Just another angle……..

The PDSA vet scheme – I fully support this for pet owners that hit hard times – the animals welfare is paramount. I don’t agree with people that get a pet KNOWING they can get free/subsidised treatment.

Pet ownership carries responsibility.

If you can’t afford car tax, insurance and to maintain a car to MOT standards, then we have laws to say you can’t use the car. If you can’t afford to “run a pet”, then don’t get one.

I agree with that angle.

We have always had rescues the most we have paid is £100 and that was a voluntary donation which the rescue was amazed to be offered. We neuter ourselves rather than having the rescues foot the bill too.

But while you can go to gumtree or a local paper and pick up a free to good home dog I think rescues will find it hard to charge much more.

Should they charge much more - no I don't think so or they will find they rehome many fewer dogs than they do now.

Think the cost is appropriate. If people are looking to make the financial commitment for an animal then they'll find the money. The price is cheap compared to going out and paying the market prices for each breed. If you want something badly enough then you save up. If you work out what the cost would be to you anyway ie, you bring a pup home. By the time you've paid to have it neutered, wormed, flea'd that would add up to and beyond a £150 already. So you're actually only paying for the cost of the neutering anyway. I do realise that there are places that do it at a low cost. My point is as with every animal. It's not buying it, it's the cost of keeping it. If you find £150 a problem in the first place then i would say could you really afford to pay for all a dogs requirements in the first place.
At the end of the day the rescues need the money to keep going not only on a day to day basis but make sure they are looking as secure as possible for the future.

Forgot to tell you about my two:-

Dog 1, from memory, it was £150 + neutering. I gave £200

Dog 2, small rescue. They wouldn’t suggest what would be a reasonable donation. So, not to show favoratism, I gave £200 for him as well.

I don’t begrudge a penny. I’ll always continue to support both these rescue orgs in my little way.

When we had Bruce, although Bruce was the result of a rescued bitch,(Fern) we donated £210 pounds. On top of that I had him vaccinated, micro-chipped and neutered. £140 in total

However Skye came from a puppy business in Wales....or puppy farm, however you see it.....and she cost £120. Plus I had her vaccinated mirco-chipped and spayed another £180

Reah was nothing ....well she would be....but still had to raise 3 Grand to have her put together.
Vaccinations, micro chip and spay where all thrown in free...bargin

Gary paid £75 for his BC from B;ham Dogs Home, plus £40 for neutering, mirco chipped £25 and Vaccinations done at the home, in the cost.

Pappi came from a gypsy site they charged him £220 then he had her vaccinated and micro-chipped another £105

Steven's three ...Sabre the GSD nothing from the Blue Cross (as Steven walked her in his spare time) she was spayed and they microchipped/vaccinated her...so he donated £100.00. Yet Meg Cost £200 was spayed/vaccinated but he paid another £30 for microchipped, but his BC cost £50 and he paid another £80 for spay and £25 for micro chip.

So I suppose if you work it out they are not making alot with thier charges. Well I wouldn't begrudge it anyway

Five of my little dogs have been from rescues and all of them had a huge amount of money spent on them before they were able to be rehomed. I did not consider the £150.00 I paid for my latest to be too high at all. However my Chihuahua who I rehomed privately cost me absolutely nothing at the time but I had to have him castrated and teeth removed , flea treatment and skins tests and ointments and pills supplied------all within the first weeks of having him. He was then diagnosed with Cushings Disease. A very costly little man indeed Mary

No, I don't consider that rescues charge too much.
There is a valid point in that people who get something cheap may well not have the same commitment - and how many of those puppy farm dogs bought on a whim end up in rescue anyway?
I would imagine the whole idea of being charged is not only to help the rescue survive but to see if you are committed to the dog. After all, they don't want the poor dog going back a second or third time do they?
My Missy we paid £70 for - and she was vaccinated, neutered, microchipped, came with 6 weeks free insurance. food and spare leads.
Some people thought we should have had her cheaper because she was 7ish, but really! What difference?

And because we knew full well that money was nothing compared to what the Home had done for Missy all through her 2 year stay - we raised some extra funds for them, and continue to do so every year.

That's so that they can continue to care for unwanted dogs, as they cared for mine.

I really do think if someone has the attitude that the price is too high, then they have the wrong attitude to own a dog.

When we started SHWA(UK) 20 months ago, we (naively) didn't charge for rescues, thinking that we could fundraise to cover our costs. That didn't last long and after a few months we introduced a £40 donation. Even this was insufficient as many of the dogs coming in were not vaccinated, microchipped and were in need of veterinary care and neutering. After our first year, we decided to up the rehoming fee to £100, which more nearly covers the cost of most of the dogs. This is flexible however, and under certain circumstances, part or the whole fee can be waived. The most important consideration is always - finding the right home for the dog!
Compared with many rescues, we are "lucky" - we are totally volunteer based. We have no paid staff, no buildings and no office to maintain. Apart from staff transport costs and a tiny amount of necessary admin, all our money (whether from fundraising events or rehoming donations) goes to the dogs. Even then, we sometimes struggle when we get a case in that needs intensive veterinary care.
So, I guess my answer would be that , no, rescues don't tend to charge too much, although I think flexibility is always good in appropriate situations.

Mick

We don't have a set donation, all that we ask people to consider is that as many rescues do, all dogs leave us up to date with vacs, microchipped, flead, wormed and neutered on avergae it costs us £120 to sort all this out, as very few come in with anything. we don't look to make money, but in order to continue we need to cover our costs, we don't include in that the cost of transporting, food, beds etec that the dogs need while they are on foster