When it comes to bringing a new pet into the home, many people choose to adopt an animal that needs a home. There are homeless pets of all ages and species. Dogs, cats, rabbits, horses- you’ll find just about any animal you could want as a pet. The benefits of adopting are many: not only are you improving the life of the animal you take home, but you might just be saving its life- there are often more homeless animals than a shelter can support, and even a no-kill shelter has limits to how many animals they can save. You’ll also be supporting the adoption or pet rescue organization, enabling them to help others as well.
Adopting is also a vote against irresponsible pet-store breeding practices. Purchasing an inbred animal from a breeder who simply wants to make money is a great way to ensure that you have a pet with copious health problems and a questionable temperament. Mixed breed pets are generally healthier and more even tempered, but if you have your heart set on a purebreed, no problem, just find a dedicated rescue organization for that breed. Chances are, if you love that breed over all others, so do other people, and so you’ll be able to take in an animal that needs a home, rather than having another animal brought into the world.
The pets that are waiting for adoption aren’t bad pets whose owners did not want them, they are often the victims of family tragedies, unlucky circumstances, being lost, and irresponsible owners. The next animal to join your home will be all the more grateful if a home is the very thing they have been missing.
