Few things make me angrier than Craigslist pet section rehoming fees but not for the reason(s) you may think. I’ve encountered ads lambasting people for charging a lot of money, but those ads are typically written by animal flippers who buy pets for a cheap rehoming fee and then turn around and sell them to other people.
Some animal flippers pay expensive rehoming fees and then try to sell the animals to other people on Craigslist for a profit.
What Angers Me About Craigslist Pet Section Rehoming Fees
The first thing that angers me is Craigslist says, “no animal sales or breeding — rehoming with small adoption fee is ok,” but if you spend two seconds in the pet section, you see it’s nothing but animal sales and breeding. The second thing that angers me is Craigslist doesn’t set any parameters for the “small adoption fee,” so people frequently post free cats and kittens that have repeatedly been targets of psychopaths like Ronald Golden, Kaine Louzader and Luka Magnotta as well as the increasing amount of dogfighters we have across the country and around the world. Alternatively, people charge a ridiculous 10 or 20 bucks “to ensure good home” to avoid having their ad flagged while guinea pig, rabbit and even snake owners protect their pet by charging an amount that deters evildoers from contacting them:
Rehoming Fees Help Protect Your Pet
As rehome.adoptapet.com says, “A rehoming fee is a payment made by potential adopters to the person or organization they are adopting a pet from. These fees are important because they require potential adopters to demonstrate the financial ability to care for a pet and to weed out people who collect dogs and cats listed as free to a good home for use in dog fighting, as bait animals, or to sell to labs.”
With so many people being laid off due to COVID, it’s important to check a person’s pay stubs or W2 before you hand someone your pet, and you have every right to ask for those things. If a person balks, he or she should not get your pet. Simple. The person who posted the Craigslist ad below was willing to allow her cat to suffer for “weeks” because she was broke.
Another person, whose German shepherd had had recurring ear infections for a year and a half, allowed her dog to suffer for over a year because she couldn’t take him to the vet.
So How Much Should You Charge for a Rehoming Fee?
Rehome.adoptapet.com suggests charging at least $50.
But as you can see from this email I received from a woman in Columbus, Ohio, even $50 may not be enough to protect cats and kittens from being killed.
Why You Should Charge a Higher Rehoming Fee Than Shelters and Pet Shops
I encourage you to visit your local animal protective league or humane society’s website and local pet shops such as PetSmart, Petco and Pet Supplies Plus, who adopt out cats and other animals for local shelters, to find out how much they charge for cats, kittens, dogs, puppies and smaller companion animals. Then, remember the following:
- All of them make adopters sign and date an adoption contract with a microchip number;
- All of them photocopy the adopter’s driver’s license;
- Shelters run a background check (even after an animal is adopted from a pet shop);
- All of them have security cameras; and
- Shelters take photos like this:
You know you aren’t paying $20 or more to run a background check on a potential adopter, so you need to be even more careful than shelters and pet shops. This entails charging a higher rehoming fee. Do not allow people to harass you into lowering that fee.
You’re supposed to keep a pet until it dies. If you can’t, remember: There’s a difference between finding a pet a new home and getting rid of a pet. Once pets are gone, they’re gone. You can’t protect them, and they can’t protect themselves. The absolute least you can do is charge a lot of money to try to weed out psychopaths and people collecting animals for dogfighters.
THIS is advocacy. 