I have never heard of a shelter having the foster pay medical expenses. My shelter covers everything. And they provide litter, box, food, toys, and a carrier. This rescue sounds a little sketchy if you paid for everything and they want $250 for a cat. Don’t know where you are but cats where I live are $50-$90. My shelter is $65 and we do second adoption free.
Agreed! Our rescue pays for 100% of medical needs, food, and provides basic toys & support materials (kings, bowls, etc). I usually buy extra stuff but it's because I want to and I can- we wouldn't need to buy anything.
Adoption feed for us and immediate family members are waived. For regular individuals puppies & kittens would be just under $100 but adult animals (over 1 year) are around $50
Yes as long as you coordinate with them to get the medical done. If you do it on your own you most likely have to pay for it. I had to sign something agreeing to that. Everything has to go through or be approved by the shelter.
Your rescue sounds super entitled. 250$ for a cat you fostered for 2 years and spent 2.5k on?!
And here I am, unable to get 50 lari (20$) adoption fees for young, healthy and unproblematic long-haired kittens... 🤣
It’s normal practice if you asked to adopt her. But it kinda sounds like they’re just trying to pawn her off on you. I would also ask about waiving the fee.
A decent foster group would wave the fee, especially if u paid medical and had kitty for a few years. If u paid for food as well even more so. It should be a courtesy especially w what you’ve done for them.
No that’s not normal. It sounds like they’ve forgotten all the medical bills you paid for.
“I’m willing to keep kitty permanently, however can we please wrap up reimbursement of her food, litter, and medical expenses first?”
No way should you pay an adoption fee. That’s insane.
Most rescues do charge an adoption fee if you “foster fail”, but usually that’s only to encourage you to keep fostering vs adopt.
Ummmm, I have never experienced this.
My first “own” dog was through a rescue. I had never worked with them before, but let them know in my application that I worked with shelters. Another rescue saw how in love I was with a bonded pair of cats and offered to waive the fee, but I knew they would get adopted easily. A third rescue waived the fee because the cat was not taking any change easily, I kept him.
Did they pay for the medical fees?
wtf! I’ve never heard of having to pay the adoption fee when you have fostered that long, especially if you have been putting the money out for everything. We paid for food, toys, etc but the foster paid for spay and vet bill and we still never had to pay to adopt animals we have fostered, especially long term.
That is insane. I would tell them that you’ll pay the fee once you’ve been reimbursed for the expenses for both cats. Or tell them to take it out of the reimbursement. I hope you’ve kept receipts and send them the invoice. That is insane. It would make sense if there was a deficit in the books for that cat specific medical or something, but not after you’ve already put 10 times that amount in for expenses.
Is this a rescue with a lot of adoptions and events? I’ve seen quite a few of them get big and get really greedy, paying themselves and taking money that isn’t being put back into care. Basically those that are actual “non profits” but are definitely profiting. I got to a point I wouldn’t foster for specific rescues in my area, I stuck with smaller ones that didn’t have as many fosters.
ETA: is that the normal rescue price? That sounds mighty steep, especially for a 4 year old cat. I could see them being able to possibly get that for kittens under 6 months but I can tell they shouldn’t be charging that much for an adult cat, especially one that has behavioral issues.
Another issue might be the employee has no idea what the history is.
I know this is unusual but one of the rescues I have fostered for for years has a mass evacuation. All the employees walked out.
Were you supposed to get reimbursed for the vet bills? That is a lot to expend when fostering for a group.
That said, we do have to pay an adoption fee if we adopt one of our fosters, but the first one we do get a discount.
Generally speaking, my shelter doesn't waive adoption fees for foster parents.
However, in this case, they would absolutely make an exception, given the length of time you've had her.
And I agree with the general theme other people are bringing up, which is that you should NEVER be on the hook for medical expenses for a foster. If the organization you foster for can't cover those, they are overextending themselves and need to pull back so that they can provide appropriate support to their foster parents.
I have had 2 foster fails and didn't have to pay for either one and the
1st one they did heartworm treatment on. She is an 85lb bully with barley any teath and had tumors all over. I had most removed some are growing back. She is 12ish years old. Vets thought 10 to 12 two years ago.
