The cost of a "free" pet

My husband occasionally comments on my one 'free' cat. Cooper came to me with an umbilical hernia and no previous shot record AND an upper respiratory infection. Cost us well over 200 to get him fixed up. My other two were $100 each from Purrfect pals, a wonderful cat rescue here in WA. They'd had their first shots, been neutered and wormed. Didn't have a problem with them and even with their booster shots they cost less then my 'free' boy.
Still love them all the same though.

People don't realize just how much money and work you have to put into an animal. Just because you don't pay to get the animal doesn't mean you won't pay later. 'Free' pets are normally unhealthy individuals with either physical or mental illness and the cost to get them back on track is normally very high.

When I found my cat Miki at college, she was kinda free. I found her in a tree and ended up keeping her. I had to have her tested for Feline Leukemia (I think it was around $20) boarded her at the vet for a week (couldn't bring her home from college for another week and couldn't keep her in the dorm. Around $60) Then I had to buy her a cat bed ($15) breakaway collar ($10) Vaccinations (unsure how much it cost but it wasn't cheap) Spay and Microchip ($200) Slight reaction to stitches, needed medication ($15) Nail trimmers ($10) Litterbox ($10)

And this was all within the first month of having her home and this did not include toys, food, treats, the cat tree, food dishes, scratching post, combs, ect.

A few months later, I adopted another kitten and started the whole thing all over again, minus the spay and vaccinations since she had already gotten her first set.

Pets are expensive whether they carry the label free or not. No pet is ever free if you are caring for it properly.

"Free" usually means "we don't feel like dealing with or caring for this animal and its numerous health needs and problems. Please take it!"

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

"Free" usually means "we don't feel like dealing with or caring for this animal and its numerous health needs and problems. Please take it!"

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:clap: Yep, that's about it!
My little lover boy, Rattles has the most health issues, whereas Siam, my siamese doesn't have any (and if you all saw the house he came from.... :O .... you'd be just as shocked as I was). Rattles "owner" is a very clean, tidy person, however, that still does not say anything about pet health quality. The lady who I got Siam from... well... let's just say, 15+ cats, 2 litter boxes, wall to wall carpet, doesn't like to do dishes... use your imagination. :(

Either way, at least I *knew* what I was getting into before I agreed to take the two cats, most people who get "free" pets, don't.

What gets me is that people think "oh well, it's an "animal", they don't need anything besides food, water, a collar (maybe) and a bath once a year (maybe). What people don't think about, or don't want to is that an "animal" is just like a *child*. Even if you don't have human children, if you DO have an "animal" then you DO have a "child" and it/they need and deserve to be cared for in the same way you'd care for a baby that you (or your girl) carried in their bellies for 9 months. So many people don't bother to treat their pets for fleas.... would you let your child live their entire life with lice? Ohhh, but people don't get fleas like they can lice... ohhhh yes people can get fleas!
If your son or daughter got sick, would you just sit there, telling them how bad you felt for them and do nothing? If your child broke a bone would you ignore it?

It makes me sick that people view pets as "animals" and thus, less than human when they are, in a sense, little humans (so to speak). They are our children, or at least should be and thus, should be cared for just as well.

If we don't have the money to have a human baby then why do we scoop up pet after pet that we don't have the money for either?

OK, soap box ramble off. :D

Riley and Norman were free to a good home, but had had a home......


The thing that makes me so heartsick, are all these ppl plunking down hundreds for a kitten or puppy at the petstore, when they could get the same kind of PUREBRED at the humane society.

I even girded the loins and ASKED if they had considered the HS, and in a VERY snooty tone was told "they don't have anything we want". Huh? So instead of giving a pet a deserving home for $80-100 (dog) or $45 (cat), they're paying $499.99 ?!???!!!! at the pet store. All of our pets are (I like yours Slarti) speutered. Checkers and Candy would have made pretty babies, but all of our next cats and dogs will be free ads kitties, or adoptees.

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but all of our next cats and dogs will be free ads kitties, or adoptees.

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Why would you do that? I ask because you complained about people spending money on puppy/kitten mill pet store animals and then you say this. In essence, you are doing the same thing... without coughing up the $$$ for the actual purchase.
A free to good home animal is a "mill" pet as well. Every time one of them are taken, there are more to replace that one. People who are giving animals away don't bother to spay or neuter.
Now if by "adoptee" you mean, from the HS or a no kill shelter... kudos to you! :D

I only ever 'bought' a cat once...and regretted it even tho I loved her.

99% of my animals, past and present, are rescued, traded, or bought from responsible respectable breeders. I NEVER condone pet store animal purchases, especially of cats or dogs. That one cat we got from a store had so many health/behavior problems she eventually ended up being put down because it got out of hand and cost too much (mom's decision).

No, a 'free' pet is anything BUT free. As someone said, it only means you save a little on the cost of the animal itself. I would only take in an animal like this if I knew the owners were moving/couldn't afford it anymore/were giving it up for health reasons. If I saw any other animals there, no way.

I'm glad things are turning out OK for your kittens, Denise. Cats are the best companion pets however you get them. :)

We got our two roosters free because they were annoying their former owner who had too many.. :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:-a-doodle-doo!! They are healthy, but this illustrates another possible outcome of getting a free animal; it could be healthy but just more of an annoyance for its current owner. I guess each case is different; I would err on the side of the animal possibly not being healthy though.

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Originally Posted by Shadowspider

Why would you do that? I ask because you complained about people spending money on puppy/kitten mill pet store animals and then you say this. In essence, you are doing the same thing... without coughing up the $$$ for the actual purchase.
A free to good home animal is a "mill" pet as well. Every time one of them are taken, there are more to replace that one. People who are giving animals away don't bother to spay or neuter.
Now if by "adoptee" you mean, from the HS or a no kill shelter... kudos to you! :D

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If I give a rescue or free-to-a-good-home pet a home, and have it speutered, then that is that many more animals that have a loving home and won't be reproducing.

I don't support the BYB...my former roommate being one with her chihuahuas, but there are sooooooooo many feral queens and kittens being rescued in our area I'd rather give those one or two kittens a speutering and home rather than the $$ for a petstore pet. As for the rescues, yeah, I support our NO-KILL shelter. I used to help the HS in my former hometown, but I'll give my $$ (if/when I have it) to the NK instead.

::raises hand:: I had fleas! When we first moved into the house that we rent, it had been vacated for about a month.. the former person living there had cats.. with fleas.. they started feeding on ME as we had no cats/dogs. I would wake up every day with bites everywhere from my knees down; curiously they left my upper body alone mostly. I would wash our bedding pretty-much every night and they still came back.. I researched it and then we took everything living (we had fish and snakes, with some frogs) out and Bombed the house and it worked to get rid of them.
I now swear by Advantage for my cat and he (and our house including me, lol!) has been clean whilst we used it.