Blog • Reasons to Adopt a Pet (2024)

Wondering whether to adopt or buy a dog or cat? Adopt don't buy!

Bringing home a new pet is incredibly exciting. And adopting a pet from a shelter or rescue group is not only exciting, but it’s truly a feel-good experience as well. Every day, more than 9,000 dogs and cats are killed in America’s shelters simply because they don’t have safe places to call home. By adopting, it means that each time you look into your pet’s eyes, you can feel good knowing that you truly did save a life.

There are lots of good reasons to adopt rather than buy a pet. Here are a few of them:

• Buying a pet can easily cost $500 to $1,000 or more. Adoption costs range from $50 to $200, depending on whether the pet comes from the shelter or a rescue group that has spent money on boarding, vets and grooming.
  
• You’re getting more for your money if you get a mixed breed. Based on the well-established principle of “hybrid vigor,” a mixed-breed animal is likely to live longer and cost less in vet bills than a pure breed. Many purebred dogs are prone to developing health problems ranging from breathing difficulties to hip dysplasia to an enlarged heart.

  

• When you adopt, especially from a shelter or rescue group, you know what you are getting because the organization has a history on the animal.
• When you adopt a pet, you are saving a life. When you buy a pet, you not only deny a homeless pet a home, you are supporting an industry that thrives on short-changing the welfare of animals. Puppy and kitten mills (which sell to pet stores) are in business to make a profit, so they churn out puppies and kittens as fast as they can. These animals are often in ill health and have problems like poor socialization skills due to lack of human companionship and genetic defects due to inbreeding.
• If you adopt, you get your choice of any age. Though puppies and kittens are cute and cuddly, they can also be a handful. An adult or older pet may be a better fit for you. For example, adopting an adult dog who’s already house-trained and knows basic cues is often much easier than adopting a puppy, who must be taught these things.
• You get just as much love (if not more). An adopted pet is every bit as loving, intelligent and loyal as a purchased pet, even if you get an adult or older animal.

A Word of Caution

Beware of online pet sellers who just use the word “adopt” instead of buy. If there are lots of purebred or designer dogs and cats available (with more coming all the time), or if the pets all come from breeders, thenthat is not adoption. Some sellers have just changed their language to use the word “adopt” instead of “buy,” but the dangers are the same. The animals could be from mills, as are most all animals from pet stores and online pet sellers.

Source: Best Friends

Tag(s): dogs, cats, animals, adoptions