If you or your family have ever adopted a pet from an animal shelter, then you know how fulfilling and life changing the experience of opening up your home to a shelter animal really is. There is every reason in the world to adopt, and just about zero reasons not to. Adopting an animal from a shelter will save the life of that animal.
Close to 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized each year worldwide simply because more animals come into shelters than there is space, food and resources available and because too few people adopt those animals. Adopting any one of these animals will not only save their life, but it could even save the life of another animal that could take their place at the shelter.
The unfortunate truth is that each year, too many people worldwide opt for buying from pet stores or online breeders instead of adopting pets from shelters who are in dire need of a loving home. Puppies that come from pet stores usually come from puppy mills, which are factory-like breeding facilities that put profit before animal welfare. Dogs are caged and bred for years until they are deemed no longer useful and are then auctioned off or even killed. Puppies from these environments are often mistreated and not given proper medical care so that when they are sold to the pet store and then into your home, they often have behavioral or health issues beyond their control. Adoption makes sure that these puppy mills aren't making a profit by your hand.
Even more, animals that come from shelters are almost always already spayed or neutered, and they usually have already received health screening and any necessary vaccinations, medications or treatments (for things like rabies, different types of cancers, heart worm, fleas or ticks). All of this means that adopting a pet is the cheapest option more often than not.
Adopting a pet changes the life of a family by bringing in a new, happy, healthy member who really is only looking for a home and people to love them and take care of them. When I was in high school, my family adopted an old dog. The woman who fostered him before we adopted him said that she was going to have to have him put down because she just didn't have the space for another dog. We took him in and anyone could tell, he was just happy to have a home and people to love him. We only had Tank for about 6 years after we adopted him before he died, but I know that only 6 years with Tank was worth it because we knew that we saved his life, and he knew that we loved him.
My parents just recently adopted another dog, this time a puppy who came all the way across the country from a kill shelter in Alabama to an animal shelter near my hometown. If he hadn't been adopted, he would have been euthanized. He is only 6 months old.
If you're ever thinking about adding a new furry friend to your family, whether it be a cat, dog, puppy, kitten, ferret, rabbit--anything!-- Adopt, don't shop! You would be saving their life, and let's face it, they really could save yours too.