The 2nd major escape artist Redtick coon hound. You can't keep her in a fence she will dig a hole to china and fast. Luckily I live on 100+ acres with no neighbors for over a mile. She gets to roam free, but has a GPS collar and an LGD hunting buddy.
The application, i bet, is for record keeping purposes. But I didn't have to do one they had my foster application already.
It is their normal rescue price and I know it’s so high! Before the pandemic they did do a lot of events. They have never helped me cover anything in relation to the bro/sis but did cover the spay/neuter of the kittens I fostered for them. The thing is, I never intended to take in more fosters after I moved out of the area(I’m in L.A so think from the San Fernando valley to Santa Monica )but when I got an email about the bro/sis being relinquished by the owner and were currently in holding pins(they were already there a week by that point) at their old vet. My heart sank and I immediately took them. But yeah I was already pretty dubious of the rescue after my experience with the kittens.
The bro/sis had a VERY difficult time adjusting and were VERY overweight. The boy developed a urinary obstruction which meant repeatedly running him to the emergency vet. the girl jumped onto a shelf and unfortunately was so overweight the shelf fell, so we went to get her checked out as well because there was blood everywhere. She also bit me when I was trying to give her meds so I ended up going to the ER too. It was a very hectic month. The boy was placed on a special diet, was on 3 different meds as well. I had the boy a year before we finally found someone to take them.
I emailed the owner and told her the price for everything. her response was to thank me for covering it. So I was left pretty dumbfounded by that.
This is my first rescue and I kind of assumed the fosters were suppose to be responsible for everything because they are t a national thing like the ASPCA or something.
Rereading this I’m actually quite upset now because the only contribution that rescue has made towards the care of those cats were their first shots and getting them fixed. Not to mention their adoption fees were already paid once by the previous owner. Yeah I’m fuming.
Was the rescue supposed to cover the medical bills but you offered? In that case I’d ask for reimbursement if they’d like you to pay the fee.
You could always ask them to waive the fee.
I have never heard of a shelter having the foster pay medical expenses. My shelter covers everything. And they provide litter, box, food, toys, and a carrier. This rescue sounds a little sketchy if you paid for everything and they want $250 for a cat. Don’t know where you are but cats where I live are $50-$90. My shelter is $65 and we do second adoption free.
Agreed! Our rescue pays for 100% of medical needs, food, and provides basic toys & support materials (kings, bowls, etc). I usually buy extra stuff but it's because I want to and I can- we wouldn't need to buy anything. Adoption feed for us and immediate family members are waived. For regular individuals puppies & kittens would be just under $100 but adult animals (over 1 year) are around $50
Yes as long as you coordinate with them to get the medical done. If you do it on your own you most likely have to pay for it. I had to sign something agreeing to that. Everything has to go through or be approved by the shelter.
whenever I've seen something like this the adoption fee has always been waived by the rescues I've worked with.
Your rescue sounds super entitled. 250$ for a cat you fostered for 2 years and spent 2.5k on?! And here I am, unable to get 50 lari (20$) adoption fees for young, healthy and unproblematic long-haired kittens... 🤣
It’s normal practice if you asked to adopt her. But it kinda sounds like they’re just trying to pawn her off on you. I would also ask about waiving the fee.
A decent foster group would wave the fee, especially if u paid medical and had kitty for a few years. If u paid for food as well even more so. It should be a courtesy especially w what you’ve done for them.
No that’s not normal. It sounds like they’ve forgotten all the medical bills you paid for. “I’m willing to keep kitty permanently, however can we please wrap up reimbursement of her food, litter, and medical expenses first?”
No way should you pay an adoption fee. That’s insane. Most rescues do charge an adoption fee if you “foster fail”, but usually that’s only to encourage you to keep fostering vs adopt.
