Article By: Best Friends Save Them All
If you’re considering adding a new pet to the family, we urge you to adopt a pet rather than buying one from an online retailer or a pet store. The benefits of pet adoption are numerous. Here are just some of them.
Reasons to adopt a pet
- By adopting a pet from an animal shelter or a rescue group, you ensure that you aren’t supporting the inhumane commercial breeding facilities (e.g., puppy mills) that supply pet stores and sell pets online.
- You are doing your part to fight pet overpopulation and save the lives of homeless animals. Even if you adopt a pet from a no-kill organization, you are helping to rescue another homeless animal by making space available at the shelter.
- You will save money because adoption costs less than buying an animal from a pet shop or a breeder.
- Pet adoption offers the choice of pets of all ages. For instance, if you adopt a young adult or older pet, you can avoid some of the effort related to house-training and teething. Puppies and kittens are cute, but they require lots of attention, training, patience … and newspapers!
- You can work with the adoption team to find a pet who fits well with your lifestyle and who will get along with any other residents in your home (humans or other animals). The team will also be there to help with questions or issues with your new pet, as they are invested in providing a good home for that animal.
- You’ll often receive information on your pet’s history when you adopt. On the flip side, an animal purchased from a pet store is a complete unknown, and once you walk out of the store you are usually on your own when it comes to support if issues arise.
- You get just as much love (if not more). An adopted pet is every bit as loving, intelligent, and loyal as a purchased pet.
Where can I adopt a pet near me?
Ready to find your new best friend? You might already know of animal shelters and rescue organizations where you live. If not, here are a few suggestions to find a pet to adopt near you:
- Try petfinder.com, the oldest and largest searchable online directory of animals available for adoption. Petfinder includes photos, videos, and descriptions of adoptable animals, shelter contact information, and classified listings.
- The municipal animal services shelter or local humane society is a good place to start. If you don’t know where it is, call your local police department and ask for the name and location of the facility or organization that handles stray animals in your community. Shelters take in a wide variety of pets, including purebred animals, so you’ll have plenty of options.
- If your heart is set on a particular breed or species, there is probably a rescue group out there dedicated to taking in and rehoming that type of pet. To find breed rescue groups, search on Petfinder or do a Google search (type in your location, the breed you want, and the word “rescue”).
- Many animal rescue groups hold regular adoption days at pet supply stores. Most of the larger and more enlightened pet supply stores don’t sell dogs and cats at all. Instead, they partner with the animal rescue community in promoting pet adoption. So check with stores near you to see whether they have any scheduled adoption events or adoptable pets housed at their location.
A note of caution: Some online classified websites have done the right thing by prohibiting ads for the sale of animals, but they do allow people to post ads to rehome or adopt out pets. If you respond to such an ad, ask whether you can visit the animal in their current home. You want to make sure that you are adopting from a rescuer or an individual attempting to rehome a pet rather than a breeder. If someone is “adopting out” several litters, has “more on the way,” and doesn’t seem to have adult animals in need as well, this person might be a breeder.
https://bestfriends.org/pet-care-resources/top-reasons-adopt-pet-rather-buy