How to Adopt A Pet

Cocker Spaniel

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By TeryLynne
eHow Community Member

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(12 Ratings)

We all have our reasons for adopting a pet. Some are looking for a family pet, guard dog, and some buy or adopt animals as a gift for a loved one. No matter what the reasons are, there are right and wrong reasons when adopting a pet.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Knowledge
Research
Patience

Step 1

Yellow and Black Lab

If you are someone who is interested in pure breds then it is very important to research the breed that you want to adopt. Make sure you investigate the breeder and try to find others who have adopted from the breeder as well. If you have children, make sure that breed is good with children.
Step 2

Orange and White Cat

Although, pure breds are popular, believe it or not, a mixed animal from a local shelter or Humane Society is truly the best animal to have. Pure breds have a lot of health issues, they may die younger, but a mixed breed lives longer, have less health issues, and has a variety of breeds in them to make them more well rounded.
Step 3

Rabbit

During the Easter holiday, bunnies and chickens are always purchased at the store. Waking up Easter morning and finding a fluffy bunny in your basket may be cute, but it is the worst thing someone can do. Rabbits are very demanding with caregiving. If a rabbit is given to a child, the child will neglect the pet and the parents are left to take care of them.
Step 4

Two Kids

Never adopt a pet to teach a child responsibility. Parents do this all the time and they believe that this will teach the child how to be responsible. Depending on the age of the pet you adopt, your children will eventually move out, and as the parent, you are left with the dog or cat. Kids will not religiously feed the animal, the parent will feed them, and if a parent gets fed up, the dog and cat ends up back at the shelter.
Step 5

Make a conscious decision as where you want to adopt and what type of animal you want to adopt. The Humane Society is the best place as well as local shelters. Be very careful buying a puppy at a local pet store. Most of these animals come from a puppy mill and the store clerk usually has no idea what the breed truly is and you may even receive fake papers.
Step 6

Ambulance

Make sure that you can afford to take care of an animal. Can you afford yearly shots? Spaying or neutering? If you can't, then don't adopt an animal. Animals are no different than children. They need to be fed, receive their immunization shots, bathed and groomed, and if they get sick and need surgery, it will cost you. The most important thing is to always have a collar on your animal with rabie tags, phone numbers, and pet name. This will allow your animal to be returned to you safely if they were to get lost.