A common misconception is that animals that come from a shelter should be free of charge to the adopter. Liz McCauley, Executive Director of the Cape Coral Animal Shelter, helped clear up the misunderstanding. She ran down some of the expenses for each animal they take in.

“Every animal that comes in, first and foremost, has to be seen by a vet tech and a vet. It needs vaccines. It needs to be spayed and neutered. It needs a microchip. Many of them come to us with some sort of a health problem,” said McCauley.

Shelter staff, vets, and vet techs are paid, of course, despite the shelter’s nonprofit status.

Cape Coral is a private shelter, similar to Gulf Coast Humane Society and Patty Baker Humane Society in Naples. Public facilities like Lee County or Collier County Domestic Animal Services have different expenses and funding.

McCauley says Cape Coral Animal Shelter typically has about 100 animals in its care at all times.

Another facet of care that people may not consider is how clean the staff needs to keep the shelter.

“I just looked at our bill. It’s going to cost us at least $1,000 on cleaning products every month because of the way we have to clean to prevent animals from being sick so we don’t adopt out sick animals,” McCauley said.

Costs to adopters are typically $95 for two kittens (they’re offered as a twofer because they keep each other entertained McCauley says), or $50 or less if cats (or adopters) are seniors. A puppy is $325—the most expensive, because it needs the most care. And that includes a free post-adoption visit to the vet clinic.

“At the end of the day, we keep our expenses and our overhead very, very low so we can put all of the money that we have back into the care of the animals,” said McCauley.

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