12/9/2024 3:14 PM
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STEP 1 Apply ONLINE (here) ************************************************************************************ Apply ONLINE (here): Complete the online Form, ARF Adoption Application under "Forms and Applications." APPLICATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BEFORE ADOPTION. YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED IF YOU ARE APPROVED! If approved, arrangements will be made for you to meet the animal on our regularly scheduled Saturday Adoption Day sometime between 11-1. If you do not arrive as scheduled, the animal you have applied for will be considered available for public adoption at 1:00. Apply IN PERSON (Well Pet Clinic in Lexington Park, MD):
Adoption Hours are most Saturdays from 11 -2. Come meet the animal you are interested in. Spend some time with the animal and consult with the volunteers and/or foster family to gain more information about the animal(s). Application Notes: While a fenced yard is not required, we do want you to be aware that if you do not have a fence, you will need to leash-walk your dog. It is an important stipulation of our contract that you cannot let your dog roam. While we generally do not perform house checks, we do reserve the right to do so prior to adoption. There are times when we feel this is necessary due to circumstances such as the specific breed, disposition, or special needs of the animal. Most animals are healthy and ready to go. A few may need return visits to the Well Pet Clinic or your local vet for boosters, or in special cases, follow up procedures for surgeries etc. For cat or other small animal adoptions, we recommend bringing a carrier with you for the transport home. For dog adoptions we recommend a slip lead for the journey home. A slip lead, or just a simple leash with a loop at the end is better than a coller because of size estimation. Ideally, some sort of ID tag with your phone and address on it would also be helpful in the event your new companion gets lost on the way to his new home STEP 2 Sign our contract. We will be including the contents of the contract here soon, but basically it states that you will provide for the animal appropriately, not tie the animal out, or let the animal roam (including cats which are indoor only!!) You will also have to agree to bring the animal back to us if things do not work out for you. You cannot take the animal to a shelter or pass the animal on to another person (even a friend or family member) unless approved by us. STEP 3 Pay the adoption fee ($175 for cats, $200 for dogs)*. If this sounds like a lot to you, and you are considering a "free" pet from your local newspaper, please consider this: All of our dogs/puppies are spayed/neutered, have current shots, wormed, tested for heartworms, treated for fleas (advantage) and current on heartworm medication (generally heartguard) if appropriate. All our cats/kittens are spayed/neutered, have current vaccinations, tested for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, wormed, treated for fleas (advantage), and ear mites if appropriate. When you also consider our costs for food, equipment, medical care, etc., you can see why that the term non-profit really fits! (By the way, we are always in need of donations, whether money, blankets, towels, newspapers, pet supplies, pet food, etc! We will be also be glad to come pick up large items such as kennels, crates, dog houses, etc) STEP 4 You're done! Take your new friend home and get settled in!! An animal usually takes at least 2 weeks (what we call the "Honeymoon Period") to become comfortable in their new environment. Their true personality emerges as they learn where they belong in their new family. Please call us if you have any concerns or need any additional information. We want to make the transition as easy as possible for you and your pet!! We expect all our adopted animals to be kept inside and treated as members of the family. We expect them to receive annual vet care and be kept in good health. We also do not approve of declawing cats. We take great strides to insure that the animals in our care are loved, respected, and cared for, so we expect that quality of care to be maintained for the animal's entire life. ************************************************************************** *ADOPTION FEE Occasionally, we get asked, "$175 for a CAT???!!" It is only fair to inform our adopter of the basis of our fee, so in explanation, please continue reading...
$175 - $200 is an incredibly reasonable adoption fee. It covers the animal's initial shots, altering, food, flea and/or heartworm preventatives, and kennel or foster home space. The altering alone at a full service vet would cost $125 to $200 for even a 6 month old kitten! We are a non-profit organization, so we don't make money in finding homes for abandoned animals. What money we might save on one animal is put towards another animal whose medical needs go beyond $200. Heartworm treatment alone costs us nearly $500 per animal, yet when that animal does find a home, we only request the basic adoption fee, so other animals' adoption fees help keep us financially able to continue taking in animals for re-homing. So really, it is best to understand that your $175-$200 fee is not for ONE particular animal, but more of a donation to a non-profit organization that assists many animals.
Another reason we request the $175-$200 fee is to help us feel reassured that the family can financially provide for the animal for its entire life. Not all, of course, but many people who get a FREE animal find it much more disposable than a person who spends a couple hundred dollars initially. It may sound shallow, but most people who like to "get their money's worth" will spend extra time training and socializing an animal that may have some reasonable hurdles to overcome.
Finally, it may be a plain and simple fact that if a person is not willing to pay the $175-$200 adoption fee, then they might not be willing to pay the potentially greater costs for the animal to get his/her annual shots and exams. It may mean that the person will not provide the animal with a quality pet food or monthly heartworm and flea preventatives YEAR round.
Please understand, that we don't generalize all our applicants into this category, but because we have years of experience dealing with adoptions, it is from that experience that we have created a few strict policies for the adoption process... the $175-$200 fee is one of them that is rarely broken.
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