Are you constantly begging your mom, dad, grandparents, significant others, etc. to buy you a dog or cat? You can’t help but want to adopt literally every animal you see? That sweet dog who greets you in front of your door when you get home from work or the cat you see scared behind the bushes? You want to give the animal a bowl of food and water so it doesn’t starve, because it breaks your heart to see how skinny and nutrition deprived they look? There are so many dogs and cats that become abandoned and need a home. According to The Humane Society:
“About 2.4 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs (about one every 13 seconds) are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Often these animals are the offspring of cherished family pets. Spay/neuter is a proven way to reduce pet overpopulation, ensuring that every pet has a family to love them."
There are animal shelters all over the world with an excess number of animals with nowhere to go. There are numerous reasons why animals are brought to shelters. They may be found on the side of the road homeless or brought to the shelter because the owner could no longer care for it. Unfortunately, these innocent animals are being euthanized because they have no place to go.
To help save animals, people have turned to adoption. There are several different sources you may use to assist with successful pet adoption. A few of these sources include:
1. Petfinder.com is as simple as one, two, three! All you have to do is type in your location, type of pet (dog, cat, rabbit), breed, age and sex. Then Petfinder will compile a list of animals that match what you described with additional information.
2. Contact your local animal shelter. If you are unaware of any nearby shelters, check out www.adoptapet.com. This site will ask for general information about where you are located to help locate a shelter near you.
3. Visit PetSmart during adoption days! You can check with your local PetSmart about upcoming adoption events. National Adoption Weekend is Sept. 11 through 13.
4. Theshelterpetproject.org is another great “pet finder” website that will assist with pet adoption. The goal of the Shelter Pet Project, is “to make shelters the first place potential adopters turn when looking to get a new pet, ensuring that all healthy and treatable pets find loving homes.”
Are you ready to make a difference? Are you willing to raise awareness about animal homelessness? Some of these animals are completely innocent and healthy and would make excellent pets. However, their lives are being taken away in a blink of an eye because they are homeless. Help make a difference and consider pet adoption. It WILL save a life, and you won’t regret it.
