Rehoming Pets - Adopting Fluffy

The search is on in our household, not to replace our beloved little fourteen year old beagle, that we sadly had to put to sleep because Beauty was riddled with cancer -- but to fill that empty hole in our family, that not having a dog has left.

She was grandpa's most constant companion, and often his only friend. She was our resident eldest granddaughter's sole keeper of little girl secrets, the one who got kisses good-bye every morning before school (even if she did have to sneak into our bedroom to do so), and the first one to get kissed hello when she came home from school. Life without her is an altered life, missing a fair amount of joy.

It's often quoted these days that "pets are forever friends" and to my way of thinking, it's so much more than that -- they are our forever non-human family members, who live in our hearts and minds long after they are gone.

Beauty was like other dogs we've owned. She was a rescued dog, one that was sentenced to death, if we did not give her a home. We were a farm family. We already had five dogs, including a Great Dane and were not looking to add another canine family member.

Yet, there was this "free" beagle thrown in the back of a co-workers pickup bed by his angry wife with orders that "you don't come home with that dirty dog again." Beauty, being food aggressive, had attacked the woman's prized pedigree cat when it accidentally walked too close to her food dish.

In a one stop light West Virginia town, there are were no shelters within forty-five miles. That little beagle would have been turned lose to fend for herself in the woods, drowned in the nearby river, or shot and disposed of -- that's the reality of such rural communities. It isn't right, but that's what people do.

Over the next thirteen years, that "free dog" cost us well over an astounding ten thousand dollars. That is a low estimate of expenditures and no exaggeration. We are not just talking about the usual shots, getting fixed, food, etc.

Here, are just some of the unexpected surprise costs of one free dog:

• Two dental surgeries that were well over nine hundred dollars each
• Surgery when she bit the Great Dane, for looking in the direction of her food. The normally placid Great Dane returned the favor nearly severing her leg
• Boarding for up to a month at a time when we traveled overseas and on extended vacations times many such trips
• Surgery to remove a cancerous mammary gland tumor
• Surgery to remove a pound of fat from around her gall bladder and do exploratory surgery to see why she kept throwing up (to the tune of twenty-eight hundred dollars)
• Visits to the vet in her last years over arthritis and bone spur problems in her back, along with expensive prescriptions to keep her pain free
• The expense of having her put to sleep and cremated

None of that cost mattered, she was our baby dog, and we did our best for her, just as she gave us her best unconditional love. That's not complicated, love doesn't have a price tag.

What Is Complicated? -- It Is The World Of Pets Today

Like many multi-generational families living under the same roof, we jumped into the whole debate about getting another dog with a multitude of ideas. One member of the house wanted a really big dog. Another family member only wants a pocket-sized dog.

"No pit bulls," said the youngest member remembering what happened to her young friend Issac. "No chows," said the oldest member of the family, remembering the one that bit him. "I hate Chihuahuas," chimed in the Queen-of-the-house wanna-be. "I always wanted a Chihuahua," clamored the reigning Queen-Bee-of-the-house.

Clearly, it doesn't take further elaboration or a rocket scientist, to figure out where this family discussion went. In the end, we came up with a list of what the newest non-human member of needed to have to qualify for membership:

• Low shedding
• Not food aggressive
• Tolerant of an evil Calico cat
• Already housebroken
• Love sponge
• Not too hyper
• Not older than a year
• Not too young
• Not a pit bull, chihuahua, chow, or large breed dog
• Don't need or necessarily want a pedigreed dog
• Try to keep the initial cost of the dog low to fit with our current budget (having just moved)

Once we had our list, you would have thought the matter of getting a dog would be straight-forward and simple. That was not to be. First, we visited pet shops for ideas, and found that route to be a real eye-opener.

Then, we scoured the online listings of the local shelters -- another surprise. We contacted private breeders, looked in the local newspapers, and then went to that ever popular standby for finding anything -- Craigslist.

We live in Central Florida, where twenty percent of the state's population live, among over 4 million other people. These are tough times for Florida.

Just last week, we won the title of the state who has lost more jobs than any other state. We have unemployment well over the 11.8% admitted to, just because of the murky way that such statistics are calculated. It's all about who they count and don't count.

Drive anywhere in our region, and you'll see new home developments abandoned by their former builders, virtual unfinished ghost towns. Turn to any commercial area and you realize that Star Bucks, Circuit City, Linens n' Things, Sonics, have joined boarded up banks, motels, mom-and-pop failed businesses -- that are all scarring our once "pretty for the tourists" region.

Bankruptcies have jumped 50% in Central Florida. We have the distinction of being one of the three top states for foreclosures and abandoned properties. For the first time in years, more people are fleeing the state than moving into it.

