Why Adopt?
Every year in Pima County, Arizona, tens of thousands of dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens die in shelters. Most of these animals are young and healthy.
If you're looking to add a new member to your family, please consider adopting from a traditional shelter (see sidebar, right). Traditional shelters kill animals to make room for others.
You can also find a wonderful new companion through one of Pima County's many rescue groups and individual rescuers. In general, these animals are in foster care. They are typically already spayed or neutered, microchipped, and have recovered from the sniffles and coughs they picked up in the shelter. They have been living in a foster home, and their foster caretakers can tell you more about their personalities. Sometimes, they have even begun house training and basic obedience training. When you adopt from a rescue group, you are opening up that foster home to be able to take in another animal, so you are still saving the lives of shelter animals.
General Information about Adopting a Companion
Only 15-20% of owned pets in the United States are obtained from shelters. The rest come from pet stores (puppy mills), backyard breeders, "free to a good home" ads, neighbors, and so forth. Many of these animals obtained outside the shelter remain intact. Of course the vast majority of feral cats are not sterilized, either. You can see why so many of these animals and their offspring end up in shelters.
If you want to adopt a companion animal, go to Pima Animal Care Center (a.k.a. "PACC" or "the pound") first. Some of these animals never even make it onto Petfinder, so please drop by in person if you can. Puppies, cats, and kittens easily catch colds at shelters and at PACC they are routinely killed, sometimes on the same day they develop symptoms. Make sure you ask to see the animals in "sick bay" available for rescue. Many of these animals have nothing more than a slight cold, and are available for as little as $40, which includes spay or neuter, microchip, and immunizations. Next, go to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. After that, try the no-kill shelters (sidebar, right). Then try any of the local PetSmart or Petco stores. Find out when they have their adoption hours. Most are on weekends. You'll find the traditional shelters represented there, as well as local rescue groups. Search Petfinder for additional animals.
Most shelters and rescue groups require an application and a contract. The questions might seem personal or probing, but the only interest the organizations have in your life is how a particular animal might fit into it. These animals have already had to endure impoundment or other upheavals through no fault of their own, and the rescue groups want to make sure that they won't end up homeless again. Most groups also require that if the adoption does not work out for any reason, the animal must be returned to them, and not surrendered to a shelter.
Don't forgot to check Petfinder.com every day, because new companion animals are added daily.
Don't buy an animal from a pet shop. The vast majority of the animals in pet shops are from pet mills, no matter what the shop tells you.
Don't buy an animal from a breeder. They are contributing to the problem. Don't buy pets sold in the newspaper or online, unless the animal is already spayed or neutered, and the price covers those expenses. Resist the urge to adopt "free" animals, unless you are willing to immediately sterilize, immunize, and microchip the animal. For unwanted litters, contact us to find an organization that will help rescue, sterilize, and rehome the entire litter AND pay to have the mom spayed. If the current owner is unwilling to accept this offer, the problem will continue.
