Rescue Groups charge more for Adoption than Animal Shelters. This is true. and there are reasons for this.
Animal Shelters receive city, county, state or federal funding, or any combination of these government entities. Rescue groups do not.
Animal Shelters are temporary safe houses for dogs in immediate need, they do no provide long term housing, extended vet care, or training, Rescue groups do this and its pricey.
Sometimes, Heartland Great Dane Rescue receives savings toward vet care or we do some of our own vaccinations when the law allows to save money. A few danes come to us previously vaccinated and altered, but these are rare instances. Most not only need basic vet care, but also have extended medical issues.
Still the savings we enjoy often are spent on a dane with extended injuries or illnesses that may take many hundreds of dollars to fix. As you will see from the below lists the cost of even basic needs and vet care far surpass our Adoption Fee.
Basic Needs ( Per Dane) $130
Crate: $100
Bedding: $10
Collar/leash: $15
Tag: $5
Total: $130
Basic Vet Care (Per Dane) $300-375
**Please keep these expenses in mind if you are considering a puppy. Many need repeating the first year.
Rabies Vaccination: $11
**Five way / Parvo Vaccination: $28
Bordatella Vaccination: $12
**Fecal float (test for internal parasites): $22.00
**Repeat fecal float after 3 weeks: $22.00
**Heartworm test: $25.00
**Health exam: $35
Spay/neuter: $160
**Standard wormer $10 if one or two intestinal parasites exist.
**Drontil tablets: $15 per dose ( 3 -5 doses per dane, $45-75) If more than 3 intestinal parasites exist.
Total: $ 300-375
Basic Home Care ( Per Month) $41
Monthly Costs:
Heartguard: $26
Flea/Tick/Mosquito preventative: $15
Total: $41 per month $492 per year
Extended Vet Care ( Per Dane) Varied
This is a very short list. Each Dane is different in its needs.
Heartworm Treatment: $310-430
Fungal culture: $49
Skin scraping: $19
Culture and sensitivity: $49
CBC (done prior to anesthesia for surgery): $35
Anesthesia for surgery :$ 50-150
Blood chemistry: $55
X-rays: $60-80 per view
Drontil tablets: $15 per dose
Dip: $35
Extended Foster Home Expenses. ( Per Dane)
The below list of expenses are incurred by Foster Homes each month for each dane. HGDR does not reinburse these expenses, so they are not considerations toward your adoption fee, but they are fees to consider non-the-less. Adopters can expect to pay similar monthly expenses plus Heartworm Preventative, Flea and Tick Preventatives, Annual Vaccinations, ( listed with their costs above)
Food: $40/ month
Toys/bones: $15/month
Grooming supplies: $10
Gas for travel/transport (vets, events, etc.): $10/month
Cleaning products and supplies: $10/month
Other investments. ( Per Dane)
Specialty Training for Exceptionally timid or unsocialized danes
Basic Obedience Training
Unconditional time and love.
How much is your time worth? Your love?
Many a dane comes to fostering without basic housemanners ( ignoring food on counters, no rowdy play, no jumping up, etc.) and without basic house training ( potty training, crate training). Teaching these valuable skills falls to foster homes. This is where the unconditional love comes into play. Sometimes this is expensive. :) Many foster homes incur expenses during the time they are teaching these skills, loss of the night's pizza, broken knick knacks, replacing screen doors, carpet cleaning, sofa cleaning, etc.
Again these are not including in the Adoption Fee nor are they a reimbursed to foster homes by Heartland Great Dane Rescue, but its important for adopters to know about these expenses, and understand they too may run into a few of them from time to time, especially when introducing a new dog to a new home.