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Originally Posted by bonbon  Rachel, please read this great explanation of adoption fees on the YHR website. Then look through some of the available pups and see the number of them that have needed a lot of expensive medical care. Yorkie Haven Rescue Adoption Fees
Have you looked at www.okyorkierescue.org for one that might interest you? You might be close enough to get one from them (I'm not sure if they adopt out of state or not). |
I adopted Lady when her previous owner tied her to a tree and moved away. Thank heavens my neighbor found her.
In the first six weeks I spent about $600 in vet bills and bare in mind this was ten years ago. It would probably be twice that now. She was already spayed, but needed a dental, had to have cherry eye surgery, needed all her vaccinations updated and complete bloodwork. She was basically a healthy dog when I adopted her. I know people who have spent thousands in vet bills on adult dogs they did not adopt through a rescue. The small adoption fee a rescue requires is minimal compared to what it can cost if you adopt an adult directly from Craigslist, a newspaper ad, etc.
To be perfectly honest, another reason rescues have adoption fees is to weed out people who really can't afford a dog. If someone can't afford an adoption fee of a few hundred dollars, they really cannot afford to properly care for a dog. Health problems and emergencies are part of dog ownership.For example, an innocent piece of ham can cause many Yorkies to get pancreatitis which can be thousands of dollars to treat. Eyes get scratched and can ulcerate, toy breeds jump off the furniture and injure their knees, the list goes on. Emergency vets require payment upfront. If you can't pay, they will turn you away.
The initial cost of a puppy, whether it is from a show breeder or rescue group, is a very small part of what you will spend on a dog over it's lifetime.