Successful Pet Adoption Stories!

[WillsBabe]

Bitty is adorable, Yeoman Randi! What terrible things to have happened to her, but she is so lucky to have found you.

Here is Emily. She loves to sit in the sun. We adopted her from Dogs Trust in May. She needed to have a knee operation but she came with insurance to cover that. We had to keep her off her feet for 6 weeks and then introduce exercise slowly, but she's back to fitness now. She's so loving and affectionate. She loves children (and chasing the squirrels in the trees at the back of our house.) I've never had a dog before. I love her so much.

 

[Paradon]

Here she was my 14 year old collie/doberman mixed Kaylee:

And look my little baby leopard gecko! She'll be one in March.

Shot at 2011-11-18
My box turtle Mrs. Robinson:

Shot at 2011-04-27
My juvy box turtle:

Shot at 2011-04-27
My ornate pac-man frog Jaba The Hut:

Shot at 2011-05-11

 

[SmoothieX]

What shelter did you go to? Was it ASPCA or the Humane Society?

I was approved for cat adoption recently, and will be going to put my deposit on two cats this weekend. This is an independent, not-for-profit shelter, so they set their own policies rather than having them dictated to them by a national organization. The form I had to fill out was one page and did not ask what I considered to be any inappropriate questions, and I was approved on the spot.

They even allow you to pay for the cats, which means they are yours, but wait to take them home until a date when you have your house completely ready. So at the end of December, I'll be bringing two cats home!!

I have noticed that with the society shelters, like ASPCA, but I was thinking more county shelters. I remember going to pick up a new cat from the local county run shelter when I was a kid, and also browsing the shelter for dogs to adopt with my parents, and they are good memories, though I felt sad for the animals there. We didn't have to pay hardly anything at all, just had to make sure the animal was spayed/neutered, and they don't really ask questions. We've also had great success adopting for free from families who advertise animals they are giving away in the local newspaper. With so many needy animals out there for free, I guess I just don't understand why anyone would spend so much money to buy one.

These were various privately run shelters. They were looking for something like $400 for grown dogs, not even puppies. They wanted to check references and schedule in home interviews. That's what I found to be offensive.

So the choice was to get a grown dog with unknown physical and mental problems, and be subjected to 20 questions about it and get brow beaten since it would home alone all day, or pay $700 and get a well cared for puppy with regular vet visits I could train from scratch with parents cleared of eye and hip disorders. No questions were asked, the owner simply based the decision to sell him to us based on the way we interacted with him.

It was no choice for me. The dog might be decent, but there are a lot of unknowns and I refuse to deal with the holier than thou types.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Rule of thumb should be adopt from a shelter or buy from a reputable breeder. One should NEVER buy from a pet store. They get their puppies from puppy mills which need to be PUT OUT OF BUSINESS.

I appreciate everyone's stories and would love to hear more!!

Paradon, you have some awesome critters there!! I love the name Mrs. Robinson btw. That's just GREAT!

WillsBabe, thank you re: Bitty!! Your Emily is adorable (i really am partial to terriers having been owned by quite a few in my life).


While perusing the various shelters and rescue sites online i saw a wide variety of prices charged, from "free" up to $500. I question the ones that charge so high...are they really a rescue group or not? And yes, some of the applications are ridiculous. Luckily i didn't have to jump through a lot of hoops to get Bitty as i get discouraged quite easily. My experience getting her was pretty easy and the benefit of her company is irreplacable. (SP? too lazy to look up.)


OH! A couple of you mentioned your dogs having to have knee surgery. When we had our Westie she needed that surgery at 14 years old. We didn't think twice about it (she couldn't live comfortably without it) and the cost ($2000) was never a question. She was 'our baby' and she needed surgery. She got it. At even at the age of 14, she did fine (keeping her off her feet was a little tough because she had been very active up until the problem arose), and she lived another 2-1/2 years. We never regretted it.

 

[SmoothieX]

My black Lab is getting the surgery pretty soon here. Ugh. She's only 2, so well worth it in this case.

 

[cultcross]

This summer we adopted a black and white shorthair female cat we named Luna. Because she's f-ing nuts. If they made raddish earrings for cats, she'd wear 'em.

She used to be owned by an elderly lady who had dementia and didn't remember to feed her properly, so she came to us very small for her age and severely malnourished. But in the few months we've had her she'd made a remarkable recovery and you'd now never guess she had that past. The only tell tale sign is that she's not fussy about food at all - in fact, she'll eat anything, even out the food bin which is a bad habit that gives her tummy bugs - and any food you put down is gone before you've turned around.

