With their naturally sweet disposition and ingrained sense of loyalty, pets are long-term sources of companionship, joy and moral support. Regardless of breed or species, pets fill in the missing pieces of our households, our families and our hearts.
Still, the decision to introduce a new addition to your family, particularly a dog or cat, is a potentially life-altering one that should not begin with a spontaneous trip to a local pet store. The palm-sized, indistinguishable balls of fur sold in pet stores are almost too irresistible, but before you swipe your credit card and dish out hundreds, even thousands, of dollars for your new four-legged companion, do yourself a favor and check out a local animal shelter.
The ease of which you can enter a pet store and purchase a new companion certainly refutes The Beatles’ claim that “Money can’t buy me love.” However, the popular lyric should be replaced with “shouldn’t.” Adopting animals from shelters, rather than buying them from pet stores, is the best option available for you, for your pet, and for the community.
Choosing to adopt a pet is choosing to change another living creature’s life indefinitely. Animal shelters are filled with poor pets whose owners abused them, neglected them, or simply could not take care of them. The worst part is that these heartbroken animals are completely unaware that their owners, for the most part, will not return for them. Instead, they assume that their current status is a temporary punishment for their bad behavior and that their previous owners will eventually retrieve them. All living creatures, regardless of age, appearance or temperament, deserve to be treated with respect. These animals deserve a second chance to find a proper family that can open up their hearts and reciprocate the pet’s love.
Not only does adopting from a shelter drastically change your new pet’s life but it could also potentially save the life of another animal. While no-kill shelters, shelters that only euthanize animals that are terminally ill or dangerous, are becoming increasingly common, there are still shelters that start to euthanize adoptable animals if the shelter is full. Even then, if a no-kill shelter is at max capacity, they have no option but to put potential pets back on the street. Adopting from a shelter helps shelters open up room for another pet that might otherwise be turned away or killed.
The best part about shelter animals, particularly dogs and cats, is that they are already at least partially, if not completely, housebroken. While some prefer to start from scratch with a toy-sized bundle of energy and distractibility, adopting a pet that already has a foundation of good behavior versus bad behavior certainly eases the process. Training a pet, especially a dog, is a huge responsibility and is probably the most rigorous, difficult part about being a pet owner. A pet without any previous experience or knowledge could take months to train. The training process for a previously owned pet, on the other hand, usually takes a couple weeks.
Adding a new member to your family is a major decision but where your find your new pet should be an easy one. Don’t spend hundreds of dollars for a pet without any previous training or veterinary attention. Adopting a pet from a shelter for a tenth of the price — which covers all necessary shots and veterinary procedures in addition to the shelter’s facilities — is always the correct choice.
