Have you ever considered getting a pet before? A lot of people have! One thing you have to look into before getting a pet is whether you are going to be adopting or buying. I have two cats, both adopted from a shelter. Many places encourage doing this because of pet overpopulation, but there are plenty of other benefits, some of which are lower cost and supporting organizations that save the lives of homeless animals.

What is the difference between adopting and buying? Well, buying a pet from a pet store or breeder, is not ideal. According to the Humane Society, more often than not, the dogs in pet stores were brought up in a ‘puppy mill.’ These often have unhealthy treatment of dogs and are often considered animal cruelty businesses. With adoption, however, you are taking in a pet that was either rescued or not the right fit for their last family. At animal shelters, you can meet the animals and decide if they’d be a good fit for your family. More often than not, these animals have a solid personality that will fit with the right family, and this experience can provide a closer bond with its owners.

The homelessness rate among animals is extremely high, with an estimated 70 million animals living on the streets at any time, according to PETA. This is because people do not spay and neuter their pets, which would not be an issue if these pets were not abandoned. Pets will reproduce with one another, and bring more pets into the world directly into homelessness. These pets are vulnerable to being in car wrecks, starving, cruel people, sickness, and weather effects. Animal shelters have to turn down many animals because there simply isn’t enough room in the shelters for them to be properly taken care of. When you buy rather than adopt, this contributes to the number of pets in homes and increases the number of animals that cannot be accepted into a shelter. 

A New Leash on Life is a pet rescue and adoption organization. In an email from Ms. Heather Boirun, an employee at A New Leash On Life, she shared, “By choosing to adopt, you are literally saving a life. Every year, millions of unwanted pets end up in shelters. Sadly, due to space constraints and the overwhelming number of animals, many of these pets are euthanized. The hard truth is that each day, countless unwanted and homeless animals are put down to make space for more that are continuously entering the shelters. When you adopt, you give one of these animals a second chance at a loving home.”

Adopting is something that gives pets worthy of love another chance to get it.