Weird pricing at shelters.

One of the shelters in my area charges $65 for dogs over 25lbs and $99 for dogs under 25lbs. Yet at times I've seen $200-$500 dogs listed, no notes as to why. What is up with that? These are not special needs dogs, most are young small breeds. This shelter is not short on funds (smack dab in an affluent area, they also have a waiting list from hell for volunteering).

One good thing they do is if a dog has been sitting forever, they will lower the price to $25 and shortly after that the dog usually finds a home. They do have an application to fill out, so its not like the dog is just going to who ever has the money.

Does anyone know of shelters that do this? Reasoning behind it? The dogs in question are not in high demand and sometimes they even have toy breed puppies at the normal price.

Shelters are pretty standard around here. I wouldn't expect to pay over $100.

Rescues tend to do their own thing. There's a cat rescue that charges more for kittens, certain breeds and 'unusual coloring'. It's one of the only ones in the area I've seen charge more just for a color.

Normally it's $60-75 but I saw a young, purebred Ragdoll for $200. The rescue said it was because these cats are unique and it gives them money to help the other cats that aren't rare. So a white, fluffy kitten would go for a lot more than a 6 year old tomcat. Even though they are usually receiving the same care.

Most of the rescues/shelters charge less for elderly animals as opposed to charging more for kittens/breeds/whatever. The shelters are a base fee. They do a lot of free or discounted weeks, especially when they're getting full.

Meh. I kind of get it but it just increases the want for certain breeds/coloring, IMO. Seems similar to a BYB charging more for a "Party Poodle". But this particular cat rescue seems to be doing well.

Same with some small dog breed rescues. $200 would not be uncommon for those types, but they get adopted quickly. (Also probably a regional thing. We have a lot of lab and pit bull types here, whereas the smaller dogs are hard to find. Especially purebred dogs of any breed.)

I've heard of shelters raising adoption fees on puppies/small breeds, it's so their adoption fees can cover the costs of the less-adoptables.
I've seen some rescues go over-board ($1000+ for puppy mill rescue pups for example), but most of the time, it makes sense to do. The money goes right into the care of the other animals.

I've also seen fees raised (as seems to be the issue here) for dogs who needed more care on intake (weren't already s/n, had no medical history, needed behaviorist etc...) while the small breeds with low prices may have been just surrendered pets with all their info/care already

We had higher prices for more desirable dogs. But in general most dogs fees were very very low or waived and charging more for one or two dogs a month certainly did not make up for it!

I think all of the shelters around here go by age. I know Harrisburg is bloody expensive-- puppies are over $200 (includes speuter and microchip). I got my senior dog for $29.99.

One shelter used to (maybe still does) have a program where they'd adopt out less common purebreeds (Standard Poodle for example) at a higher price because they are more desirable and the money can certainly be used. I'm fine with that, really.

You guys are lucky this is our pricing.

I will not adopt from them though, I will take dogs off kijiji first (rehomes not purchasing) since they do not have the room for people to drop their dogs off.

I think all of it's crazy actually. A shelter cat should be 30 bucks or less and a dog should be 100 or less. maybe 150 for a puppy.

I know they cost money and when shelters fail and pets are in the street, then society will be forced to deal with the issue. I've run into enough shelters that operate with those prices and make it to know it can work>

The private "rescues" that are charging 500 and up for dogs??? they're dog resellers with a feel good name. I don't care how much it cost you to go pull a dog from a shelter 300 miles away or how long you had to keep it at a "foster" home. I really don't.

If it costs you too much to do something you are choosing to do, chose to do something else. Like maybe VOLUNTEER at a local shelter and maybe your dogs won't have to be pulled to go to a "rescue" 300 miles away

If you don't have the monetary resources to help RESCUE, then use time resources because those are just as valuable.

I don't claim to be a rescuing icon by any means, but I have taken in various dogs over the years when I could. Kept them, took them to the vet if need be, fed them, trained them, loved them until we could find them a better place. Nobody supports that but us. That's rescue. Going to take in a litter of puppies and then selling them for 500 bucks a piece?? you're a broker

Here's our local SPCA's prices:

About twice as much as the Toronto Humane Society, surprisingly enough!

From what I've seen private rescues are about the same as our local SPCA, sometimes a little higher.

Wow! Our shelter charges $105 for dogs and $85 for cats. The price includes vaccinations, spay/neuter and microchip. The fees are less if the pet is already altered.
Ruffian, what is the definition of a barn feline for a donation? I'm guessing feral.
SitStay, do they really get bonded pairs adopted out that frequently?

