Pets: Know Before You Buy
My-Dog.info > Getting a Dog or Puppy
What could be a more perfect holiday gift than a cute, cuddly
puppy or a soft, fuzzy kitten -- a lovable, huggable friend to
share the moments of your life?
Picture it. You come home from a long day at the office or out
in the field, open the door, and wham -- you get this
rambunctious, overwhelmingly enthusiastic, sloppy, happy welcome
home by the family dog.
Inside the family room, your pet parrot, alert to the familiar
sound of your voice, starts chattering on his perch or starts
humming the tune the two of you have practiced whenever he rides
around the house on your shoulder. Or maybe your elegant,
independent cat saunters by, purring contentedly as it stretches
its neck and rubs against its favorite pair of legs. If it's been
a rough day, you immediately feel a little better.
Pets are one of the unerring, make-you-feel-good parts of life
that you can count on. They make few demands and love you no
matter what.
Besides their potential to protect you -- or at least alert
you to intruders -- dogs prompt you to take long, leisurely
walks, socialize with other pet owners in the neighborhood and
expand your reading repertoire to include pet-related
publications.
Health professionals have long noted the medicinal value of a
pet's companionship. Researchers say owning a pet redirects a
focus from one's self -- such as away from physical ailments --
and reduces stress, averts depression and speeds recovery from
illness.
"I think kids should be exposed to pets at an early
age," said Capt. Terence Kline, chief of veterinary services
at Fort Belvoir, Va. "Pets appeal to a much more instinctive
level of human emotion. And owning a pet teaches kids that other
beings have feelings and needs. Studies show that kids who grow
up around pets are more responsible and more mature than their
peers who don't have pets."
But buying a pet as a gift -- sight unseen by the recipient --
or for yourself or family on the spur of the moment is a terrible
mistake, Kline added. "People do a lot of research before
buying a car. But all too often they buy pets without giving it
much thought," he said. "A pet requires much more care
than a car."
Kline said people should consider what type of pet would be
appropriate for their particular lifestyle, home environment and
the ages of their children. They should think about how large the
cute little puppy will become and realize that their toddler
isn't going to be the one caring for it, nor is the soldier who
constantly deploys.
A month or two after holidays, especially Christmas and
Easter, the Fort Belvoir animal shelter is usually full of
unwanted pets, Kline said. "We get a lot of rabbits in the
spring because people never gave any thought to how much trouble
they are. Training them to use the litter box takes some time.
"An animal isn't like a toy truck your kid can just throw in
the closet when he gets tired of it," Kline emphasized.
Sally Fekety, director of animal sheltering issues at the
Humane Society of the United States, echoed some of Kline's
comments.
"We hear about many cases of pet abandonment several
months after the holidays," said Fekety, "because
people who received a pet as a gift didn't want to refuse it or
get rid of it right away; they didn't want to hurt anyone's
feelings. "Often, those who receive pets as gifts never
considered getting a pet and certainly aren't up to making the
commitment to love and care for it for the rest of its
life," she continued.
SSgt. Karen Van Loon, NCOIC of the veterinary clinic at Fort
Bragg, N.C., agrees that most potential pet owners know about the
positive aspects of pet ownership. "Unfortunately, they
often fail to consider the responsibilities. "I wish people
would understand what kind of commitment they're making when they
purchase or adopt an animal," she said. "We have to put
so many animals to death here, it's heartbreaking."
Pet owners often discover they don't have time for a pet, Van
Loon said. The novelty of owning a pet fades as they realize pets
sometimes defecate, urinate and regurgitate on carpets. They
shed. They require daily watering, feeding, walking and some
interaction with people to maintain an acceptable disposition.
And owning a pet can get expensive, too. Besides the initial
cost -- collar, leash, toys and food dishes for a dog; and
habitat for rodents, reptiles and birds -- there's the continuing
cost of hygiene products such as litter for cats and wood
shavings for gerbils and mice.
Then there's the cost of annual medical checkups and
vaccinations, spaying and neutering, licenses, training classes,
grooming, special treats and more toys. And when it's time for a
vacation, more likely than not, pets require boarding.
Soldiers and family members should consider what will happen
to a pet if the family gets orders to another country, or to a
post outside the continental United States. "Soldiers are
famous for shoving their pets out the door when they can't keep
them anymore," Kline said. "During any deployment, the
number of strays goes up. During Operation Desert Storm it rose
threefold."
About a dozen of the more than 40 countries where U.S.
military personnel are stationed have quarantine restrictions
ranging from 21 days to nine months (for Australia). And pets are
not allowed in Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Marshall Islands,
according to Humane Society officials.
When soldiers receive PCS orders, they're responsible for
making travel arrangements and paying all costs associated with
transporting pets. Then add the more subtle nuisances of a
puppy's lonesome, fearful yowling when he's confined to a limited
area of the house while being paper trained, the inevitable abuse
to furniture and other possessions and the standard annoyances
inherent with certain pets -- for example, the loud, impatient
squawking of birds vying for attention.
Lots of people can't handle such inconveniences. The prospect,
therefore, should be entered into only after careful
consideration about the pros and cons.
Buying a living, breathing animal is very different from
investing in an inanimate object. Before you bring a pet into
your home, you should be willing to commit to loving and caring
for that pet for the rest of its life, said Leslie Isom, another
Humane Society spokeswoman.
Kline said most of the bunnies that make it to his shelter
after Easter are found simply running around post. "People
think, 'Oh, they're rabbits. They'll just return to the
wild.'" It doesn't happen that way. "They're domestic
rabbits. Someone's dog will catch up with them and eat
them."
Kline urges pet owners who must get rid of an animal to bring
it to a stray-animal facility where it has the chance to be
adopted. The Humane Society estimates that up to 60 percent of
the animals brought into animal shelters must be killed because
no one wants them. The good news is that up to 35 percent will
find new homes.
Realizing that there are simply too many pets in this country
to begin with, the Humane Society is more adamant than ever about
publicizing a campaign it began in 1991, called "Until There
are None, Adopt One."
"The campaign urges responsible prospective pet owners to
adopt dogs and cats from shelters instead of buying them from pet
stores," said Isom. Local animal shelters range from those
on military installations to nonprofit civic organizations like
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Lab Rescue
-- which specializes in placing labrador retrievers -- or
Greyhound Pets of America.
Pets purchased from local pet shops or breeders can be
expensive, while stray animal facilities charge minimal fees to
adopt pets. "A lot of people will go to the mall and pay
$600 for a dog when they can probably get a healthier one at a
stray facility like ours for as little as $10," Kline said.
"Pet shops aren't a great environment for pets because cages
are butted one against the next. Animals can spread diseases back
and forth, and they often have intestinal parasites."
What many people don't realize is that shelters often offer
purebred animals. "But it's the mongrels that tend to be
healthier," Kline said. "They get the best traits from
all the breeds and are often friendlier and easier to train as
well."
Kline assures prospective owners that stray animal facilities,
like his own, perform thorough health examinations to ensure
their animals are well.
For more information about pet adoption and care, contact your
post veterinary clinic or the Humane Society of the United
States.
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