Quote Originally Posted by pomtzu View Post
Sas's thread about the shelter visit, prompted me to wonder about this, and I was curious what adoption fees are in different areas. . . . What do fees run in your area, and do you think they are reasonable?
I'm in a big Canadian city. At the SPCA here it's $120 for an adult cat, $200 (I think) for a bonded pair, and I don't remember the kittens. I think somewhere in between, and I assume they're trying to get people to at least consider the grownup cats and give them a chance with that one. With this you get a free-spay-or-neuter certificate to take to a vet if you're adopting someone who isn't fixed yet. To put it in real-life terms since actual buying power is so variable from place to place, I believe the single-cat price equates to any of:

- 15 hours at the minimum wage, pre-deductions.
- about 6 days of the very cheapest rent on a not-very-nice one-bedroom apartment in a not-very-nice neighbourhood.
- 4 to 6 months of the cheapest (advertised rate) cell phone service
- about 10 movies? I dunno, I don't do movies.
- a month and a half of my full ADSL/voip/long distance bundle
- a one-month adult bus pass, for two transit zones.
- one pair of semi-high-end runners. Not the fad brand, but something that won't fall apart for a few years.
- two and a half tanks of gas for a Toyota Yaris, or one month's car insurance.
- 60 to 80 cans of cat food.

My math's pretty fuzzy and probably my numbers too, but you get the idea. In my terms it's cheap, and I think I sit somewhere in the median income group, on paper. In many other people's terms it would be very difficult. There are some really wide income-disparity gaps in this city.