Ok, so this has been bugging me lately, and maybe it's just me. But... I've had two people in the last month who have emailed me about bringing their chins to the rescue because they're going back to their home country. Don't get me wrong, that alone, I have no problem with.
Problem is... for both sets of people... they KNEW they were going to be in the US for a limited time. Without sharing the personal details, both knew they'd be here for a few years, and then go back. Yet they got pets. To me, this isn't very responsible.
I know, some devil's advocate will email me and will say, "well, maybe they didn't know how expensive it'd be to ship the pets back to their home country." Ok, I ship a box of mazuri to the next state over and it's $18. We're talking shipping a live animal overseas. A plane ticket for an animal in the US, typically runs as much as a plane seat for a human. An expensive plane seat, meaning $300+. Imagine overseas. I try to ship a box to the US with a hidey house and it's $20. Try to ship it to Canada and it's $60. Think of that in terms of shipping an animal. Almost no one except the super rich are ever going to do it.
And for both, they literally waited until a few days - a few weeks before going back to email and say they need to bring their chins in. Yes, just expect me to dump my entire waiting list to take in your chin because you couldn't plan ahead. Which actually, is exactly what happens.... cause if people are losing their house, or need their chin gone asap, I try to find a way to bring them in. But I still don't think it's fair.
Anyway, the first set of people was very nice, dropped off their chins, supplies, etc etc.
Second set, which is the one I'm chatting with now, had emailed me about dropping off three chins and their cage. Was supposed to be set for this weekend, but something came up. They emailed again and said, oh, they thought that their 2 other chins (on top of the three) had a home, but that didn't happen. Wanted to know if I could take all five. Also wanted to know if I could buy the chins a new FN and they'd pay for it.
Now, I could be wrong, and god knows I've been wrong before. But first thing that pops in my head when someone says, buy em a new cage is, "I want all these chins to go together, with the new cage." And maaaaaan, would that be a difficult, expensive adoption to pull off. In fact, it'd be downright impossible. I have a hard enough time adopting out two chins, since most people want one. So I emailed the person, asking if I understand this correctly, that they want all the chins (four of em, since the 5th is housed alone) adopted out together with the cage. I told them, if that's the case, I can't promise that. I told em, if they're adamant about that, I can't help them. Told em, I won't lie to em and say I'll adopt em all out together and then adopt them out separately, but I told em, most people think 2 chins is too many, much less three or four. Plus, a lot of people have their own cages, so saying, take four PLUS a new expensive cage... would be super expensive. Let's be honest here.
Four chins, let's just say they're all adults. If you adopt a pair when you don't have to, it's $25 off the pair. But when it's a pair you have to adopt together, there's no discount. So let's say they're all grey adults that's $75 x 4 = $300 just for the chins. Figure, a new FN, I saw one somewhere the other day for $175. Well, for a used cage I normally charge 60%, but one that's been used a super short time would be more like a new cage, so say 75%. So, $175 x 75% = $131.25. So that, plus the chins, $131.25 + $300 = $431.25. Now, who wants to get in line to adopt four chins and cage for $431.25? Anyone? No one?? It's not actually a bad deal, don't get me wrong. But I can't think of one person who's going to step up to adopt that. Not one. And figure, that doesn't include any food or anything else that those chins need. And four chins eat a bunch and need a ton of chew toys and stuff.
I told him, pairs would be fine, but I can't promise four. And I will not get myself suckered into any sob story about why they have to stay together. If they have to stay together, they can "have to stay together" elsewhere. Nothing against those chins, but trios might as well become permanent additions to the rescue due to people saying, "oh that's too many chins to take on at once." And I won't have my rescue fill up with chins that no one will adopt because of insane previous home requirements. Since when can you drop off your dog at the humane society and say, well it can only go to a home with no kids, and a nice old lady, and they must have a doggy door. Oh wait, you CAN'T! Even if you drop it off at a private rescue, they can't promise that and they will adopt out the dog to whoever they think is the best fit. They may lie and say they'll try their best to adopt someone's 10 dogs out to the same family, but they know they're lying and they know it won't happen. I won't do that, I won't lie to the people, but at the same time, I won't even make life 400x more difficult for me by saying I will try it. Because I won't.
Technically, I don't yet know if that's what this person meant. So, we shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment