Donation Fees

[Ela]

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we were told that  £50 was the standard donation fee for adoption when we got Max from CP

The suggested donation is left up to each individia;l branch.  Although it is possible that HQ sponsored shelters (last I heard there were 29) have a standard donation.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I slightly disagree with if people baulk at an adoption fee, can they afford to look after the cat properly - they might have had to buy beds, bowls, trays, carrier etc, so might have already spent a large amount of money for the things the cat will need, and they might have a credit card/insurance for the vets side. I have only 'paid' for one of my cats (have had , yet it hasn't stopped me spending thousands just at the vets, never mind on anything else. If I adopted Zia tomorrow, I would find it a lot easier to take her to the vets and get her bloods, vacc and chip done than I would finding the £40 for her adoption fee.
I do think my CP has a different price for kittens than adults - we charge a flat fee, and if the kitten is too young to neuter, they are told that if they book in at our vets and show their adoption paper, it is covered in the cost.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Foal farm -
kitten prices
"Please bear in mind the costs associated with taking on a kitten - we charge a total fee of £80 which covers 1st vaccination , microchipping and appropriate flea/worming treatments. However, if you take 2 kittens the total will be £140 (buy 1 get 1 halfprice!) In addition you will need to have a 2nd vaccination at 12 weeks (around £25) and neutering at 6 months will be another £30-50. All cats over 6 months will have been neutered before leaving the Farm. "

[unseeliechylde]

Neither Riley or Skye were chipped, vaccinated or neutered when we adopted them from PAWSS, but I was still more than happy to pay £35 for each of them (the suggested is £20, if they haven't had anything done). As far as I'm concerned, part of it is about being a responsible cat owner, but more than that it is about bearing in mind all the amazing work these rescues do, and the fact that without them, you wouldn't have met an fallen in love with the furbabe you adopt. Frankly, that's beyond price.
I would also add that by the time we had each of our babes chipped, neutered, vaccinated, de-flead, wormed and insured, it came to more than £50 each - it seems not only reasonable but positively cheap!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

And on insurance

[maryas]

My 13 yrs old cat, Smudge is missing at the mo and I adopted an elderly cat from the RSPCA in December.  She might need medication for the rest of her life, so I will have that to pay for which I do not mind about.  They only asked me for £5 for Bonnie and I felt guilty only paying that and I said she was worth more than that to me and I looked in my purse and donated another £20.  They asked me if I was certain and I said I was happy to do so.  I make regular donations to RSPCA, CP and PDSA to name a few and if people have the money and are happy to give a larger donation then all well and good.  I imagine that if people want a cat they will be happy to donate but not always happy to be TOLD how much it is as they think they might rather spend it on food/toys for the cat as said by Angie.

Mary

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[Ralph's mum (angie)]

we were told that  £50 was the standard donation fee for adoption when we got Max from CP, not to much to ask but some people might like to spend the money on the animal like bedding, toys etc I can see both sides of the argument has valid points

[Ela]

Branches can nowadays have a 'suggested donation'. ours is £30 per cat but it is not written in stone as a good home is more important. All our cats are flead/wormed, injected and chipped and if over 6 mths neutered/spayed.

Also for a month after adoption CP are oblighd to pay for any vet fees that may be necessary. Of course if you were foolish enough to let the cat put and it had an accident then the fees would be your responsibility.

[Den]

Where I am and where Memphy is from it's a flat out adoption fee of £60 - this includes, neutering (or a neutering voucher, if they are too young at the time of adoption), microchipping, vaccinations, frontline, worming plus a free care pack and 6 weeks free insurance plus a bit of food. Doesn't matter if it's a Kitten, adult or senior.

[Liza]

I got my 2 girls from CP in Kent 20mths ago now - the fee (their words on the hand written receipt) were £35 per kitten, this didn't include any jabs, chipping or spaying. 

That was fine as we were more than happy to pay to get things done as "responsible" owners but don't know if any people do.  We did have to send back a signed form from the vets when the kits got spayed at 6mths but to be honest don't know what they would have done if we didn't send it back. 

