My shelter is filled with Pit Bull type dogs. Another local shelter I visit frequently, also a low-kill facility, is filled with Pit Bull type dogs. In both shelters, there are more Pit Bull type dogs, as a whole, than any other breed. Typically, this is true in all shelters – kill and no-kill alike.
You impact more than you realize when you decide to purchase a puppy or kitten from a pet store or backyard breeder. You can pay hundreds of dollars for a young animal with the hope of molding it into the dog you want it to be when in fact, there may be an adult dog that is already the kind of dog you want, waiting in your local shelter.
And when you purchase from a pet store or backyard breeder, you only encourage those practices to continue. If people would stop buying from stores and individuals, those people would eventually stop breeding, and that would result in fewer unwanted animals in shelters.
When there is already a shortage of people who want to take a pet into their home and love it for its entire lifetime, every new litter of puppies and kittens born in our country adds to the growing problem of homeless animals.
Anyone who’s ever worked in an animal shelter can tell you, pet overpopulation is real. It’s not a yarn spun by kill shelters that want to justify their killing practices. If that were the case, no-kill and low-kill shelters would have empty kennels, and every home would be guarded by a dog and ruled by a cat.
The first line of defense in fighting the animal overpopulation is to SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS. Remember the old adage, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Refuse to be a part of the problem, and spread the word today about the importance of spaying and neutering.
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You know, I hope people aren’t that stupid, to think there are no puppies and kittens in shelters.
Personally, what I believe is that people don’t want to pay the fees associated with adopting from a reputable shelter. They’d rather go the free route by getting a pet from an individual.
What’s scary about giving away a pet for free is that not everyone is what they claim to be, and how do you know you’re not giving your sweet and innocent little kittens to someone who’s going to use them as bait for dog fighting, or for animal testing in a lab somewhere, or worse yet, simply to torture them for fun? If someone is serious about getting a pet, they should be willing (and able) to pay for it.
I agree, every litter only adds to the problem. I personally believe there is no acceptable reason to allow your pet to produce even a single litter. As long as animals are dying in shelters, it’s irresponsible and selfish to bring more into the world.
I don’t believe it’s an issue of people not wanting adult animals. Puppies and kittens die everyday in shelters, as well as adult animals. It’s a simple fact that there are more animals than there are homes for them, regardless of age.
Regarding adult pit bulls, I don’t buy into the notion that a dog’s past has to determine its future. You can take a dog from the worst situation – take the Vick dogs, for example – and turn them into loving family pets with proper love and training.
If people are afraid of adopting adult pit bulls because of their unknown past, those people should educate themselves and understand that just as with human beings, dogs must be judged individually, and lumping them all into one category is not only ignorant and unwise, but most certainly discriminatory.
There is a problem with pet overpopulation throughout this country – it isn’t confined to a specific region. Each year, our shelter system euthanizes 3-4 million dogs and cats because there are more animals than there are homes for them. If that’s not overpopulation, I don’t know what is.
Wow Sasha, way to contribute to the problem. TWICE even.
no it’s because those people you are talking about want kittens and not adults, and they think there is none in shelters
Perhaps the issue is simply that people do not want adult animals. You mention adult pit bulls. Having the reputation that they do, who would want an adult with an unknown past? Why take the chance? I think the issue may be that there are a certain number of irresponsible owners who give up and abandon their pets.
My cat has had two litters of kittens and we could barely keep the kittens long enough to say goodbye to them. We have had people offer money for them (they are always free, no exceptions), one person wanted to take a train all the way from Boston (over an hour ride) to get one of our kittens. We had one person so desperate that they contacted us BEFORE we put the add out. They had heard from a mutual acquaintance that we had kittens. The competition for kittens is that intense. If there is an over population problem, it must be in another region of the country.