Choosing A Pet
Which type of pet?
First time pet owner? Or adding another pet to your menagerie? No matter how much experience you have with pets, it is important to research what type and breed of pet is the best fit for your home. As important as it is to consider breed characteristics when making your decision, it is just as important to assess the individual animal. Any one individual will not neccessarily fit the breed profile 100 %.
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Before deciding on getting a pet, there are some things you should take into consideration and think about carefully:
Is this the right time? Are you moving soon? Do you have a new baby or are you expecting one? These are major life changes that can affect pets. Before you get a new pet, think about what major events may happen in the next one to two years.
Is this the right place? Do you have enough space? Is there a safe and welcome place to walk a dog? Do you have a yard? If you have a small apartment, a big dog is probably not a good choice.
Is this the right time for me financially? The initial cost of a pet can be a bit high - adoption/purchase cost of the pet, vet visits, neutering, toys, food bowls, housing or beds, and more. Plus there are the long-term costs of food, vet care, grooming, etc. To help you determine if this is the right time, and how much it will cost to care for different types of pets, visit the ASPCA web page on pet care costs.
To determine which type of pet to get, here are some factors to consider:
For advice and a brief look at the needs of different types of pets, visit theBest Friends Animal Society website.
Where do I get my pet?
By and far, the best thing you can do is adopt a pet. There is nothing more gratifying than saving the life of a homeless animal. But what about that poor, lonely puppy in the pet shop? Is that not saving a life? Sure, it is taking in a helpless animal and giving it proper care; but the pet shop just sees that as an empty space they can fill up with another animal. Or more. Most, if not all pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills, where dogs are kept in tiny spaces in deplorable conditions and lead lives of breeding and birthing pups. When their breeding lives are over, they are discarded like garbage. The puppies are kept in small, crowded cages until they are sold and shipped to a pet store. Purchasing a puppy or any other animal from one of these pet stores is supporting this cruel industry.
That is not to say there are not reputable breeders out there. If you insist on buying your pet from a breeder, be sure to inspect the conditions of the home or kennels to be sure the animals are being properly cared for. Ask to see the parent animals' papers and if they are free from genetically inherited conditions that could lower the quality of your pet's life. A responsible breeder would never breed animals that could cause possible health problems for the offspring.
Adopting a Pet
There are several ways you can go about adopting a pet. You can visit your local animal shelter, contact an animal rescue organization, or find a foster care parent who has animals available for adoption. Foster parents are generally volunteers for animal shelters, humane societies, or rescues who care for the animals in their homes while they await adoption. If you cannot bear to go to a shelter or fear you will want to take every animal home, finding a pet through a foster home may be a great option for you.
To find a shelter, rescue, or foster home near you, you can visit Petfinder.com, enter your location, and view animals in your area that are looking for a home. A list of the shelters and organizations in your area is also available through this website.
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Myths About Animal Shelters
Shelters only have mixed breeds. I have to go to a breeder to get a purebred.
False. Depending on the type of shelter, they may accept stray animals, abandoned pets, give-up pets, or all of them. Purebred animals can run away, get lost, be abandoned, or be given up by their owners just as often as mixed breeds. Many rescue organizations focus on certain breeds and will often have purebred pets for adoption.
Shelters only have cats and dogs. I have to go to a pet store for any other animal.
False. Many shelters take in every kind of animal: dogs, cats, rodents, rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles, fish, and depending on the region of the country you live in, they may even have livestock.
Animal shelters kill animals if they are not adopted within a few days.
While all shelters have different policies on euthanization, they do care for the animals as long as they possibly can to give them the best possibility of receiving a second chance. Some shelters avoid euthanization by limiting the number of animals allowed in their shelter. Others may be governed by the city, county, or state they are in and may be required to accept all animals that come through the door, often causing an overflow situation. This is why adoption is so important - you can literally be saving an animal's life.