It would have been "cheaper" for us to pay a higher fee/donation of £50 to cover all but we all know that this isn't a realistic price if you break everything down.  1st & 2nd jabs £60ish, chipping £10-£15 spaying £50-£60 per cat

[Angiew]

I think a sliding scale would be unrealistic as it is a donation - also if you manage to turn a 'profit' on one cat it will make up for a shortfall in another.

Covcats have recently put up the amount they ask for to £30, this does not include a microchip or innoculations. if the animal is too young for us to neuter then they have to pay this themselves. We find some people baulk at £30 per cat and I know we've had the debate on here that some people feel miffed about giving money for a cat on the principal that they are offering it a home with all the expenses tha entails (and thats people who appreciate that we need these 'donations' to survive).

As far as telling people, it should always be upfront - they should see it on the website and each time they speak to someone it should be mentioned. For us homevisits are the last thing that happen - the person has alreay been to visit and choose the cat and its something the fosterers also mention so by the time the home visit / handing over of cat happens there should be no surprises.

As far as the microchip details go, I would have thought that even though the cats are chipped , no paperwork has been sent out until the cat is homed , therefore the change of ownership is not a problem. The chp companies seem to know who the chips have been sold to so if a cat is lost from eg CP, they will ba able to say the cat belongs to CP in the animal is scanned.

[Mark]

The problem is, it isn't a fee, it's a donation and reliant on good will. So you can't really have a sliding scale - Hopefully most people are generous.

[Dawn F]

would a flat fee be better?  you could end up with "but such and such only paid £20" situations - I paid £65 for each of mine from rspca one they had done a c section on, vaccinated, chipped, looked after her four kittens and spayed her the other already had a chip, was spayed and vacc'd

[chrisleitz]

I suggest £50.00 and see how they react. Realistically though, if they can't afford a £50 donation, can they afford to look after the cat properly?

Mark, I am with you there in a way.  When I do my visits I am usually armed with sample vet fees, average food, litter, insurance costs etc just to make sure people are aware.  And I am sure when I explain to prospective owners what the donation fee covers, most of them will be Ok with it.  There will be of course still a few that will grumble.  There is also the question, if new owners will have to cover the cost for changing the microchip details, which will most likley add another £15 to the amount per cat (awaiting clarification on that point from the powers).

What gets me is that before that, I didn't have any real guidelines and I was told to suggest £15/cat and of course whatever they would feel appropriate. 

I am wondering if any other CP branches have some form of sliding scale system in place, i.e. Kitten, vaccinated, chipped and neutered by CP = £50, Adult cat (already neutered) but Chipped and vaccinated by CP = £40, Adult cat (already neutered and chipped) vaccinated by CP = £30 ; Kitten not yet vaccinated, neutered or chipped = £20

Would that make sense?

[Dawn F]

it was chipped but not vacced - she was the one who was too scared to have a home check!

[Mark]

my friend paid £65 for a kitten from a pet shop

And I bet t wasn't chipped or vacced - probably the old chestnut "fully litter trained" 

[Dawn F]

my friend paid £65 for a kitten from a pet shop

[Mark]

At the end of the day, it is a donation and not a fee so people can choose to give as much or a little as they like. I suggest £50.00 and see how they react. Realistically though, if they can't afford a £50 donation, can they afford to look after the cat properly?

Looking back now I feel bad for only donating £30 for Kylie - at the time (2002) I think that was what they recommended though.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I am an outsider here but I thought that CP could not insist on a donation of any size?

I am sure that Ela will be able to give some advice on this.

[chrisleitz]

I need some guidance from experienced rescuers.
I am carrying out home visits for my local CP branch and have just been advised that we should from now on ask for a minimum donation fee of £50 per cat.  The cats will all be microchipped, neutered and vaccinated before they go to their new home.  I usually carry with me a price list of the local vets and their charges and in light of that the fee asked for is, in my opinion, reasonable.  Nevertheless, I am a bit concerened that this will put people off, especially as we also try to home kittens in pairs if at all possible.  How do you approach this subject with potential new owners?
I still have to find out from OxfordCats how much freedom we have with 'adjusting' the fees for example for older cats that are already neutered, or kittens that are just too young to have been spayed or microchipped.
How do you deal with that?  - Thanks.