Are you thinking it’s time to get a pet? There are so many decisions to be made before you bring home your furry friend. Dog or cat? Or gerbil? Will he or she be crated? Sleep in your bed? Allowed on the furniture? How big or small? It goes on and on. One of the most important decisions you need to make is whether you’ll adopt a pet or get one from breeder or a pet shop. Ask around and you’ll get a variety of answers from both sides of the debate. As someone who has done both, I’m now firmly on the side of adopting. Don’t believe me? Here are my top 10 reasons for adopting and not shopping.

You’ll be literally saving a life. Technically two lives.

  1. According to the ASPCA, of the approximately 7.6 million animals who enter shelters ever year, 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats. Of those, approximately 2.7 million are euthanized for a variety of reasons; 1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats. That’s 31% of the dogs who enter shelters and 41% of the cats being euthanized. Overpopulation and overcrowding of the shelters are the biggest reasons. There simply isn’t enough room or enough people to adequately take care of all of the animals brought into the shelters. Most of them are run mostly or completely by volunteers, from the people who greet you at the door to the vets who volunteer their time and services, but it’s just overwhelming. By choosing to adopt, you’ll be relieving a small bit of the burden on these volunteers, making room for another pet who needs help, and saving the pet you just adopted from potential euthanasia.

Adopting a pet is so much cheaper than buying one.

  1. Purebreed dogs from breeders can cost well over $1,000 depending on the hot breed of the moment. Then when you get the animal home, you realize your costs have only begun. You have to get the pet to the vet right away for shots, which can cost another couple of hundred dollars, they’ll need to be neutered (you are neutering your pets, right?), and they’ll need to be microchipped. If you choose to adopt your pet instead, all of this is already done by most shelters, and the adoption fee usually isn’t more than $100 at the high end. You can easily find shelters where you can adopt a neutered, microchipped pet who’s up-to-date on his or her shots for well under $100. There’s just no comparison between the costs of adopting vs shopping.

You can get a custom pet!

  1. I’ll bet you didn’t think of that, did you? Want a dog who’s brindle, weighs under 10 pounds, male, and is at least 4 years old? Good luck finding a breeder who can offer you that. Sites like Petfinder make it so easy to find exactly the adoptable dog you’re looking for. My husband and I found both of our current rescue dogs on Petfinder, just by plugging in what we were looking for. Granted, we weren’t looking for anything that specific, but if we had been, the options were there.

 

Truth in advertising.

  1. Look, the simple fact is that with a breeder, you just don’t know what you’re going to get. There’s no way, unless the breeder is your next door neighbor or best friend, or cousin’s grammar school lunch monitor, that you’re going to know if you can trust what you’re getting. A breeder can tell you anything they want to. They can put any picture they want to on their website, if they have a website at all, which is rare. Usually you have to pay them the money up front before you’ve ever even seen the dog or cat. Or gerbil, I suppose. Then you go to the breeder, get the pet, and that’s it. They’re finished with you. Frankly, they don’t care what happens to you or that pet after you leave their property. Every shelter I’ve ever dealt with lets you take your potential new best friend home for at least a few days and make sure it’s a good fit for everyone. They care about these animals and they want it to have a great life. They really hope that it’s with you, but if isn’t, they’ll keep looking until you have exactly what you need and the animal has the perfect home. You will not get that from a breeder.

Adoptable dogs are usually at least partially pre-trained.

  1. Shelter pets are usually older by the time you get them home, which means the shelter or foster has been working on housetraining. Taking care of a six-week old puppy, while adorable and snuggly, and puppy-smelling, is also a lot like taking care of a six-week old human. They’re about the same size, and they go to the bathroom about as often. But the puppy isn’t usually wearing a diaper. I have literally no idea how people who work outside of the home do it. Even if you’ve decided to crate them while you’re gone, don’t you still have a crate full of dog mess to clean up when you get home? Because they’re older, shelter dogs are usually better trained, and able to hold it longer than the puppies, which means there’s a better chance of not having to clean up messes when you get home. (Better chance does not mean no chance, however. Unfortunately.)

 

Fewer Vet Bills

  1. Mixed-breed pets, which are the vast majority of what you’ll find at shelters, typically live longer than pure breeds or designer breeds (dogs who were bred to produce a new breed, like the Puggle, or the Golden Doodle). A study done by Bellumori et al found that the incidence of 10 different genetic disorders was 42% greater in purebred dogs than in mixed breeds. That’s huge. You might hit the lottery and get a purebred with no health issues, but if you don’t you can quickly rack up thousands of dollars in vet bills.

You’ll know what you’re getting into.

  1. Volunteers and fosters have spent a lot of time with the dogs and cats. They can tell you exactly what the pet you have your eye on is like. Think that beagle mix with the big brown eyes is adorable? His foster mom can let you know that he’s not going to get along with your cat. Or that he loves kids and your ten-year-old is about to get a new best friend. It’s so important to everyone involved that these dogs go the exact right place. They really will be completely upfront with you and make sure everyone is happy before you sign those adoption papers and write them a (very small) check. And not just personality. They can tell you if your new pet has any health issues or behavior problems or will completely freak out if you wear the color red. By the time you get your new pet home, you’ll know exactly what to expect.

If you want a purebred or puppy/kitten, you can get that, too.

  1. There are breed-specific rescues out there for just about any breed you can think of. And shelters are constantly taking in pregnant animals and having to rehome the babies and the mothers. Wanting a puppy or a purebred pet should definitely not be an impediment to adopting.

 

Puppy mills are real

  1. This is unpleasant to hear, but there are a lot of unscrupulous breeders out there. Puppy mills are a real thing, and they will continue to operate until there is no more market for dogs who have been treated cruelly, kept in cages that are too small, not sufficiently fed or watered, and repeatedly forcibly bred. You alone will not get these puppy mills shut down, but if more people would adopt instead of shopping for the latest fad puppy, we could significantly reduce the incidence of abuse and get more of these people out of business. And not just puppies. We hear about puppy mills the most, but there are dishonest, devious people in all areas. I know a person who was determined to get their kids a mini-pig when they were popular a few years ago. They found what they were told was a six-month old mini-pig and brought it home, only to discover a few months later that it was actually a one-month old regular pig and they unexpectedly had a behemoth in the house and no idea what to do or how to take care of it. Breeders who sell pets to the public are unlicensed and there are no regulations as to what they can and can’t do.

The accessories.

  1. For real…. Do you know how superior I feel with my “I love my mutt” bumper magnet and my “Rescued Is My Favorite Breed” t-shirt? There is no better feeling than when we’re out on walks and people ask me what kind of dogs they are. “They’re rescue dogs,” I always tell them. “They’re mutts.” (For the record, we had the DNA test for both dogs, and they really are mutts. Oliver is mostly a Boston Terrier, but Archibald is such a mix of everything that nothing rises to the top.) And if you’re running low on accessories to make you feel superior, make sure you check out the store here at Puppity.  You can feel doubly superior because a portion of every purchase you make here is donated directly to one of the (#) of rescues and shelters we support.

 

I’m pretty set on where I stand on this issue. There are so many dogs and cats (and gerbils) who need homes. Some of them have been strays their whole lives, and some of them have been horribly abused and hurt. One thing they all have in common is that they just want love. They want to receive love, of course, but even more than that, they want to give you love. There is nothing I love more than coming home after a crappy day and watching my dogs run to greet me. Any time I walk in the door, they’re so excited to see me. And I do mean any time. Whether I’ve been at work all day, or just outside checking the mail, they react the same way when I come back in. A simple Google search can give you a list of rescues and shelters in your area, and I promise you that your new best friend is just waiting for