Craigslist is an online platform or community where you can post classified ads for re-homing your pet, amongst other things. Although Craigslist is more or less a marketplace, it does not allow people to <\/span>sell <\/span><\/i>their pets; you can, however, charge a reasonable adoption fee from the potential adopter for re-homing your pet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since Craigslist has a ginormous reach and thousands of users that use its resources, your ad can certainly gain a lot of traction and exposure, eventually reaching potential adopters who can provide a lifelong home to your pet. If you\u2019re wondering how you can re-home a pet on Craigslist, we have discussed all of it in complete elaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n However, we strongly discourage re-homing your pet on Craigslist for multiple reasons (read on to know why). We suggest that you rule out all other options first and keep Craigslist as your last resort to re-homing a pet. <\/span><\/p>\n If you’ve intentionally brought in a pet at home, it is your responsibility to give it the utmost care and shelter. However, if, for some reason, you need to re-home it, and relinquish ownership, make sure you do your best before you are left with placing a re-homing ad on Craigslist for your pet.<\/span><\/p>\n So, now for the article to pick thrust, we will walk you through a detailed guide on how to re-home a pet on Craigslist, hoping to cover as many pointers as it takes to ensure that your pet is re-homed successfully while giving you insights into what you can do to ensure that it gets the rightful care and shelter after the whole re-homing process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, the baby step to re-homing your pet on Craigslist is placing an ad in the Pets Sections. Here is what you need to include when placing a re-homing ad on Craigslist:<\/span><\/p>\n Describing your pet is a crucial facet to attracting serious adopters rather than impulse buyers. Therefore, a two-line message that says ‘Up for adoption’ with one picture of your pet that is a decade old would just not do. Follow these steps instead:<\/span><\/p>\n An important part of placing your ad on Craigslist is putting at least 7-8 pictures of your pet to attract serious adopters. Instead of putting old photos, or photos when your puppy was a kid (now that he is 5 or 6 years old), add the most recent photos. Add a headshot and a full-body shot, and try keeping the background unfocused so that people are not easily distracted by irrelevant details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Try to either snap and upload, or upload previous pictures that highlight your pet’s personality or where they are doing something fun such as chasing a fly or playing with a catnip toy.<\/span><\/p>\n Including vet records and your vet’s contact info (post-approval by your vet) so that a potential adopter can connect with them and ask about your dog’s medical health and other things associated. This not only shows that you’re upfront with your pet but also increases trust between you and the adopter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Defining a re-homing fee <\/b>is just another important aspect – no matter how kind and compassionate you feel, never let your pet be re-homed without charging a re-homing fee. This does not only narrow down the scope to serious adopters who actually want to give your pet a new home but also weeds out impulse adopters and ill-intentioned people.<\/span><\/p>\n Keep the fee reasonable; anywhere between $50-$300 is reasonable, depending on the needs and size of your pet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Add a number that is easy to reach; you may choose not to disclose your number on Craigslist owing to privacy issues, but if you do, make sure it is reachable at all times. Do not add your home address and avoid giving out overly-sensitive information, even if asked by a potential adopter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is advisable to provide your email or set up a new one to avoid people mailing you on your personal mail. Having a new mail set up just for having adopters reach out to you makes it fairly convenient for you to screen them and revert.<\/span><\/p>\n Craigslist ads expire anywhere between two weeks to two months, depending on the category of your ad. If your ad has expired, but your pet has not been re-homed yet, keep refreshing it to reach more and more people. However, once your pet has been re-homed, do not forget to delete the ad flyer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Interviewing an adopter helps you understand a lot about them. When you’re screening them, you understand common behavioral patterns, and you may get an idea of whether your pet will get along with them. It is advisable to interview the adopter at your home, so the adopter can spend time with your pet. How they behave around your pet will certainly help in making a decision on whether you want to re-home your pet with them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Also, pay a visit to the adopter’s house to check the overall condition of living and the house along with the safety measures taken to ensure the pet’s safety.<\/span><\/p>\n When interviewing an adopter, below are the important things to discuss that can help in understanding whether they are the right people to re-home your pet with.<\/span><\/p>\n An applicant owning the property where the pet will live is better than the owner who is renting a property. The renting applicant has more chances of moving than the owners, which increases the chances of the dogs being re-homed. In most cases, the landlords of the renters don’t really allow the renters to own a pet because of allergy, disturbance and unwanted chaos in the locality. Renters require permission from the landlord to pet an animal, and if the landlord rejects the renter’s request, they have to return the animal back. So, it’s important that you ask a renting applicant if they have the written permission from their landlord that they can keep a pet.<\/span><\/p>\n The history of the applicants with animals is what you should know before moving to any further steps. This will help you to know if the applicant had ever owned a pet before or not and why they got rid of it. There have been instances in which the pet owners have abused and treated their pets badly, taking them to illegal fights, using them for painful experiments, and not really taking good care of them in general. Ask the applicant about how high the animal will be in the priority in the applicant’s life and how they are committed to the pet’s care. Along with this, questioning whether they kept the pet indoors outdoors will help to determine the relationship between the owner and the pet they previously had.<\/span><\/p>\n Ask about the family dynamics of the applicant to know what kind of family dynamics the pet will be facing with the applicant. Ask if there are any children present in the family and their ages, as the young children are naughty and playful, and the pet might not like it in the beginning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ask questions to determine the amount of supervision that the pet will likely receive from the applicant and the family of the applicant. Ask questions like ‘is the backyard fenced’, ‘how often someone is home’, ‘who will look after the dogs while everyone is away. Also, ask if the applicant stays at their parent’s home who manages the households when the applicant and the spouse are at work, or if the house unoccupied for a significant period of time. This gives you a general idea about the time that the adopter will spend with the pet.<\/span><\/p>\n Collect information about the financial stability of the applicant. Ask about their current source of income or job and if they are responsible with money. In this, you will be able to determine whether the applicant can afford the costs associated with keeping a dog, including the basic food costs and vet expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Getting a contract drawn up between you and the adopter is the most crucial part of re-homing your pet that can ensure its safety and refrain the adopter from sending away the pet to a shelter. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice but make sure that you include these important pointers in the contract between you and the adopter:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Without any exaggeration, re-homing a pet on Craigslist, at many points, is about ‘despair and menacing treatment’ for the pets. A number of Craigslist adopters are not only sketchy but might as well be ill-intentioned. You are, after all, handing over your beloved pet to a stranger, and if fate has it, your pet can end up in a euthanizing shelter the very next day, or worse, get treated badly in their new home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wanting an adoption fee may weed out impulse buyers, but it is still not enough since the adopter may take your pet to a shelter or leave it homeless or not give it enough care and attention if they feel they are not compatible with your ex-pet’s company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, if you re-home your pet under the free-to-home section, numerous ill-intentioned Craigslist adopters may take control of your pet and do heinous acts with them such as:<\/span><\/p>\nPlacing an ad on Craigslist<\/span><\/h1>\n
Describe your pet in the ad<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Add pictures of your pet<\/span><\/h2>\n
Include Vet Records and Adoption Fee<\/span><\/h2>\n
Add your contact information<\/span><\/h2>\n
Keep refreshing your ad.<\/span><\/h2>\n
Interviewing Adopters<\/span><\/h1>\n
What to discuss with an adopter in an interview?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
Property Ownership<\/h3>\n
History with Animals<\/h3>\n
Family Dynamics<\/h3>\n
Pet Supervision<\/h3>\n
Financial Stability<\/h3>\n
Asking for a contract<\/span><\/h1>\n
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Why should you not re-home a pet on Craigslist?<\/span><\/h1>\n
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