How much do rescues charge for adoptions?

But do they over a course of a lifetime? I am not being controversial I am genuinely interested. As I understand it a Giant has an average lifespan of 5 years whereas a small rabbit can live for an average of 10 years. Over the course of a lifetime would the costs not become equal?

Each case is individual I suppose and how long is a piece of string , it would all depend on how long your rabbit actually lives but the fact of the matter is that if your Giant requires any vet treatment you will be looking at costs more in line with cats and dogs than rabbits and that is something that owners have to be aware of when taking these rabbits on. Plus we as I said are trying to recoup our costs in order to go on to help more animals. Each RSPCA branch is a self funding "franchise" of the RSPCA who buy into the name each year in order to help the animals in their area and have the benefits of the inspectorate. We receive no monies at all from HQ. Therefore continuing to have funding, providing care for the animals in our area and ensuring that those that we do rehome go to the best possible homes we can find is of paramount importance. None of this can be done without funds.

When I first started to ready this post I can honestly say I didn't know what to say as this is the branch I am foster mummy for, and I feel very passionate about all the rabbits that come into my care and they all get treated as my own.

The cost of donation as Charlotte has said doesn't cover the costs of vet treatment, food ect. We have never had anyone complain about the donation costs of any of our rabbits and we have re-homed a few Giants to people who understood the costs and were more than happy and if anything offered us more to help with the care of the other rabbits in my care. Every donation I get for the re-homing of the rabbits goes back into the care of the rabbits however we are always working at a loss. We would love to put the price up of other rabbits in our care however we would end up pushing people to pet shops as we wouldn't be able to compete. The cost of an un-neutered giant here is on average £69+. Im sorry people feel that the donation we ask is too high but in the end it doesn't cover much.

These rabbits are my family and when I first adopted my own two I was willing to pay anything with the knowledge that they had been neutered and well looked after by someone who cared about their wellbeing. Im sorry if this doesnt read right please dont take it personal each RSPCA works differently.

I think people who are into buns wouldnt mind paying the rspca the price they ask for a neutered vacs bun, but people who are just looking for a pet for there child will just go to a pet shop. Which is a shame for the bunny x

Perhaps it depends on what vets are used. Lily was a giant and I never paid a premium for spaying etc.. Milo is booked in too and there is no indication from the vet that I will pay a premium because he is a giant.

Agree with anti biotics etc.. that are not related to the giant for other treatments but not neutering or vaccinations.

It's a tough call IMO I looked at a responsible breeder who mated when he had a waiting list and he charged £50 for babies and given their short life span yes you pay for neutering yourself and vacc's (myxi and VHD) approx £150 total but you can have them for longer from 16 weeks as opposed to a year or two (although nothing is guarenteed).

Pets@Home charge ridiculous fashionable prices for giants which I personally cannot understand.

I can kind of understand however even pets at home sell their un neutered small bunnies and presumably RSPCA get more normal size bunnies than giants so using their rationale normal sized bunnies should be at least £25 each a pair £40-50 (based their prices on p@h) and it would still make sense, people would still adopt and more income for the rescue would be generated due to the higher proportion of normal sized buns to giants

The problem is that Pets at Home is only a very small part of the pet shops we are competing with. There are well over 10 local pet shops where you can get bunnies for £5 and that is without the free adverts in the paper so we can't just set our prices to compete with Pets at Home.
Our vets do charge more for giants and there is nothing we can do about that. We use the best rabbit vet in our area and wouldn't be changing for fear of compromising the health care of our rabbits.

It is a simple decision at the end of the day, you either buy from a pet shop or breeder or you go to a rescue. When going to a rescue you would hope that people are doing so because they agree with the ethics of taking on an unwanted animal and giving it a second chance.

Rescues tend to be run on a voluntary basis and therefore people would naturally understand that we aren't making from this or earning a living, we are doing it for the good of the animal.

As a committe our prices have been thrashed out and the prices we have, were agreed by all those involved who are working for our branch to change things for the animals in our area. We have never had issues with our prices before, infact often people donate more than the asking price. Last year we rehomed 124 rabbits, giants included. So we must be doing something right.

Ultimately it is up to the person looking - unfortunately pet shops and breeders are there, ( if they weren't we wouldn't need resuces) should their prices be preferable.

DixieLuBun wrote:When I first started to ready this post I can honestly say I didn't know what to say as this is the branch I am foster mummy for, and I feel very passionate about all the rabbits that come into my care and they all get treated as my own.

The cost of donation as Charlotte has said doesn't cover the costs of vet treatment, food ect. We have never had anyone complain about the donation costs of any of our rabbits and we have re-homed a few Giants to people who understood the costs and were more than happy and if anything offered us more to help with the care of the other rabbits in my care. Every donation I get for the re-homing of the rabbits goes back into the care of the rabbits however we are always working at a loss. We would love to put the price up of other rabbits in our care however we would end up pushing people to pet shops as we wouldn't be able to compete. The cost of an un-neutered giant here is on average £69+. Im sorry people feel that the donation we ask is too high but in the end it doesn't cover much.

