You have to pay to get your lost animal out of the pet shelter?
Ok so my dog ran away (and I notified my local shelter) and I was told that you have to pay to get them out. Is it true?
Yes you do, and the fine depends on your area and if it’s your first offense or not.
Around here, it’s 50.00 to get your dog released, 75.00 if its your second offense.
November 26th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Once my cat got out and was caught by an animal shelter. I paid $20 to get it out.
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November 26th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Yes you do. But isn’t it worth it?
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November 26th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Sure is. They may require you to spay/neuter and/or microchip as well.
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November 26th, 2010 at 5:48 am
yes my neighbors had to pay 50$ to get theyre two dogs out like two days ago.
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neighbors!
November 26th, 2010 at 6:06 am
yes that’s what I’ve heard :/
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November 26th, 2010 at 6:22 am
Yes you do, and the fine depends on your area and if it’s your first offense or not.
Around here, it’s 50.00 to get your dog released, 75.00 if its your second offense.
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November 26th, 2010 at 6:31 am
yup its a pain but it encourages owners it better control their dogs.
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November 26th, 2010 at 7:11 am
Yes, they had to examine it to make sure it was not diseased, feed it, house it, care for it, clean it. It’s just the way it is in a civilized society such as ours. They have no way of knowing if it was lost or abandoned. Who knows if it will be claimed. All this costs them money.
To be sure this never happens again, keep your dog in a safe and confined place so it doesn’t run away. This is called "owner responsibility".
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Common sense
November 26th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Yes. If it is the first incident, it can be anywhere from $40-$100 and when its you third or fourth you’ll pay about $150 dollars like my neighbors had to do when someone went in their backyard and tried to steal her we think (golden retriever- purebred beauty!).
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November 26th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Yup. The point is to encourage you to prevent your dog from running at large.
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November 26th, 2010 at 8:18 am
It depends on the shelter. Most shelters near me don’t charge. However, if the shelter told you that you must pay, you must pay. The shelter isn’t trying to be malicious, they just can’t give free services. Remember, if they caught the dog, that service cost them money. They had to pay a worker to get the dog. They had to pay someone to intake the dog (and possibly give vaccines, flea treatment, etc. if it was intaked as a stray). They had to use their resources and cage space to provide the dog a place to live, bedding, food, water, toys, etc. while it was there. It costs a shelter money to care for run aways, you should just be happy your dog is safe.
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November 26th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Like what everyone said above yes they will have you pay( I think is a stupid way to go, to many, and me a pet is part of the family, who the heck wants to pay for a family member.) and they may suggest you to neuter it, or micro chip it
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November 26th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Yeah, and I can’t remember the specifics but it’s like an additional $15-30 for every day that you do not come to claim it and they have to feed it; so it can spike from like $50 to 150-200 in a matter of days.
At least that’s how it works in Australia, dunno how it works wherever you live, though. But you generally want to get them the hell out ASAP, otherwise you rack up a large fee, and the longer they’re around other dogs the more chance of them contracting some form of illness (which is going to cost you even more.)
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November 26th, 2010 at 9:32 am
of course you do – people don’t run around finding, catching, housing and feeding stray dogs for free, in free buildings, with free food, in their free time. Not to mention finding YOU by looking up the microchip.
your dog didn’t run away. YOU didn’t properly contain your dog.
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November 26th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Yep it’s true. That’s the price you pay for irresponsibility.
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November 26th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Yes, it’s true. Most shelters charge for a lost dog. Some charge daily, some don’t. In most cases though, it’s to compensate for housing your dog, feeding it, any shots they may have given it, etc… Some shelters, as another poster said, will require a spay/neuter and a microchip to be done before releasing the dog, or they’ll have done so before you pick the dog up, and will ask for compensation for that. Keep in mind that any stray dog they bring in, is treated the same (even if you’ve reported your dog missing), and will receive the same vet care, etc… as any other stray they bring in if they don’t have any current information about the dog’s vaccinations, spay/neuter, etc…
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November 26th, 2010 at 10:31 am
At least 20 years ago we had a red lab. We had no fence but when outside he was on a 25 foot chain. We were gone for a while and he and his chain made the great escape. He made it 4 homes away but they did not know he was our dog as he had never run loose. So they took him to the local pound. We went looking and calling around for him and found him at the pound we had to wait till the next day to get him. He cost us around $70 but, "I am laughing", I think they said he ate that much in dog biscuits. <smiling> I can remember them laughing at the appetite he had and how friendly he was.
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November 26th, 2010 at 11:12 am
You usually do have to pay a fee to get your dog back. There can be additional fees if your dog is not licenced or needs other stuff to be fully legal in your city.
In my city, if your dog has the licence tag on and gets lost, it can be returned to you with no fees if they can get the dog back without having to take it to the shelter. Once the dog is in the shelter, the fees depend on how long the dog is there. They want to get the dogs and cats home, but also need to get the costs back for feeding and caring for the dog until it is picked up.
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November 26th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Yes. The thought is that if you pay to get your dog out, you’re going to be more careful about not letting the dog loose.
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November 26th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
yes that is true
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