getting a dog isn't an emergency, these higher-priced rescues were immediately off my list when I was looking for dogs. I could have afforded fifty dollars a month for six-twelve months, I could not (keep in mind I'm a student), afford five hundred dollars in one shot in addition to the five hundred plus that I was spending on all the other things Gambit would need.

[huskyluv]

I don't just think, I know the shelters are being overwhelmed with animals needing to be rehomed due to the economy, which is very unfortunate.

While I would like to see adoptions pick up a bit more, I would have to say I would be against a payment plan option. First off, everywhere I've ever looked the adoption fee has always been quite reasonable, generally $200 or less which is not bad at all considering all that it covers. Secondly, dogs (pets in general) are expensive so if the adopters can't afford the "low" adoption fee up front, it begs the question can they really afford to bring a pet home at the time. While we all hope to have perfectly healthy and problem free pets, if a person can't afford the adoption fee yet they are pledging to be financially responsible for the dog, what happens if they adopt the dog and God forbid it breaks a leg or something and requires expensive surgery and overnight stays at the vet, medication, etc? Well, those are my reasons for being against a payment plan.

Pets are expensive so if you can't afford them upfront... Case in point, we just spent around $200 in vet bills a month ago for our GUINEA PIG to have surgery to have a mass removed from her side. If it had been one of our dogs it would have cost much more!

[jules dief taz tor]

i can see both sides of whats being said, b4 we brought any of our lot we made sure we had already got the equipment they would need, then we saved for the dog, but if ppl cant afford the rescue fee which sometimes does seem at bit high , a payment scheme, could come with a contract with points on them ie , all equipment must be in place b4 the dog is released, and insurance must be be set up , that way the monthly cost of insurance and a say weekly pyment for the dog wouldnt cost so much for the new owner but the dog would be insured againt vets bills. i think anything to encourage ppl to get a rescue dog should be persued, i remember going to a rescue center with my parents when i was younger, i spent the entire time in tears and wanted to rehome them all, we did get a dog from there but tbh ive never been back to a rehoming center since. would i rehome, in all honesty no, not untill the kids r all grown up and out of the house,

[Lyn]

While I could see it might increase adoptions allowing a payment plan, I would also say the shelter would need to be cautious of the new owners ability to provide ongoing care.

If you struggle to find an adoption fee, wouldn't you also struggle to meet an emergency vet bill?

We have recently had a very large vet bill (over 600) for one of our dogs, who is now NOT insured as reached the cut off age of 10 on our policy.

We do have an account with our vet, but still needed to pay half of that at the initial consult, and the balance at the month-end. Not all vets will allow accounts. Ours only does as we have 'breeder' status with them, with all our dogs registered and treated by them and any litters vaccinated, chipped etc there, so they see us fairly regularly and have a 'steady' income from us. single pet owners don't get this.

so while I can see a possible advantage, I cn also see why shelters would also be reluctant to take on this idea. Purchase or adoption cost is, after all, a tiny drop in the ocean of the ongoing cost of owning an animal.

Theres also the matter of policing it and how to deal with non-payers. you will get it and it costs the organisation money to chase money owing.

I know of breeders who have allowed installments on pups, and also know of one who took an initial payment (and retained the pups paperwork pending full balance) only for the owner and pup to 'vanish'. It was reported as theft to the police, and that pup did reappear having been handed over to a welfare organisation....and rehomed! Thats still ongoing (thoughI believe the breeder is planning to leave the dog in his current home, who will now have the added bonus of their unregistered dog actually being a registered one). The breeder was informed after the young dog was recognised from an online photo.What i can't figure out is why nowhere down the line, no-one picked up on the fact that the dog was in fact microchipped, and that microchip is in the breeders name, who has both his microchip documentation, kennel club registration and a contract signed by the initial owner. The new owner will be ok here, not so the welfare organisation...who are in for a right royal ass-kicking by all accounts.

[raindog]

It is a difficult area to make hard and fast rules about.

Certainly we in SHWA(UK) have noticed that we are being overwhelmed with unwanted dogs at the moment. The weekend before last we took 15 dogs in across the country. As is usual, the majority of them were not neutered, not up to date with vaccinations, and not chipped. Some had medical conditions which needed treatment and one needed a very careful feeding regime as he was so painfully underweight. Each dog is fostered and assessed for at least two weeks and is usually vet-checked before being rehomed with a 15-20 kg sack of food. As Karen pointed out above, all that costs money and the donation fees people pay for their dogs is a large part of the source of that money. In the past month alone, we have paid out some 1500 in vet fees and 700 for dog food. This is before we even think of transportation costs, leads and collars - it is amazing how many huskies come in without (or with totally unsuitable) leads and collars.

We are extremely lucky that at least in our area (south-east) our own vet charges us ridiculously low prices for any work with SHWA(UK) welfare dogs, or that 1500 bill would be nearer 2500.

Our standard donation for a rehomed dog is 100, but we are flexible on that depending upon the discretion of the area co-ordinator (and agreed with the National Rehome Co-ordinator). When we first started, we didn't make any charge for the dogs and we actually found, somewhat depressingly, that too often, people didn't value what they didn't pay for and the proportion of dogs coming back into welfare was much higher than it has been since we started asking for a 100 donation.

Mick

[siberian_wolf]

excellant reply becca, added to rep

For alot of people who are genuainely wanting to adopt their dog I think something like a payment scheme would be a good idea but I think with this they should make more checks on the people adopting the dog. They should be allowed to conduct checks such as criminal record checks, etc and even maybe be given thr right to make random spot chekcs on the dog in their new home and should any evidence of cruelty be seen the shelter should be allowed by rights to take the dog back for an examination at least.

