Do You Adopt?

[Fish Sticks]

In the case of the horses we just buy them from other people.

And the cat's just seem to appear at our door step and the dog was from a breeder.

 

[GoldfishAttentionSpan]

I'm definately pro-rescue. I would never ever purcase a dog or cat from a pet store or breeder

I agree that adopting is the way to go but in some cases it isn't possible. As I mentioned in my previous post, we tried very hard to find a dog to adopt. We went to the shelter every weekend for 3 or 4 months and they never had any dogs other than large ones. And we had to have something under 20 lbs for the house as our house simply isn't big enough for a dog like a shepherd, lab or other larger mixed breed.

I don't believe that with the thousands if not millions of dogs in need of a home, there is not even one that would fit your lifestyle.

Whatever the case, I would never get a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store. I have first-handedly seen way too many great dogs and cats euthed at the animal shelter (I'm a volunteer there, you see) to get a non-rescue dog or cat.

Maybe you feel differently, but I don't care. I would never get a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store. The end.

 

[arvlyn]

Our dog and cat were both rescues; the dog from petfinder.com and the cat from a local woman that rescues them from shelters. The rabbit we say we "rescued" from Petco, they had him in such a small, icky cage, we couldn't resist. The box turtles were found in the woods.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I don't believe that with the thousands if not millions of dogs in need of a home, there is not even one that would fit your lifestyle.

That might depend on where you live. I did toy with the idea of a dog last year and trawled through pretty well all the websites for the relevant rescue organisations. What I found was that nearly all the dogs listed came with very strict specifications as to suitable families, usually 'can only live in a family with children over 16' or 'only highly experienced dog owners', none of which we would have been able to meet. I also found that most of the dogs on offer were from a very limited selection of breeds- basically breeds that need a lot of outdoor work. I suppose that's why they get abandoned in the first place. With a small garden and a wheelchair-bound child, we would not have been able to give a good home to any of the dogs listed. Little point in trying to make us feel guilty about that. As it so happens, we decided not to get a dog, but if we had we would have had to try to find a dog we could actually deal with. I'd say that was more responsible, not less.

I've sort of thought about the same thing with my children as well: having one adopted brother myself, I did wonder if we ought to adopt our second rather than have him in the usual way. After all, there are plenty of children both here and abroad who face a miserable future for lack of a loving family. Looking back, I am glad we didn't, as our eldest turned out to be disabled; I'm not sure we would have been able to give an adopted child the extra time and attention he or she might have needed to deal with any baggage they brought with them. Should I feel guilty? Dunno, you do the best you can.

 

[clareandkarl]

All our animals are rescues in one way or another, maybe not all from rescue centres, but in one way or another have `ended up` with us.
We don`t decide to get any animals specifically, we just see what turns up on the doorstep. We are by no means a rescue centre but we are well known for not being able to turn away an animal in need so we end up with a lot of people bringing them to us.
We only ever turn an animal away if it can`t be housed here because of another animal, like a dog or something, with Maverick being 15 and having ailments like arthritis on his spine he can`t have another dog jump on him or anything, he`s very playful so we could never take another dog while he`s around. He lived with our rescued rotweiler cross greman shephard until 2 years today when george sadly passed away, not only did it leave us broken, it broke Maverick too, and now he has to be the `only dog`, for his last episode of life (he`s 15).

One thing though, we have 3 macaws all sort of rescued, you know what it`s like `birdie needs a good home through no fault of his own`, you get there and they are in tiny cages with a bit of old seed etc, but rescue centres that take in macaws will not re home them.
We would like a femal greenwing to bond with our male macaw (bond not breed), and we would pay for it, but we don`t want a hand reared baby that will want to be with us all the time, we want a semi tame rescue that will spend time with our other birds and enjoy our company too, but no rescue centres will allow us to buy one from them, not even if they come and see our facilities.
Odd.
Clare

P.S I love this forum, everyone attitudes are just amazing and what I would term `true` animal lovers.

 

[juiced1300]

I've had 5 cats and not a single one was bought from a store. My first cat just started showing up in my back yard, and after a summer of him showing up everyday so sunbathe in my yard I started letting him in and he lived a good 12 years with me (he was already fully grown when he started coming around).
I found out after him living with me for almost 10 years that he used to belong to a neighbor, this guy would take business trips all the time and would just leave the cat outside for weeks at a time! Anyways he said the cat looked so happy with me that he said by all means keep him, then I found out that he was going on 20 years old! When he died he was 21 or 22 years old.
I found one cat in a window well, all bloody and crying and crying. It was just a kitten, tiny little thing and must have fallen in during the night. She's been with me for a good 8 years now.
2 boy cats I have were found in "humane" traps that were set out (not by me) for racoons, they're are just the nicest little guys and one sleeps in my bed every night for the last 10 years!
finally my recent rescue, I went to a shelter and found a cat that was nearly fully grown (they figured she was about 2 years old). She was found in an abandoned warehouse with no food and water that was in toilets...yuck! she was nearly dead and just fur and bones. I brought her home and within a year she grew a beautiful coat and is the sweetest cat i've ever had, she truely appreciates being alive and having a family now. I cant imagine she would have survived even another week if she wasnt found.