What does this have to do with pets? Everything. Despite desperate times and desperate people, families are still parting with their hard earned money on certain tried and true things. Simultaneously, others are abandoning or giving up their pets.

Most people buy what they absolutely need, and they indulge themselves of what makes them feel good. Pets make people feel good and are at some level almost a status symbol. Once you were known in the United States by what car you owned, today some define their status by what dog or cat they own.

A near as I can determine in this state, regardless of how much is in one's pocket book, people are still spending their money on (not necessarily in that order or being a good thing):

• Their children
• Tattoos
• Drugs
• Pets

Pets and their pet accessories are huge recession proof objects of desire. Those in the business of providing them are not suffering in this economy. Yet, even some of our county shelters have been forced to close their doors in a time when more and more people (in desperate circumstances) are giving up their pets. That means there are more homeless pets available for adoption than ever before.

Paradoxically, the price of buying a dog, is almost as crazy as our real estate market once was before the economy fled the country. Puppies in pet stores at the low end go for around $400 to well over a $1000 dollars. It's also the same prices to buy one from a breeder, a private individual, or even at weekend flea markets.

So, we turned to the shelters and similar pet entities, and learned that adopting a dog -- something that a couple of years ago cost a modest $65, is now well over a hundred dollars. Additionally, in the case of more popular breeds, the prices for adoption even at non-profits are almost as great as buying a dog retail.

Now, I'm a big fan of Craigslist for a lot of reasons, so it seems reasonable that we would look for a dog there. Oddly, I pick up freelance writing jobs there, because businesses have caught on to the fact that it saves them money in advertising. For example, I just landed a job in a government call for writers on Craigslist. I also buy and sell items there, and this helps us to not only get what we want or are looking for, but to make a profit on unwanted or no longer needed items.

Surely, I could find a new dog member of our little family on Craigslist? Well, maybe not, what we have found so far, is a whole new vocabulary: Re-Homing  Craigslist Style!

Apparently, there is a fair amount of forum discussions all over the Internet over Craig's List policies concerning "re-homing pet fees."

Craigslist has a policy in it's TOS of not allowing Pet Sales or Breeding/Breeders Of Pets Sales, but at the same time allowing small adoption or re-homing fees for so-called "free pets."

However, Craigslist does not specify the "amount" of the "small fee." Thus, it is allowing just about everyone to put up litters of puppies, kittens, and other pets under the pretense of "re-homing" with outrageous fees, sometimes in excess of $600.00.

Puppy mills and some individuals are further taking advantage to "Re Home" their animals. Even private and non-profit pet rescue entities have jumped into the free advertisement fray in desperation to prevent unnecessary deaths of "death row" unwanted or stray pets.

In some instances, re-homing fees make perfect sense. Such is the case, when you are adopting a pet from a county run, or well-known shelter, such as the SPCA or Humane Society. Re-homing in that case, is really another word for an "adoption fee."

Adoption fees make sense because they help defray the costs of neutering the animal, making sure they are healthy, have their shots up to date, defraying kennel housing and feeding. It makes the entity less dependent upon unreliable donations that are practically non-existent in today's economy.

Unfortunately, in today's world, there are a lot of desperate people and unscrupulous people. So, in that light re-homing fees sometimes (but not always) charging a fee make senses. Free dogs (and cats) can and do end up being scooped up by those who would and do sell them to research labs. They are less likely to do so with pets that they have to pay for, rather than get for free.

Then, there is another mind-set, that may have some validity. It's a fact-of-life that people often don't value the things in life that they get for free. Sadly, there are those among us who consider pets a disposable objects of ownership. Sadly, there are also those among us who would accept a free pet on a whim or without thinking their own family situation through -- and turn around and get rid of a pet shortly thereafter, when it becomes "inconvenient."

So, the validity in this argument for re-homing fees is to make the dog or cat an object that is valued in terms of the price they originally paid. If they aren't willing to pay for the pet, they probably aren't making a commitment to take care of it.

By the same token, if they can't afford a modest re-homing fee, they probably can't afford the dog. It is expensive in this uncertain financial world to own a pet.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with re-homing pet fees, unless they are a ruse to sell a dog at full market value, or at an exorbitant re-homing price. Where I have problems with re-homing fees on Craigslist is those inappropriate asking high fees.

Additionally, high re-homing fees are a gray area of pet sales that have a lot of pitfalls -- the largest of which, is that just because you paid a high re-homing fee -- does not guarantee that you will get a healthy pet.

Another down side of the high re-homing fees, are the fact that there are some shelters who have given into charging the going price for popular breeds of dogs. Seems like that's not the way it's supposed to be either (just my opinion).

It's A Buyer's Beware World Today -- Even When It Comes To Pets!