A home for the holidays: Animal seekers set their own price to adopt a pet

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/24/15. Dare sleeps with other cats at the McKamey Animal Center on Tuesday, November 24, 2015. McKamey is holding a name your price event on Black Friday where area residents can adopt an animal with a donation of whatever they decide is appropriate. Normal prices are $40 Cats, $50 Kittens, $65 mixed breed dogs, $85 puppies, $100 for specialty dogs under 20lbs and $125 for purebreds or those resembling.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/24/15. Dare sleeps with other cats at the McKamey Animal Center on Tuesday, November 24, 2015. McKamey is holding a name your price event on Black Friday where area residents can adopt an animal with a donation of whatever they decide is appropriate. Normal prices are $40 Cats, $50 Kittens, $65 mixed breed dogs, $85 puppies, $100 for specialty dogs under 20lbs and $125 for purebreds or those resembling.

IF YOU GO

What: Black Friday for animals When: 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. FridayWhere: McKamey Animal Center, 4500 N. Access RoadFor more information, call 305-6504 or go to mckameyanimalcenter.org

What some say is the best Black Friday deal in the city can be found at McKamey Animal Center.

"A lot of places do 50 percent off, but what if you could just walk into a store and just pay what you want for whatever you want to get?" said Amber Battaglia, director of community outreach program. "So that's what we decided to do."

On Friday, for one day only, animal seekers can name their own price for adopting a dog or cat. McKamey staff hope to get 80 animals adopted, "but 100 would be great," said Jamie McAloon, McKamey's director.

The price can be as low as $1, but shelter officials want people to consider the cost of care animals receive while at McKamey.

All animals get spayed or neutered. And all are given a microchip that helps identify their owner if an adopted pet gets lost. They go through appropriate vaccinations, a medical examination, a heartworm test and deworming, if needed.

About 75 percent of the animals come to McKamey needing some sort of medical attention, animal center officials said. Some might have a broken leg, heartworms or burns, and the animal center funds their care while at the shelter.

Cost of care ranges from $175 to $2,000, depending on what condition they arrived in. The shelter cares for an animal until it is ready to go to a new home. No animal from Chattanooga is turned away.

The standard adoption fee is $65 for a dog. The fee for an adult cat is $40 and $50 for a kitten.

At 350 animals, McKamey offers one of the largest selections of dogs and cats in the city.

Yet, national statistics indicate that only 25 percent of animals in households are from an animal shelter.

"We're trying to get out there ahead of competitors - pet stores, puppy mills and breeders," McAloon said. "We're trying to make sure people look at us as their first place to adopt."

McKamey offers the best value by far, she said.

The name-your-own-price is a spin from the Progressive Insurance commercials. The shelter's adoption supervisor, Mo Greaney, even dresses like Flo, the star of the Progressive commercials, to promote animal adoptions.

"Everything that's provided to our animals, you couldn't touch that for under $175," McAloon said.

McKamey officials said they're especially eager to get animals adopted because, for a variety of reasons, the center usually sees an increase in animal intake around the holidays.

People report more stray animals because of the cold, and pet owners who have considered getting rid of their animals usually do it around the holidays because it saves them from worrying about animal care while they travel out of town, center officials said.

The center offered its first Black Friday event in 2014 and people adopted 68 animals in about six hours, Battaglia said.

It was the largest count of animals adopted at McKamey in one day, Battaglia said.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.

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