Heres a pic of the one caught in the racoon trap

heres the little girl that was trapped in the warehouse

this is the one that was in the window well

 

[lljdma06]

I'm definately pro-rescue. I would never ever purcase a dog or cat from a pet store or breeder

I agree that adopting is the way to go but in some cases it isn't possible. As I mentioned in my previous post, we tried very hard to find a dog to adopt. We went to the shelter every weekend for 3 or 4 months and they never had any dogs other than large ones. And we had to have something under 20 lbs for the house as our house simply isn't big enough for a dog like a shepherd, lab or other larger mixed breed.

I don't believe that with the thousands if not millions of dogs in need of a home, there is not even one that would fit your lifestyle.

Whatever the case, I would never get a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store. I have first-handedly seen way too many great dogs and cats euthed at the animal shelter (I'm a volunteer there, you see) to get a non-rescue dog or cat.

Maybe you feel differently, but I don't care. I would never get a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store. The end.

That's fine, you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion and I support you views to a certain extent. Personally, I think 3-4 months of visiting shelters sounds pretty committed to me. It just didn't work out for them to find a dog at a shelter. Do you honestly expect people to scour the country side looking for rescues just because they are rescues? It's rather unfair and guilt-tripping isn't a way to make people adopt in the long run. Not everybody wants a dog from a rescue, some people want a specific breed, and want a puppy. It doesn't make them less of a person, it just means they want a purebred puppy.

My two cats are rescues, and one dog kind of is. The owner didn't want him anymore so we took him. Two out my three rescues, just happen to be purebreed animals. Unfortunately, I am now married to those breeds, and I can't see myself with anything else. My other dog is from a consciencious Pom breeder and I don't regret my decision to go that route. I can, however, see both sides of the coin, and what I think it boils down to is that as long as the animal is loved, well-cared for, and both human and pet are happy, it doesn't matter where you get the animal, if it is truely the animal you want.

Just my two cents worth,

llj

 

[Synirr]

I got my dog from a breeder. I wanted a puppy because for some reason it just seems odd to me not to raise your own dog (as needy as dogs are they often end up being more like children than pets,) and I wanted something I would be guaranteed would stay extremely small so I could take him/her with me everywhere. Gypsy is definitely that dog
She came from a very loving family with a tiny breeding program, only two litters at a time, max. The woman even sewed each puppy its own blanket to take home and gave you a little baggy full of the vet papers, extra info, a bottle of water from their home so your puppy could be eased into drinking your tap water, and of course some of the food they were used to. I don't regret my choice even for an instant, and I'm more than happy to support a family who put so much love into the animals they bred.

Both my cats came from a shelter, were adults, and were considered unadoptable by most of the staff. Everyone thought they would be around for years because they were trapped feral as kittens and were not very social. I LOVE that kind of cat, because once they warm up to you, you belong to them and they have a lot of love to give. I adopted Diva first, then picked up her sister Mia when I learned she was going to be transfered to another shelter 4 hours away because the shelter she was at was downsizing due to financial issues. I had always wanted Mia, but was planning to wait until I moved to a bigger apartment first. C'est la vie, I'm so glad they are both with me, even if it is a little cramped at times... for me that is, they don't seem to mind

 

[Terriann]

Hello

I always seem to end up with friends who haven't managed to get their lady cat snipped in time or that have found a box full of kittens with a stray mother. My mother has always had cats from rescue centres and they have all been fantastic. The only two she had problems with were 2 kittens she got from a farm and were semi-ferrell! They ran off after a couple of years occassionally coming back for food when they were desperate! I would never buy from some poshed up pet shop when you can find places with just as nice animals that are struggling to keep them and you can provide a much bettter place for!

I only have one cat (at the moment) he was abondoned in a box outside my friends house (she has had the brother and I rehomed the little girl). He is fantastic and I would never be without him. (I am trying to convince my boyfriend to get a second cat!) I have tried the "its either that or a baby line" and even that didn't work! Me thinks I am fighting a loosing battle lol!

 

[Yanglicious]

Someone posted on the Newspaper about selling the dog I've... so we went down and found him covered with scratching bruises etc so we bought him over and brought him to the vet for the first couple of months and now he's been with us for 2 years already. Is that considered rescued?

I bought 3 of my Guinea Pigs and 1 was bought over from a friend who's got incidental babies.

My 7 hamsters were bought/bred previously (Now I don't breed Drawfs but I do with Syrians to keep).

My Lop rabbit was adopted from our Local SPCA. We love her tons.

My Cockatiel was bought from petstore.

Terrapins were bought too; Singapore's pound don't have much pets in so we're glad.

