A new year often leads us to take inventory of our lives. What are we happy with, and what might be missing? It’s a great time to think about adding a new companion to your family. After all, there’s no better way to add a little more love to your life than by welcoming a furry friend into your home.
Here at Mighty Pet, we strongly encourage anyone searching for a new pet to consider adoption. Your local shelters are filled with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and more. They all have plenty of love to give and are just waiting for someone to take a chance on them.
Exploring Your Pet Options: Dogs, Cats and More
The Case for Senior Pet Adoption
Special Needs Pets: Embracing Unconditional Love
Adopt Don’t Shop: Why Choose A Shelter Pet?
Start Your Adoption Journey at Mighty Pet in Menominee, Michigan
I. Exploring Your Pet Options: Dogs, Cats, and More
What kind of pet is right for you and your family? Before you make the commitment of bringing a new furry friend home, consider your needs, wants and circumstances. If you and your family are up for a fun challenge, adopting a puppy or kitten offers the chance to raise and train an animal together. If you’d prefer to live at a slower pace, senior pets (which we’ll discuss in more detail in the next section) are a great option.
Also consider the space in which you live. If you want to adopt a dog, having a yard is definitely ideal. If you have lots of windows and space for cat trees, consider a cat! And beyond the typical dogs and cats, many shelters offer other animals such as hamsters, gerbils and rabbits.
Whether you decide to adopt a rabbit, a cat or a brand new puppy, be sure to do research beforehand on what your pet will need. Make sure you and/or your family are prepared to provide for those needs. For instance, will you be able to take your dog for regular walks, empty your cat’s litter box or change your bunny’s bedding? Remember that your pet will be a yearslong commitment. Only adopt a pet you feel equipped to take care of for many years to come.
With that being said, adopting a pet is one of the most rewarding, enriching and positive things you can do in your life. Pets are devoted companions who will fill your home with love and make life more meaningful and enjoyable. As you consider adoption, also consider adopting those pets more likely to be overlooked in the shelters. In the next two sections of this blog, we’ll give you a bit more information on adopting senior and special needs pets.
II. The Case for Senior Pet Adoption
It’s an unfortunate truth that senior shelter pets are often the last to be adopted, if they’re adopted at all. No animal should spend their golden years without a loving family, especially when they still have so much of their own love to give! Beyond the fact that it’s just a kindhearted thing to do, there are plenty of additional benefits to senior dog adoption and senior cat adoption.
Senior pets are perfect for families looking for pets with lower energy levels. While some people look forward to the high-energy fun of training a puppy or kitten, other people can’t commit to all of that intense work. Older individuals who can’t keep up with a high-energy pet, those with demanding work schedules, and those with busy families may not be able to give a baby animal the supervision it needs. Senior pets offer all the joys of pet ownership without the intensive training and rigorous play sessions that young animals need.
Similarly, senior dogs and senior cats often have a grasp on the commands and behaviors you would have to teach a puppy or kitten. They are likely already house-trained, and know how to use a litter box or do their business outdoors. If you don’t have the time or ability to wrangle a young pet to sit, stay or stay off the kitchen table, a senior pet likely won’t give you much trouble.
Senior pets will be filled with gratitude towards you for giving them a second chance. After being overlooked in shelters, they’ll be so appreciative of your love and care that the two of you will form a truly special bond. You may not be able to spend as many years with a senior pet as you would a puppy or kitten, but you can fill those years with enough love for a lifetime!
III. Special Needs Pets: Embracing Unconditional Love
Special needs pets are those who have health needs beyond that of the typical pet. This can include physical conditions like arthritis in dogs or FIV in cats; it can also include mental health conditions like anxiety, which can impact both dogs and cats. Like senior pets, special needs pets are sadly often passed over in shelters. People may worry about a special needs pet’s lifespan, or the extra time and costs that may be associated with their care.
It’s hard to think of a better way to show kindness to a living being than by giving a special needs animal a loving home. You can learn a lot about compassion and empathy from your new pet, and if you have kids, it’s a great way to teach them those lessons as well.
Caring for a special needs dog or a special needs cat also provides a distinct sense of purpose and fulfillment. In learning to care for them, you will grow in positive ways as a pet owner, and as a human! In doing so, you will form a very special bond with your pet. Embracing your special needs pet in all his or her uniqueness will enrich your life in all kinds of unexpected ways.
IV. Adopt Don’t Shop: Why Choose A Shelter Pet?
At the end of the day, if you’d like to add a pet to your family, adoption is the most ethical choice. By adopting, you’re doing a number of positive things that you may not even realize. First and most obviously, you’re helping give a pet a second chance at a happy life. In doing so, you’re also helping to reduce shelter overpopulation and, in the case of some shelters, preventing euthanasia due to overcrowding.
By adopting a pet, you’re also helping to support community rescue and rehabilitation efforts. Many local shelters work with organizations that rescue and rehabilitate abused, neglected or abandoned animals. Speaking of community, by adopting a pet from a shelter, you’re also helping to support your local economy. Spending your money at a local shelter helps provide jobs to shelter workers and keep shelters in business.
Finally, by adopting a pet, you can rest assured that your money is not supporting any unethical breeding practices, such as puppy mills. While there are certainly responsible and ethical breeders out there, finding them requires time and research. Adopting a shelter pet is an easy way to guarantee that you are making the best choice for not only your pet, but for animals around your community.
V. Start Your Adoption Journey at Mighty Pet in Menominee, Michigan!
We hope this article has inspired you to consider pet adoption in the new year. If you’re interested in bringing home a new companion, we invite you to visit us at Mighty Pet in Menominee, Michigan. Here, we do our best to support pet adoption by partnering with the Menominee Animal Shelter to offer in-store adoptions. We also offer adoption freebies that you can take home to help you get started caring for your new pet!
And if you don’t live in the Menominee area, please look into your local pet store when considering adoption. Your hometown pet experts will be happy to help you take home and take care of a new best friend.
