Free To A Good Home

It was once conventional wisdom that free adoption devalued an animal, increased its risk of poor care and abuse, and it could reflect poorly on the organisation giving them away.

At Adelaide Pets Alive!, we not only embrace free adoption, but we have adopted four animals at no cost for adopters (like Archie). The faster we can help and place an animal in a home, the quicker that animal can begin to form a bond with their owner and we can continue to save more lives.

Archie in his home.

With a good conversation based adoption process, which includes expectations and animal behaviour, Adelaide Pets Alive! attracts quality adopters – no matter what the fee. Conversations and follow up support are the gold standard for pet adoptions, and they offer a great foundation to a successful adoption. This is more important than a financial transaction, which may provide a false sense of security for the organisation.

Adoption fees do not guarantee a quality home and the ability to support pets now and into the future. It also doesn’t guarantee that the animal will not be returned. Money does not equal love. We learned this from the Vicktory Dogs case at a time when Michael Vick’s NFL contract was worth $130million. https://badrap.org/breed-info/vick-dogs-case-history-media-coverage/

As a non-profit that receives no Government funding, relying on fees alone is a poor business model. Adelaide Pets Alive! believes that donations are a big priority and animal loving donors allow us to offer free adoptions for harder to place pets.

Free adoption studies

Maddie’s Matchmaker Adoption 2011

1928 pet adopters surveyed with 1099 completing the survey.

93% of dogs and 95% of cats were still in the home.

94% of adopters declared a strong or very strong attachment to the pet.

Most pets lived predominantly indoors, slept in the family bed and went to the vet.

Edmonton Humane Society 2013

Compared free adoption vs paid adoptions.

No statistical difference.

Greater than 80% strongly agree that cats are valuable and would adopt a free cat again.

Maddie's Pet Adoption 2014, Alabama - Animal Rescue Foundation Volunteer

Maddie’s Pet Adoption Days 2014

Over 16,000 pets found homes in over 500 communities in one weekend.

96% of adopters would adopt again.

81% had a level of attachment which was the same as a family member.

77% rate the adoption process as excellent.

Free to a good home – Sophie

Sophie was a six year old cat that was found in a car park. A lady brought her home, but after a month she contacted Adelaide Pets Alive! to surrender her. We placed Sophie in a foster home. Our organisation was new, our exposure was minimal and there was not a lot of interest in older cats. Offering Sophie as a free adoption was one of the marketing tools we used to find her a home.

A family of four made the decision to adopt Sophie and make her an important member of their family.

Mum says “Miss Soph Soph is a great addition to our family and a great provider of learning for the kids in terms of patience, grace, space and self awareness. She is pretty chilled and enjoys her afternoon sun lays on the end of our bed. She knows how to woo the males of the house and get extra biscuits! She enjoys company and someone by her side when she eats. The boys say she is ‘looking for love’ when she brushes up against their legs.”

Sophie in her favourite place

Free adoptions enable an organisation to place pets that are experiencing an increased length of stay in foster care into forever homes. This allows the organisation to save even more vulnerable pets and decreases the financial costs involved with animals in long term foster care.

Free adoptions are a win-win. Homeless pets begin their new life with a family to call their own, and a family gets to experience the joys of pet ownership and know that they are a part of the life saving community.