 

[Jaded12]

All of my animals (except my dog we got when I was 8 and he was 11 weeks old, he's 13 now and of course the fish) have been rescues/adoptions. I currently have 2 horses, 2 guinea pigs, 3 syrian teddy bear hamsters, 4 rats and 1 ferret.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

I think that some folks forget that there is a huge distinction between getting a puppy from a mill, petstore, irresponsible backyard breeder... and buying a nice purebred puppy. There are definite advantages to getting an expensive purebred puppy in that the adult dog is fairly predictable. The trick is that you really have to do a lot of research into the breed and be prepared to pay a pretty penny. (Quality breeding stock isn't cheap.)

That being said, my family has always had really good experiences with rescued animals and fairly poor experiences with purebreds (due to getting "cheapies" with poor genetic heritage). If I get a dog before a house, I'll probably shell out for a quality purebred but otherwise I'll go for a rescue. I don't think that I'll ever buy a purebred cat (unless it's a bengal ) because I find most of the breeds to be hogwash. Cats are cats, with the exception of certain physical distinctions.

 

[Inchworm]

Neither of the two cats I've kept in recent years have come from a breeder, "rescue" shelter, pound or pet store.

Jezebel, who lived with me for 13 years, was a beautiful, white, feral cat who I tamed and brought home with me. She was so loving and sweet.

After Jezebel died, there were no kittens at the pound, so I asked everyone I knew to help me find one. In a couple of months word got back to me that the neighbor of a friend's sister had a cat that was pregnant. A couple of weeks after the litter was born I had first pick, and when they were old enough to leave the mother, I brought her home.

 

[Aussie_Dog]

I'm all about rescue/adopting. Of my four guys (well, one guy, three girls, lol), the older two are breeder pets. I'm not talking about good breed either, unfortunately. They came from backyard breeders, but I can honestly say that I knew no better back then, and I know better now. Jake (the dog) is 9 years old now and he was bred on a farm with two herders (Australian Shepherd, Border Collie). His wasn't the worst case of backyard breeding, but as they say, no reputable breeder breeds mixed breeds. The second breeder pet was Willow, my 6 year old kitty. We had recently lost a cat and Willow was our first girl (we'd previously only had males). We got her from a free kittens ad in the paper, and now that we look back on it, it probably wasn't a good idea. Willow is a dilute tortoiseshell, so some of her personality comes from Torti-Tude, but she does occationally make me suspect if she's inbred or something. She's just so SENILE sometimes, lol (okay, not senile, but skittish, overreactive, territorial, and when she spazzes out, she SPAZZES out!).

The other two, both girl cats, didn't come from a rescue or shelter, but are technically rescues regardless. Buffy was born on the streets to a stray (or lost?) momma, and when the litter was roughly 3-4 weeks old, they ended up at the vet hospital. They all died, except Buffy, and she came to our house the day after her family died. She was 4 weeks old at the time (that we know for sure, we don't know for sure exactly what her earlier life was). Our last furkid is Molly, who my sister found stuck in a tree as a 5 month old (she'd been in the tree for at least 5 hours). We intended to just keep her for a weekend, until her owner found her, but nobody ever called and we ended up keeping her.

What I've found, personally, is that rescues tend to have the most wonderful personalities. Obviously, all animals have great personalities, but I swear animals who come from sad situations know it, and when they go to a good home, they know it. Granted, I have only 2 "rescues," but they both have the most personality; Buffy's a humourous, intelligent little tomgirl, and Molly is completely devoted to me and is the most gentle little girl I've ever met. I also post at rescue-oriented forums (such as petfinder.com forums), and I come across so many stories of the behaviours of previously-abused/neglected animals. They KNOW they've been saved and they show an obvious display of adoration for their owners.

 

[sarah86]

my first 3 rats were rescues from the rspca the two after that we bought from a shop then one after that we got from a friend who was very allergic and my last two have been shop bought. there were some in the rspca when i got my last one but they were females and as i have experience of them in the past i knew that i only wanted males.
Last year though we found a dog in birmingham city centre hiding under a car at 10pm. the poor thing was shaking and so skinny and had obviously been dumped. we took him home with the idea of handing him over to the dog warden, or rather my others halfs idea, he ended up our foster puppy. he was only about 8 weeks old when we found him but he soon doubled in weight and size and was one of the best behaved puppies ive ever looked after. he was gorgeous, and i really wanted to keep him but we both worked full time and it wasnt fair to keep him when someone else could look after him better than we could.
He is now about 17 months old and is huge! he is living with a family up north who have kids and loads of animals including another dog. he has a very happy life and loves the kids to bits. there is always someone with him and he is still a gentle giant. we keep in contact and we're actually going to see him tomorrow even though he does live 100 miles away
I like to think he found us and he was a very lucky puppy

My parents have 3 dogs, one black lab who they got as a puppy one black lab who they got from a family who kept him locked in his crate most the time and one cross breed who they spent thousands of pounds on bringing back from zakynthos in greece. he is probably one of the most expensive mutts you'll find!