She's taken to us very well and will spend all evening with you - if you can't have her on your lap at that moment she'll always be in the same room as you. She's an indoor kitty as the cats around here are bruisers and she's tiny and isn't sensible enough to back away from a fight - she and the neighbourhood cats 'fight' through the glass doors quite regularly. Also we live near main roads so it just isn't worth the risk.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

I was adopted by a cat about 4 years ago. She showed up on my doorstep and allowed me to keep her. Her name is Ebony.

She's the most talkative cat imaginable, and she is really friendly. She loves dogs and guniea pigs but isn't too fond of other cats. She comes when I call her, so I joke that she's part dog.

I'm also fostering an orange tabby cat for one of my friends for a few months. My friend just moved to an apartment that doesn't allow pets, and she's working to get Tuffguy certified as a service animal. (Her 7-year-old daughter has anxiety, and Tuffguy helps keep her calm.) But I'm hanging onto him until that happens. Ebony and Tuffguy get along really well, much to my surprise. (They hissed a bit at first, but now they're fast friends. I think she'll be sad when he goes back to my friend's place.)

 

[Avalon]

I have noticed that with the society shelters, like ASPCA, but I was thinking more county shelters. I remember going to pick up a new cat from the local county run shelter when I was a kid, and also browsing the shelter for dogs to adopt with my parents, and they are good memories, though I felt sad for the animals there. We didn't have to pay hardly anything at all, just had to make sure the animal was spayed/neutered, and they don't really ask questions. We've also had great success adopting for free from families who advertise animals they are giving away in the local newspaper. With so many needy animals out there for free, I guess I just don't understand why anyone would spend so much money to buy one.

The local shelter charges $350 for puppies and $125 for kittens. They charge $85 for cats over 7 months -- and they're always packed to the rafters with cats! (I actually got my dog from the next state over -- since he was over five years old at the time he was $250 rather than $275.)

My cat showed up on my doorstep and adopted me, so he was "free", but after the vet was done processing him for diseases it cost me $300 -- and he'd already been fixed in his previous life.

I'm glad there are places out there that don't charge for adopting an animal -- and I always promote adopting from shelters -- but around here it's still pretty expensive.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

They even allow you to pay for the cats, which means they are yours, but wait to take them home until a date when you have your house completely ready. So at the end of December, I'll be bringing two cats home!!

Congratulations. Cats make wonderful companions, don't they? I've considered getting one eventually.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

These were various privately run shelters. They were looking for something like $400 for grown dogs, not even puppies. They wanted to check references and schedule in home interviews. That's what I found to be offensive.

Damn, wow. I mean, I was asked some questions, including whether I had owned a cat before and if I had, why I no longer owned that cat (in my case, because I moved out of the house and my parents kept the cat), whether my landlord approved of animals, and a few other questions intended to match the personality of the cat to a prospective owner, but definitely no violations of privacy.

I wonder if it's something to do with how dogs are thought of versus cats. It's going to be $140 for both of my cats together.

I imagine that because of the reputation dogs have, being considered harder to train and possibly dangerous, in comparison to cats, that's one reason some people act like that. I've read the stories and I think that in some cases there's some really ignorant behavior on the part of some shelter administrators that leads to that, which I do not agree with. An in-home interview? That's really excessive.

So the choice was to get a grown dog with unknown physical and mental problems, and be subjected to 20 questions about it and get brow beaten since it would home alone all day, or pay $700 and get a well cared for puppy with regular vet visits I could train from scratch with parents cleared of eye and hip disorders. No questions were asked, the owner simply based the decision to sell him to us based on the way we interacted with him.

I am not one of those who thinks reputable breeders should be put out of business...I wish more people adopted shelter and rescue cats and dogs, but I do not think that's a complete solution. At least for cats, I think trap-and-spay is important too. Puppy/kitten mills are a huge part of the problem too.

My parents had a Lab they got from a breeder. While I am NOT a dog person and did not like the dog for most of her life (I know, that sounds bad), I don't think there was anything at all wrong with their choice.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

We adopted these two from local shelters in 1998.

These pictures are from 2003, I think. We had to put the lab down in 2010 at age 14, but the spitz is still going strong. She can't hear, but she's still healthy.

We are probably due a trip back to a shelter to add another dog to the family, the kids keep telling me that "Daisy is lonely and needs a friend".

 

[SmoothieX]

They even allow you to pay for the cats, which means they are yours, but wait to take them home until a date when you have your house completely ready. So at the end of December, I'll be bringing two cats home!!

Congratulations. Cats make wonderful companions, don't they? I've considered getting one eventually.

How are they actually companions? They spend all of 3 minutes with you a week, if you are lucky.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

My cats greet me at the door when I come home, curl up in my lap when I sit down, and follow me around the apartment.

 

[SmoothieX]

The only time ours didn't try to scratch us or run away was when we found him dead.

 

[Marie1]

^ My cat loves us, loves to cuddle. Abused cats need people to be very calm and gentle so they learn they don't have to fear humans so it depends on their history.

I avoid purebreds totally- so many problems with inbreeding, esp. the popular breeds that blindness, hip displacement etc. are huge problems. With so many millions of animals in Shelters and since fees cover spay/neutering that often would cost more than the pet, that's my route.

I adopted an abused horse... he got a few extra years where he got the care he needed... such a happy character he was. With his feet treated he could jump 4 ft, and we'd go into the mountains for hours. But it broke me when he died... though he was in his 30s by then.

 

[An Officer]

We adopted these two from local shelters in 1998.

These pictures are from 2003, I think. We had to put the lab down in 2010 at age 14, but the spitz is still going strong. She can't hear, but she's still healthy.

We are probably due a trip back to a shelter to add another dog to the family, the kids keep telling me that "Daisy is lonely and needs a friend".

Gorgeous animals!

Sorry about the loss of your lab.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

They even allow you to pay for the cats, which means they are yours, but wait to take them home until a date when you have your house completely ready. So at the end of December, I'll be bringing two cats home!!

Congratulations. Cats make wonderful companions, don't they? I've considered getting one eventually.

How are they actually companions? They spend all of 3 minutes with you a week, if you are lucky.

Depends on the cat you choose.

The one I'm cat-sitting right now, my parents' cat, is so social it's crazy. She is constantly with people, spends long hours being petted and/or cuddling, and before she settles down, always checks on where the people are. She comes to the door like a dog when I come home. And she gets bad separation anxiety if people spend a long time out of the house. This cat NEEDS people. You can shut a door between you and the rest of the house for five minutes and she'll be there crying to get in.

In fact, she picked me out at the shelter by being so loud and cuddly.

 

[Kestra]

Congratulations. Cats make wonderful companions, don't they? I've considered getting one eventually.

How are they actually companions? They spend all of 3 minutes with you a week, if you are lucky.

Depends on the cat you choose.

The one I'm cat-sitting right now, my parents' cat, is so social it's crazy. She is constantly with people, spends long hours being petted and/or cuddling, and before she settles down, always checks on where the people are. She comes to the door like a dog when I come home. And she gets bad separation anxiety if people spend a long time out of the house. This cat NEEDS people. You can shut a door between you and the rest of the house for five minutes and she'll be there crying to get in.

In fact, she picked me out at the shelter by being so loud and cuddly.

Yeah, sometimes my cat ignores me but a lot of times he won't leave me alone. He's such a cuddler and also a chatterbox. He also likes when I cradle him like a baby.

 

[Spot's Meow]

They even allow you to pay for the cats, which means they are yours, but wait to take them home until a date when you have your house completely ready. So at the end of December, I'll be bringing two cats home!!

Congratulations. Cats make wonderful companions, don't they? I've considered getting one eventually.

How are they actually companions? They spend all of 3 minutes with you a week, if you are lucky.

I have met a couple of cats like that, but really most of the cats I have owned/met were very friendly and liked to cuddle. Our current cat waits by the door for us to get home and will meow and scratch at doors when we try to close them, he always wants to be in the same room as us. If he's not in the same room as me and trying to get my attention, it's unusual. So it just depends on the cat you have, just like some dogs are much more social than others.

 

[Sheep]

I adopted two older cats (each 7 years old) from PAWS Chicago 11 months ago. They pretty much selected me during my shelter visits, making my decision pretty easy. Given that I'm at work all day without someone to watch over them, I'm glad I got older cats as I don't think I'd be able to give a kitten the attention it needs. I still find it amazing how quickly they warmed up to their new environment--I didn't even have to do the usual unloading in a small room to give them a chance to acclimate. Literally within 5 minutes of arriving, they were exploring my whole condo.

Whoever trained them did a fantastic job. Aside from two peeing incidents from one of them when I was away travelling, they've been a joy to have around--they're both total lap cats which works great for me. My friend refers to both of them as catdogs since they'll both do dog things like greet you at the door and stick by your side when you go from room to room. One of them even fetches things and brings them to me.