I am not involved with our SPCA so I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt it. Probably more common with small dogs than larger ones, though. I'm sure with cats it's much more frequent, I don't think it's uncommon for people to adopt cats as a pair.

Vancouver BCSPCA

The larger Humane Society here is expensive on the dog side, usually. Smaller dogs and puppies are usually $300-$400. Seniors usually about $125-$175. All other dogs usually somewhere in the $200 area. Cats are $25-$75 dollars, with FIV+ cats being free. The shelter has a lot of deals that go on, especially with cats. Price sometimes lowered for dogs and cats with adoption fees partially paid or paid fully by donator(s). Sometimes have pair deals as well that vary depending on if two cats, two dogs, or a dog and cat pair.

The county Humane Society out in the country all dogs are $130 and all cats at $75; also lowered if partially paid or paid fully by donator(s).

Four of my local 'shelters' (very few turn-ins, and mostly import dogs from the south or other countries).

The cost of living varies widely across the continent, not to mention the cost of living differs too... it uses a lot more energy to heat a building when its below freezing outside than it does when the weather outside is mild. $150 wouldn't even cover the cost of one spay here, let alone the costs of housing an animal before and after (and our shelter is sponsored, so food isn't even an issue), behavioral consultations, enrichment, staff to clean the kennels, etc.

My local shelter has a similar pricing structure. There hasn't been a bonded pair in a while, but there definitely have been some (more than one) in the two years I've been volunteering. For us they're almost always small, senior dogs, that seem to come from elderly people going into a home or passing away.

Our prices are the same as what RuffianGirl posted (but a different shelter).

Local Humane Society

Most rescues here charge $400-500 for any age, any size, any medical history. One rescue specifically states something like "we don't lower adoption prices because we feel age doesn't lower the value of dogs". Which.. it's true... age doesn't lower the value of dogs.. but it more likely DOES heighten the amount of vet bills you'll be paying from the get go.

They are cats that are not appropriate for house life, could be feral, or a tom that sprays, the cats that just won't use a litter box, pretty much they are healthy, just not house cats.

The shelter I worked at and adopted three animals from is no longer operating because of poor management and lack of money but I hear it may or may not open back up next month. Anyway we had standard fees and always lost money on adoptions. People were always complaining about our fees. We went to the cheapest vets in the area and everything we did was well over $200 per dog.

Puppies (8 wks to 6 mos), small dogs (less than 25 lbs) & Purebreds - $125
Adult dogs - $115
I cannot remember cat prices.

All animals came spayed/neutered, had age appropriate vaccines, microchipped, wormed at least twice, HW tested, and went home with a collar and leash. That was more than two years ago now, so I don't remember it all. Most of the time we were letting dogs go for around $60 and cats for $20 because we are such a rural area and had little traffic in the shelter. We were a "no-kill" shelter so it wasn't uncommon for animals to stay for months at a time. When I started working there, there was a senior Labrador who had been there three years. He did get adopted, as did all of our animals when we closed.

With all that said, I was an employee and got both of my adopted dogs "free." I just paid for their spay/neuter and rabies vaccine. My cat was $25 on an "Easter Special." He came into the shelter already neutered and had been there for six months when I took him home.

Our no kill shelter charges $125 for puppies under 6 months, $100 for over 6mo. Cats are $75 for kittens and $50 for adults.

Our local Humane Society gets attacked on Facebook whenever they post young purebreds with doubled adoption fees. I understand why it frustrates people, but the fact is that people will pay it. Freak out if you want that an 8wk old American Curl kitten or a 1yr old Yorkie is $400, but if you don't want to pay it, find another kitten or dog. There's going to be a ton of people wanting those pets, and long as the screening process remains thorough, then I don't see a problem with paring down applications with a higher adoption fee.

A local rescue does the same thing, and I hear a lot of bashing of them, too. But my foster dog that just got adopted went for the normal $210 adult fee. When he came in, he was emaciated, unvetted, and heartworm positive. He had to be neutered, vaccinated, and treated for heartworm - probably a $600+ intake for the rescue, not to mention monthly flea/heartworm prevention for the 5 months they had him. There was no way they could charge anywhere near what he cost them, especially with him being an adult (mostly) black pit bull (shelters and rescues have pit bulls coming out their ears). So yeah, if they can get $500 from a Yorkie or Poodle (no matter how much they had to put into it), I say go for it. There will always people who think it's not fair, and I understand their perspective on it, too, but I think if you want something less common/more desirable, you should be prepared to pay more for it - or be patient. It took me about a year, but I ended up with a young, purebred, neutered and healthy pug for free via Craigslist. It can happen.

As said, shelters will generally increase fees for more "desirable" dogs.

My local humane society's fees:
AC/pound: