When you’re looking for a companion animal, adoption is almost always the best option. And it’s not just a moral thing.

Many seem to unfairly think that those who advocate for adoption are being judgmental or that it’s only about feeling good about yourself. In reality, it is literally in your best interest to not support puppy mills (or any other mills).

Irresponsible breeding hurts everyone, and a pet is a huge commitment. It’s important that pet owners make the right decisions about where their pets come from. And yes, that does mean that if you want to own a pet you will have to do a lot of research. There is no easy way around it.

One of my cats, Lenny, is the product of inbreeding. He is a rescue but he came from a bad situation.

I don’t know many of the details of where he came from but he is cross-eyed, has scar tissue on one eye, only has three toes on each paw (and an autoimmune disease known as pillowfoot), is asthmatic, and has behavioral problems. He is probably not going to live as long as a healthy cat.

He’s lucky he was adopted by a family who has experience with caring for special needs animals, and that my mom is a vet tech and doesn’t need to pay full price for all his vet visits.

My mom fosters many animals, and a while ago we took in one who was bought in a pet store and surrendered to a rescue. We soon found out the reason when he bit a guest and had to be euthanized.

Apparently this was not the first time he had done something like this and months of training did nothing to help.

He was very fortunate to die in the arms of someone who cared.

He was bred for looks without any attention given to temperament. There are certain color patterns in certain breeds that are more likely to exhibit severe issues. Good breeders make an effort to avoid these coat patterns even if they might look good.

This experience was painful for the entire family because he was a really sweet dog when he wasn’t in the middle of an episode. He genuinely wasn’t aware of his aggressive actions.

Another foster dog we took care of a while ago was a Bichon puppy who had such severe anxiety that she never left the cage the whole weekend.

She was rescued from a puppy mill that was shut down.

She only spent three days with us before going to a new foster home where she got much-needed training. Not everyone has the time or stamina to work with a dog who has mental health issues that are that severe.

Through her work, Mom has seen many other cases of irresponsible breeding causing unnecessary suffering for both pets and owners.

Puppies in pet stores often have pneumonia caused by poor conditions and the stress of transportation. The cost of saving a puppy’s life is thousands of dollars.

And there are some conditions that are always fatal. Poor breeding can cause some puppies to have congenital heart defects that kill them before they are six months old.

Poor breeding and malnutrition often cause physical deformities, such as bones that don’t grow properly.

When attention isn’t paid to temperament while breeding, or when an animal isn’t properly socialized, it can often cause the unpredictable behavioral problems that took the life of the foster dog I mentioned earlier.

Poor breeding can also cause skin allergies which cause lots of pain and discomfort. Mom has even seen some young dogs with teeth rotting out of their mouths from overbreeding and bad genetics.

All these conditions can cost owners huge amounts of money and many can’t be treated.

Puppy and kitten mills aren’t the only ones that exist. Irresponsible breeding can cause all these issues in hamsters, rabbits, reptiles, fish, and others.

I understand that every animal deserves a good home. However, giving money to factory breeders encourages them to continue adding to the overpopulation problem.

When factory breeders are shut down, the animals are sent to shelters where they have the chance to be adopted. The shelter will give potential adopters important information about the animal’s personality, temperament, and any health issues. This is information that pet stores do not give because they do not have access to it.

There are shelters for all kinds of animals, not just cats and dogs.

(I got my two pet rats from a rat rescue!)

Adoption is also far cheaper than a pet store’s prices.

Please, for your sake as well as the animals’, do your research before deciding on a pet.