I think that with the recession there are an ever increasing number of dogs going into shelters because people are finding it difficult to keep up wit htheir finances and paying all the bills alot of them are struggling to feed themsleves! Trust me I know, we went through it a few months back and nearly became crunch time for us! Fortunately for us, business picked up before we had that ever so horrible decision to make! The way im looking at it is people in this situation of can we afford to live are looking at it in one of a few ways:

1) Do they give the dog up to a over loaded shelter

2) Do they sell the dog and make some extra money

3) Do they look into other way to make money from their dog?

4) Do they give their dog to a friend who can afford to look afterm them?

[ISDW]

excellant reply becca, added to rep

even maybe be given thr right to make random spot chekcs on the dog in their new home and should any evidence of cruelty be seen the shelter should be allowed by rights to take the dog back for an examination at least.

I have that written into my adoption contract, but how enforceable that is in law, I don't know!

A large number of animals are being dumped because people are saying that they can't afford to feed them. Now we would all like to feed our dogs the best food thats out there, but I can't accept this as a reason to give a dog up. There are perfectly adequate dog foods out there that cost about 10 for a 10kg sack in the UK. Working dog food. Definitely not the best in the world, but would certainly keep the dog alive and active. When I was a kid we had a dog, a lab cross (we think:p) who had a bit of toast in the morning from my Dad and then a tin of dog food with mixer biscuits at night. He lived until he was 15. All it takes is a bit of research, there are a lot of butchers out there that will give you offcuts etc sometimes for free, sometimes for a minimal charge.

I know here in Ireland that we have had a good few years with an incredible boom, and people spent money left right and centre, pedigree dogs were one of the 'must haves' of the time. Now they're being dumped. Horses and donkeys are also suffering hugely here. There are waiting lists at abattoirs for horses to go in and be killed. In simple economic terms, overproduction has led to a lot of these problems, puppy farmers and foal farmers (if theres such a term) just churning the animals out. Cats are treated even worse here than dogs, people don't neuter them, so they breed and breed and breed. Very few people seem to care about them.

[rmm001]

Cats are treated even worse here than dogs, people don't neuter them, so they breed and breed and breed. Very few people seem to care about them.

I'm just curious what the laws are elsewhere- here, shelters require that the animal be neutered/ spayed before adoption, so at least all the animals that come through the shelter are fixed. Also, technically, Fayetteville doesn't allow people to have outdoor cats. Admittedly, this is a tricky law to enforce, but it means that any cat that is seen can be picked up and then you have to pay an increasing recovery fine each time that your animal is brought in.

For everyone- do UK shelters require that animals be neutered/ spayed before adoptions? Are there areas over there that don't allow outdoor cats? What is the general view on spaying/ neutering? (i.e.- here it's pretty much understood that your animal is fixed unless you're a breeder...it's very rare to see intact animals)

[ISDW]

I'm just curious what the laws are elsewhere- here, shelters require that the animal be neutered/ spayed before adoption, so at least all the animals that come through the shelter are fixed. Also, technically, Fayetteville doesn't allow people to have outdoor cats. Admittedly, this is a tricky law to enforce, but it means that any cat that is seen can be picked up and then you have to pay an increasing recovery fine each time that your animal is brought in.

For everyone- do UK shelters require that animals be neutered/ spayed before adoptions? Are there areas over there that don't allow outdoor cats? What is the general view on spaying/ neutering? (i.e.- here it's pretty much understood that your animal is fixed unless you're a breeder...it's very rare to see intact animals)

Becca, here in Ireland most rescues spay or neuter before rehoming. Most people here though are struggling for money, so I don't know if its going to get to a point where only the females are going to be spayed. I know that a few rescues have had to have that policy in the past. The big shelters will always spay or neuter, but there are a whole myriad of small rescues that are run by individuals or small groups of volunteers, with no funding from anybody except what they raise themselves. The Dogs Trust were giving vouchers so that dogs and cats could be neutered/spayed for free, but that scheme has now stopped. However, the Dogs Trust are opening the largest rescue centre in Europe in the autumn, in Dublin. Says a lot about the unwanted animal population here I think, tiny country, largest rescue centre!

A lot of the cat rescues here also insist on indoor only homes, but those are the small ones, the people that go out trapping and neutering and trying to help the feral population, the cat ladies as I call them;). On a general animal forum here, I read a thread about someone who had rehomed a cat from a large rescue shelter. Because it was a cat, and not a dog, there was no homecheck. They turned up, said they'd like a cat, had a look at them and took one home with them!

Education is the key, and a lot of organisations are trying to drum the neutering/spaying message home, but they are working against generations that say a dogs personality will change because of it. Very, very few of the farm collies here get neutered, because farmers believe it will stop the dog working!

[raindog]

For everyone- do UK shelters require that animals be neutered/ spayed before adoptions? Are there areas over there that don't allow outdoor cats? What is the general view on spaying/ neutering? (i.e.- here it's pretty much understood that your animal is fixed unless you're a breeder...it's very rare to see intact animals)

I think that over here the quality of rescue centres varies enormously. There is no legal obligation on rescues to spey/neuter. Some spey/neuter as a matter of course. Other smaller centres simply don't have the resources to do it (especially since the ending of the Dogs Trust Neutering Voucher Scheme) and rely on the honesty and good will of their adopters.

In SHWA(UK) we spey/neuter as a matter of course (except in particular circumstances - dog/bitch too young, bitch just finished season, medical complications etc). In these situations we ask the adopters to return the dog to us for speying at the appropriate time (this makes sense as (a) we can get it done much cheaper by our symapthetic vets; and ( we can ensure that it does get done!).

As far as cats in the UK are concerned, I don't know of any area where outdoor cats are banned, although I would love for it to happen in my area where cat pooh is a much greater problem than dog pooh - yet dog ownership is much more rigidly controlled.

Mick