Nov
23
Do You Get Your Pets from Shelters or Breeders?
By
There is a huge pet crisis in the U.S. and Canada, yet some people still don’t want to spay/neuter their animals and want to buy from breeders. Many breeders run “puppy mills” which have atrocious conditions and make the overpopulation problem even worse. Where do you get your pets?
15 Comments
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 am
Hi Kyle…shelters or rescues or rescued strays…and for my first time once from a breeder who truly cares about improving the breed of the cats.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:16 am
Neither, ever since I was a kid, myself and my family has gotten all of our pets from taking in strays.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:44 am
No, many breeders do NOT run puppy mills!!!!! There are three different “breeders’……..puppy mills, BYB, and good breeders.
Puppy mills crank out puppies for the pet shops and brokers.
BYB are people who breed their pets with little knowledge and health clearances.
Good breeders breed for the love and improvement of a certain breed.
Don’t lump them all together, because there are differences!!!
I have gotten from breeders, bred my own, and have two from the shelter.
***JUST because a dog is REGISTERED, does NOT mean it should be OK to breed!!!!!!!!! THAT is why there are so many BYB. They think that is all this is required!!!!! That should be a given!! Many puppy mill dog are registered….should they be breed????????
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:20 am
definitely get your pets from a shelter. there is an overpopulation problem thanks to breeders. puppy farms are very sad places, and by adopting from a shelter, you will be one more reason for them to stop breeding their over bred, overtired, neglected dogs.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 am
I always seem to adopt my pets in some way, shape or form. I have 5 fish, 4 cats, 1 turtle and 1 chinchilla…
1 Cat was adopted from petsmart, he had a cold and was sneezing and resisting neurturing him was impossible
1 Cat was adopted from FDNY when they gave the cat and his brother to someone who lived around the corner, turns out when her b/f got home, he didn’t want cats and threw them out a 3rd story window…his brother died but our cat dragged himself to the doorstep of the FDNY where they took immediate action, now how could we turn him away? We instantly took him into our home
the other 2 were kittens found under houses with no home, no mom and no milk
My Turtle i found walking towards the road, on the yellow line, i stopped the car and ran full speed to rescue her from oncoming traffic, since that day the little daredevil hasn’t seen a hint of danger
and any chinchilla in captivity is one less chinchilla killed to make a coat, when i saw him in the window, i HAD to have him
I tend to want to help animals in need, i don’t care their breed or how much money they cost. To me, saving an animals life is better than all of that.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:57 am
I changed my answer, because someone gave me thunbs down. I don’t share when I get thumbs down.
So,I found my dog at a strip club!
She’s a German Shorthaired Poledancer…
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:47 am
I agree! Shelters and rescues are so underfunded and neglected. I organized a fund-raiser for my local animal shelter as my college senior project as a way to give back to them and we raised over $800 for them.
Any cat I’ve ever owned has been from a shelter or a stray we took in.
My fish was abandoned and left to die, so we took him in too.
My ferrets are from a pet store. Pet store conditions are so horrible for ferrets that one could make an argument that you are “rescuing” them as well. (Though it’s a little cynical and undermines the importance of overflowing shelters.)
My dog was from a pet store. Actually, he originally was from a puppy mill and was in such poor health thanks to them that he nearly died in his puppyhood several times. I was 7 at the time we got him and didn’t really know any better.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
Shelters, rescue groups, and people who need to re-home their dogs (who would otherwise end up in shelters or rescue groups).
The only reasons I would buy from a breeder are:
1) If I decided I wanted to start showing or competing in AKC trials of some sort… the whole “lure coursing” thing has me intrigued but I don’t know if a sighthound fits my life
2) If I needed a working dog and absolutely needed to know they would have the right temperament (for example, a livestock guard dog – but I’d still try to go through LGD rescue first and try to help a working LGD who needs a home).
But for pets? There’s absolutely NO reason to pay a breeder or a pet store for a pet dog when millions of wonderful dogs are killed every year in shelters.
“If a dog is registered, it’s okay to breed it.” NO, it’s not. And THAT is why millions of wonderful dogs are killed every year in shelters.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
Well, I just recently got a rabbit from the pet store because the humane society didn’t have any at the time I wanted to adopt. I’ve had numerous amounts of cats adopted from the humane society and one dog from there.
Saying that though, I will be getting my bunny fixed shortly and all my animals have been fixed in case of escape so they can’t add to the ever growing population.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:22 am
Good breeders do their best to sell to good owners. These people will not carelessly breed their animals, and not often. They breed them for a reason, and only if they already have a waiting list. You have to wait for years to get a dog from certain breeders. Their puppies rarely if ever end up in a shelter. Their puppies will only be bred under certain circumstances. They make little, if any, money from it. They do it for the love of the breed.
Shelters have their place, but the one around here will adopt a dog to anyone with the right answers. And they only ask for a donation. Have I added they don’t even neuter their animals. The majority of breeders of 10X more careful than this. They check out your home, your family, your financial situation, and your other pets. Good luck finding many shelters that do the same.
Now, I’m not putting down shelters, as I said, they have their place. But if not for good breeders, we would just have bad breeders. Then what would you say?
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 am
Well my breeding rodents are from a specialized breeder.
But anything else I go to a shelter and rescue, I also have a number of animals who were quite literally dumped on my front door and left their, such as a leopard gecko and bearded dragon !
I prefer to get cats from the shelter and when I get my dog I would like an older one from a shelter
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 am
A combination of both.
My two Miniature horses are registered and from breeders.
Most of my rabbits, which are mostly show and breeding animals, are also pedigreed and from breeders.
My next dog will probably be from a breeder.
However my current dog and two cats are all rescues.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:02 am
We’ve gotten pets from pet shops (ferrets and fish), shelters/humane society (dog and ferrets), private breeders (ferrets and dogs), and some came to us (stray cats). My personal opinion – no pet was asked to be brought into this world, but once they’re here, they all deserve and need a loving a home. I don’t support animal mills but not buying a pet from a pet shop that came from an animal mill is not going to put an end to them; people reporting animal mills and stricter laws, on the other hand, will help put an end to them. Also, a lot of the animals in shelters came from pet shops that buy from those animal mills. So, by adopting one of those pets, aren’t you in a round-about way, still helping to support those mills? (By the way, I am not against getting a pet from a shelter, several of my ferrets and one of our dogs came from shelters, just trying to make a point.)
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 am
i prefer to get animals from a shelter because it is saving them…we recently got a rabbit from our humane society. all of our cats have been strays, we take every cat we see that is a stray because my mom just can’t resist them! other pets that won’t comea s strays, however, we got from the petshop. that is our lovebird, kiwwi. we got our hamster from meijers, fish from meijers and the petshop.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I have gotten a pomxshitzu mix from a breeder and he is the most adorable thing i ever saw but i also found out i saved his life…. he was the runt of the litter and the breeder wanted to put him down because he was so little so instead of getting the female i got him…. now on the other hand my boyfriend rescued a lab mix that was for one abused by his owner as well as children then left outside in the massive thunderstorms green bay had last year…. he got off his leash and was found running down the street dirty and smelly but he is a great dog…. we have also rescued other dogs but with the laws about owning dogs being so tight we have found them other homes and they are doing great….. some of the ones we rescued would have never made it through the shelters because of temperment but all they needed was a little time to get over what they went through…. we also adopted a bunny from the humane society and bought a hamster from petsmart