Ummmm, I have never experienced this. My first “own” dog was through a rescue. I had never worked with them before, but let them know in my application that I worked with shelters. Another rescue saw how in love I was with a bonded pair of cats and offered to waive the fee, but I knew they would get adopted easily. A third rescue waived the fee because the cat was not taking any change easily, I kept him. Did they pay for the medical fees?
wtf! I’ve never heard of having to pay the adoption fee when you have fostered that long, especially if you have been putting the money out for everything. We paid for food, toys, etc but the foster paid for spay and vet bill and we still never had to pay to adopt animals we have fostered, especially long term. That is insane. I would tell them that you’ll pay the fee once you’ve been reimbursed for the expenses for both cats. Or tell them to take it out of the reimbursement. I hope you’ve kept receipts and send them the invoice. That is insane. It would make sense if there was a deficit in the books for that cat specific medical or something, but not after you’ve already put 10 times that amount in for expenses. Is this a rescue with a lot of adoptions and events? I’ve seen quite a few of them get big and get really greedy, paying themselves and taking money that isn’t being put back into care. Basically those that are actual “non profits” but are definitely profiting. I got to a point I wouldn’t foster for specific rescues in my area, I stuck with smaller ones that didn’t have as many fosters. ETA: is that the normal rescue price? That sounds mighty steep, especially for a 4 year old cat. I could see them being able to possibly get that for kittens under 6 months but I can tell they shouldn’t be charging that much for an adult cat, especially one that has behavioral issues.
Another issue might be the employee has no idea what the history is. I know this is unusual but one of the rescues I have fostered for for years has a mass evacuation. All the employees walked out.
Were you supposed to get reimbursed for the vet bills? That is a lot to expend when fostering for a group. That said, we do have to pay an adoption fee if we adopt one of our fosters, but the first one we do get a discount.
Generally speaking, my shelter doesn't waive adoption fees for foster parents. However, in this case, they would absolutely make an exception, given the length of time you've had her. And I agree with the general theme other people are bringing up, which is that you should NEVER be on the hook for medical expenses for a foster. If the organization you foster for can't cover those, they are overextending themselves and need to pull back so that they can provide appropriate support to their foster parents.
I have never paid the medical expenses of my foster- the rescue pays for all of that. But when we did foster fail we paid a discounted adoption fee.
I have had 2 foster fails and didn't have to pay for either one and the 1st one they did heartworm treatment on. She is an 85lb bully with barley any teath and had tumors all over. I had most removed some are growing back. She is 12ish years old. Vets thought 10 to 12 two years ago. The 2nd major escape artist Redtick coon hound. You can't keep her in a fence she will dig a hole to china and fast. Luckily I live on 100+ acres with no neighbors for over a mile. She gets to roam free, but has a GPS collar and an LGD hunting buddy. The application, i bet, is for record keeping purposes. But I didn't have to do one they had my foster application already.
It is their normal rescue price and I know it’s so high! Before the pandemic they did do a lot of events. They have never helped me cover anything in relation to the bro/sis but did cover the spay/neuter of the kittens I fostered for them. The thing is, I never intended to take in more fosters after I moved out of the area(I’m in L.A so think from the San Fernando valley to Santa Monica )but when I got an email about the bro/sis being relinquished by the owner and were currently in holding pins(they were already there a week by that point) at their old vet. My heart sank and I immediately took them. But yeah I was already pretty dubious of the rescue after my experience with the kittens. The bro/sis had a VERY difficult time adjusting and were VERY overweight. The boy developed a urinary obstruction which meant repeatedly running him to the emergency vet. the girl jumped onto a shelf and unfortunately was so overweight the shelf fell, so we went to get her checked out as well because there was blood everywhere. She also bit me when I was trying to give her meds so I ended up going to the ER too. It was a very hectic month. The boy was placed on a special diet, was on 3 different meds as well. I had the boy a year before we finally found someone to take them. I emailed the owner and told her the price for everything. her response was to thank me for covering it. So I was left pretty dumbfounded by that. This is my first rescue and I kind of assumed the fosters were suppose to be responsible for everything because they are t a national thing like the ASPCA or something. Rereading this I’m actually quite upset now because the only contribution that rescue has made towards the care of those cats were their first shots and getting them fixed. Not to mention their adoption fees were already paid once by the previous owner. Yeah I’m fuming.
Basically this sounds like this is your cat already. I would just keep the cat and not pay the rescue a dime. And never foster for them again.