Dr. Larry on Animal Adoption

The most frequently asked question I receive is "what is the right pet for my family"? While this is nearly impossible to answer, one thing I can say for sure: if you are not set on getting a particular purebred, for which you may have to go to a breeder or a pet store, then please go to your local shelter and adopt a pet. You will be saving a life, saving a lot of money and it will be a truly rewarding experience.

There are nearly 6,000 shelters, humane societies and municipal animal pounds registered in the United States. This does not count the thousands of private animal rescue groups that generally go unregistered, but still rescue and try to place hundreds of thousands of additional animals each year. Every veterinarian I am associated with works alongside his or her local humane organizations, registered and unregistered, public and private, to help heal and place unwanted pets and to decrease the number of unwanted animals born each year.

Consider the following statistics:

• One unspayed female cat, and her particular offspring, can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years.
• One unspayed female dog, and her particular offspring, can produce 67,000 puppies in seven years.

It is no wonder that the shelters are always full and there are never enough homes in which to place the unwanted pets. The numbers can get to be staggering. And even though we have done a good job over the last decade in getting out the word on spaying and neutering, the pet overpopulation is still in a crisis. If we all adopt from the shelters, we CAN make a difference.

What kind of a crisis do we have? Here are some estimates from the Humane Society of the United States:

• Each year, between 8 and 12 million animals enter the registered shelters across the country.

• Of these, approximately half will be euthanized.

There are only two ways to decrease these numbers; adopt from a shelter and be sure all your pets are spayed and neutered.

I would also like to share a personal observation with you. When you adopt from a shelter and you have a problem with that pet, be it behavioral, medical, financial, etc., most of the humane organizations work with you aggressively to do what is best for you and the pet. I wish I could make such a blanket statement about breeders and pet shops.

So do the right thing. Adopt a pet from your local shelter or rescue organization. I have done it with all of my animals. And I can tell you, not only is it the right thing to do, IT REALLY FEELS GOOD.

Look around the Website to find out more specifically how to pick the pet that is right for you and what to look for when you are visiting the shelters. Good luck and keep me posted.

As always, I'm happy to help your pets...and their people, too.

Dr. Larry