12/24/2025
I'm looking for a free kitten because shelter prices are a scam!
Annie posted this on Nextdoor because she wanted to adopt a kitten for her 8-year-old daughter for Christmas. She had just returned home from a local shelter and was horrified to see the adoption fee of $100. "Shelters shouldn't be making money by selling pets. Those adoption fees are ridiculous!"
You can guess how this turned out. Annie found a free kitten in November but didn't have any place to hold the kitten until Christmas morning. You can't wrap them and hide them in a closet. So, her daughter received a very early Christmas present. Her daughter fell in love with the cute little striped tabby. She slept with her at night and rushed home after school so she could play with her new baby. It was perfect.
A week after adoption, the kitten stopped eating, was vomiting and wasn't playing any more. She rushed her to the emergency vet and had x-rays and other tests. It appeared to be panleukopenia, so the vet kept the kitten so they could monitor her, give her fluids and provide other supportive care. Three days later, she was still p***y but on the mend. She was lucky to survive! Annie, however, wasn't so lucky. The vet bill was over $3,600!
When the kitten was older, she put a note out to find a "cheap vet" to get the kitten vaccinated and spayed. She'd called a few clinics and it was going to be over $600. Isn't there a cheaper place?
When she contacted us, we gave her links to our local low-cost clinics. The cheapest one was going to be $120 for the spay, rabies, FVRCP, parasite treatments and a microchip. That is a great deal, but $20 more than the shelter's "scam" price. And she would still need another vet visit in a month for booster shots. By the time the tabby was fully vetted, she was a $3,750 kitten. Worth every penny of course, but it will months before Annie can pay off the credit card bill for the emergency room visit.
There is no such thing as a free kitten. If you adopt from a shelter or rescue, you are getting a kitten who is vaccinated, altered, microchipped and treated for parasites. A free kitten has not even been checked for common diseases or birth defects. It is a bargain compared to the prices you will pay to do this all yourself.
