5 Reasons To Adopt A Pet

1. Personality.

For a while in my life, I wanted to be a vet, while shadowing a few vet hospitals over the summer I heard the same thing. “Adopted animals have better personalities.” When animal shelters get new animals, they look at their personalities. Are they nice, friendly, etc? If they aren’t, they are usually put down because they know that nobody will adopt a dog that is growling at them. Even if they are a non-kill shelter, they will either try to use therapy to get an aggressive dog to become a nice dog, or they will only accept animals that are adoptable. This is the sad truth. However, this does ensure that most dogs that come from shelters usually make better pets. They have been deprived of love and affection, something every animal wants, needs, and deserves. When you are buying from a breeder, they do not breed for personality, they breed for looks.

2. Population Control.

I hope I’m not the only one who has to fight back the agonizing urge to pull over at every animal that looks lost on the side of the road. Most shelters spay/neuter their animals before giving them to their new owners. Not only are you getting an unfixed animal off the street (which will make more wild animals), but you are not encouraging the breeding of more dogs by other breeders. There will be plenty of people who will give a good home to that Cockapoo, Goldendoodle, Yorkipoo, or Goldador that you almost threw down a few grand for. How has anyone not realized that these “Designer Dogs” are really just mutts? If you take two wild dogs that breed, it’s a mutt, you breed two dogs on purpose, and you can sell it for the price of a car. How does that add up?

3. Cost.

The only reason breeders keep breeding their $1,500 Yorkshire Terrier puppies is because people keep buying them. Think about it, what are you going to get out of a 3 lb. puppy? Love. That is it. It’s not a car, house, or something that you are going to use practically. You’re going to just love the crap out of your dog, feed it, let it shit/piss on your carpet a few times, and then lose your marbles when it passes away. Animals in shelters are a lot cheaper and are in more need of help than your purebred Siamese cat, whose father was a grand champion. There are plenty of adorable animals at shelters that we know you’ll love just as much as your purebred fantasy animals. Actually, you’ll probably be more pissed at the fact that you paid $1,500 for a dog to come in and ruin your carpets, shoes, and the dinner you just made and left on your coffee table.

4. Bad Breeds.

To break the breed stereotypes of many breeds, we must discuss the two most notorious breeds: the Pitbull and Black Cat. Due to the superstition that black cats are bad luck, they are the most euthanized cat breed in the shelters. There is absolutely nothing “cursed” or “bad” about a cat just because it is black. It is simply a pigmentation of their fur. If you really won’t buy a black cat because you are superstitious, than you probably need to grow up a lot before you adopt an animal anyway. As for Pitbulls, if you already think they are an amazing breed, you can stop reading. If you think they are mean, aggressive, or not good with children, keep reading. There are plenty of other dog breeds that are bigger, more prone to aggression, and look like a bad ass dog. So, why did people pick Pitbulls, of all breeds, to start fighting? It’s simple: they’re loyal and they obey your command. They are not the type of dog to only be loyal to one person, they can be loyal to a whole family or everyone they meet. The reason Pitbulls make such great fighting dogs isn’t due to their aggression. It’s because the owners need to be able to trust that the dog will not hurt them in their home. If they caged them up, they won’t be fit enough to fight. Also, these dogs have no motivation to fight, there is no female dog they are both after, or food they are trying to get, only their owners encouraging to do so. When a Pitbull is near death and the other one is attacking it, it is the owner’s words saying “keep going baby,” “you got this” that keeps them going past their physical breaking point. Dog fighters have taken advantage of the great characteristics of this breed, turned them into victims, and then created a negative stereotype to society.

5. Puppy Mills.

I hope that everyone reading this already knows about the horrors of puppy mills and pet stores, but just in case, here it goes. Puppy mills are like hell on earth for any animal: rabbits, cats, dogs, etc. They have a bunch of female animals caged up, throw in a male to mate with, and take her babies away to be sold in pet stores. This process is done hundreds of times, until the poor mother can literally no longer bare any more offspring. After the mother is done with “her duties,” they kill the mother and put another female animal in her place. Puppies that come from these places usually don’t even live that long due to the poor conditions of the mills and the depleting health of the mother that it came from. Another thing is that pet stores abuse these animals in their stores by keeping them in small areas until someone picks them up. They have to walk on uncomfortable mesh bottoms so their droppings can fall through. They get no love or attention throughout the day. Please, I am begging you, do not buy pets from a pet store. Instead, here are a list of the best places to find animals in need of a home:

http://www.petfinder.com/
http://www.adoptapet.com/
Go to your city’s/county’s animal shelter.
Google places to adopt a pet in your area.