These rabbits are my family and when I first adopted my own two I was willing to pay anything with the knowledge that they had been neutered and well looked after by someone who cared about their wellbeing. Im sorry if this doesnt read right please dont take it personal each RSPCA works differently.

Can I just say,as I was the one who started this thread,that I never mentioned where it was & also I wasn't complaining about the price,I was more commenting on the fact that the "standard"rabbits were so little compared to the giants & what was the reason.
Also I have had two french lops & their treatment prices have never been any different to a smaller rabbit unless it was something that needed to be measured by weight & then it wasn't much more.Their illnesses haven't been more or less than any other size bunny.Willow lived until she was 7 & was never ill until she was six but on the other hand B is 5 & has been ill most of her life with cystitis which any size rabbit can get.So as far as frenchies are concerned,our vets treat them equal to any other buns, now contis or other giants I cant comment onas have never had one, so for all I know they could cost alot more in vets bill etc.French lops are beautiful & to hear that they cost so much to keep would put me off if I didn't know better.

I can see from your details on the right you are in Lincolnshire and were quoting our exact prices therefore we were able to work out that is was highly likely it was our branch you were talking about. If you would all like, maybe I could give you our vets telephone number and you can ring up and check that what we are saying with regards to giant treatment is correct?

willowholly wrote:

LilyGrace wrote:Do giant rabbits cost more to have neutered? If so then maybe that is why it's so much:/...other than that I can't think why...

No,the same & if anything should be less as they are less fiddly than a dwarf say.

Giants have large hearts which can make aneasthetic tricky for them which means they need very close monitoring throughout a procedure. So whilst their "pieces" may be bigger, there are other areas of concern.

I am shocked at the attitude to paying a hundred pounds for what I would consider a member of the family. How else is a rescue supposed to continue functioning? And to be perfectly honest, if someone begrudged paying what is essentially peanuts for a bun in my care, I would be doubting their suitability as bunny owners anyway

Also find shocking that two people who have devoted their entire lives to rabbit welfare are having to defend themselves in what seems to be a very targeted attack. It's a very sad state of affairs.

Becki wrote:I am shocked at the attitude to paying a hundred pounds for what I would consider a member of the family. How else is a rescue supposed to continue functioning? And to be perfectly honest, if someone begrudged paying what is essentially peanuts for a bun in my care, I would be doubting their suitability as bunny owners anyway

I have to say that is a concern as essentailly what they are getting is a rabbit ready made, all the veterinary treatment done, for less than it would cost them to do it themselves.

I have seen elsewhere, someone deem rescue rabbits as "second hand" rabbits and have to say that that shocks me, especially when you consider that alot of the rabbits we have are babies and often born in care, thanks to people handing over their pregnant females when they realise they are about to be inundated.

I hope it hasnt been taken as a target.

I stated my experience so far having had 2 giants and volunteered for a rescue.

I do know of a rescue in South east that charges £20 more for giants than normal sized bunnies.

I guess my experience from my two vets is that they must average out the cost over all the bunsters they have in.

I dont be grudge the adoption fee and know that bunsters are expensive but as I said from my experience i have always been charged the same regardless of size. Obviously vets differ and rescues differ.

For as long as Ive looked after rabbits, Ive felt that the whole image of ownership of this particular animal (costs, care etc) has needed an overhaul. Rabbits are all to often viewed as bargain basement items.

I can think of 3 separate examples, of where an individual has used up an entire fortnights giro to purchase a giant from PAH, and once they have finished showing off to their associates, "look at this big rabbit!", and cottoned on to the fact that it needs feeding, housing, care etc, the poor bun has ended up either mistreated or unwanted. This is when the fosterers/rescues become involved and the process of medical care, rehoming begins, and prices charged have to reflect this. This does vary, as stated above, in different areas. Pretty much like anything else.

Corrina wrote:For as long as Ive looked after rabbits, Ive felt that the whole image of ownership of this particular animal (costs, care etc) has needed an overhaul. Rabbits are all to often viewed as bargain basement items.

I can think of 3 separate examples, of where an individual has used up an entire fortnights giro to purchase a giant from PAH, and once they have finished showing off to their associates, "look at this big rabbit!", and cottoned on to the fact that it needs feeding, housing, care etc, the poor bun has ended up either mistreated or unwanted. This is when the fosterers/rescues become involved and the process of medical care, rehoming begins, and prices charged have to reflect this. This does vary, as stated above, in different areas. Pretty much like anything else.

I think this summarises very well

When I said "above", I mean the thread in general!!

Right,I see I am going to have to becareful how I word this as people seem to be taking this in a way its not meant to be.
I think £120 for a giant in a petshop is a brilliant price as it stops impulse buying.My original statement was to ask why there was such a big price increase(£80) for a giant in the RSPCA-i was genuinly interested.Saying my vets prices were the same for all sizes was not accusing anyone of lying but expressing how lucky I was to have a vet like that.No attacks were intended.

From what Ive read above it sounds like it is a case of different areas, different vet prices etc. I know of cheaper vets in my area, but they just dont seem as knowledgeable about rabbits as the more expensive one that I go to....but - as theyve always shown exceptional surgical skill and knowledge, its my obvious choice. Does anyone else have this situation in their area??

It is just a situation very close to both mine and Dixielubuns hearts as we are responsible for the buns in our area and we both work exceptionally hard (Dawn in particular) to ensure that we do everything we can for them. Any decisions we make is well thought through and with the rabbits best interests at heart. We won't be changing our policy as it has worked brilliantly thus far.

This is a valid and fair discussion that has a reason to take place, but I would caution posters to be considerate in their posts and responses - Questions have been asked and adequately answered by the RSPCA branch in question. It is not up to the RSPCA fosterer's to defend their pricing policy - they do not make it, however it has been legitimately explained. If there are regional and individual price differences, then that is not the 'fault' of this branch.

Rescue and rehome organisations are mostly doing the best they can with very limited funds, and having visited the RSPCA Lincoln branch, I can verify that their rabbits receieve optimum care and their rehoming selection process is thorough and vigorous because it has to be this way. When rabbits arrive from say, an abusive situation, they are put into the care of rescues who are entrusted to give care, veterinary care and rehome that animal safely, and not to risk, in any way, the rabbit recieving similar treatment again. The cost of a rabbit from any organisation refelects the care treatment it has recieved whilst it has been in rescue. In the majority of cases, the total monies spent out do not nearly meet the payment recieved.

Pet shops sell animals for profit, end of. Taking on a rabbit from a recsue is as much an ethical choice as it as cost effective. Sure, if someone wants to breed their rabbit and doesn't care if it gets Myxi or VHD then yes, a pet shop is the obvious choice, and that is a perfectly viable option. However, if a prospective owner wishes the best for their rabbit, and doesn't support breeding, then a rescue is the most viable choice.

Giants are a huge risk under GA, a couple of years ago this forum lost a very special and loved bunny, Hermione after a GA for speying. Whether or not the vets in question charge more could be seen as a debatable issue, (but one for the vets and not the fosterer's) but I come back to optimum care - the vets in question have all taken extra courses in rabbit medicine as a result of the RSPCA's patronage of their practice - so are now very bunny savvy vets. This is not only beneficial to the branch's rabbits, but to all rabbits in Lincoln.

When I have done RWAF awareness days at PAH with the local RWAF hopper group we have often put up the RWAF posters that list the running costs of rabbits as a deterrent - I wish they were permanently attached to the sales pens.

I am not sure that this thread has been an attack - conversations like these need to be had to develop understanding. Because of the way the RSPCA are structured I think it creates a lot of confusion about their policies. In Cornwall we have a rehoming centre in the middle of the county where you often see the inspectors vans and I can only assume they are based there. In Plymouth however the inspectors are free floating and the animals are taken to Woodside the local independant rehoming centre. So in Cornwall the RSPCA centre sets the rehoming prices and in Plymouth Woodside decides. I was at Woodside picking up some guinea pigs and I heard and elderly lady say to the staff 'I don't want an RSPCA cat because I don't want to participate in their home for life scheme so don't show me any RSPCA cats.' It did make me laugh but I think it does highlight the difficulties the public have in understanding the rehoming systems.

Ah I remember Woodside well, am from Plymouth. Carol Bowles has done wonders there, I believe she started out just keeping a few rescued animals in her garden. I met her once and she seemed so genuine and completely unaffected by her (deserved) MBE status.

Could you believe that old dear?? What a thing to say!! But I guess that shows how people misunderstand/ how policies vary etc.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote: I was at Woodside picking up some guinea pigs and I heard and elderly lady say to the staff 'I don't want an RSPCA cat because I don't want to participate in their home for life scheme so don't show me any RSPCA cats.' It did make me laugh but I think it does highlight the difficulties the public have in understanding the rehoming systems.

I think the whole structure is confusing to people. They donate to the RSPCA umbrella, but the franchises operate as seperate businesses, and I don't think this is clear or well understood, nor is it clear how the donations are distributed. Personally, I do have issues with certain aspects of RSPCA HQ which mean that I wouldn't donate to the organisation. But from what I know, the branches, in the main, do a sterling job with little resources and lots of good will.

[b]That cat on there new add is sooo cute though looks very mutch like our Minto

I agree Jay, I wish it was explained. We could become our own rescue, without the RSPCA umbrella however if that were the case we would not have access to the inspectorate which are the only people in this country able to bring cases of prosecution to people. It would be great if it could be explained to the general public how the organisation works.