Adopting A Shelter Pet (Speech)

The Advantages of Adopting a Shelter Pet

How many of us have seen the sad portrayals of abused and neglected animals on TV commercials?  We’ve all seen the minute long advertisements to encourage citizens to make donations to the ASPCA that are full of images of beaten dogs and one-eyed cats.  Doesn’t those images haunt you?  Imagine your own pet, if you have one, in place of that abused and neglected animal.  Wouldn’t it hurt you?  No, I’m not trying to speak of the cliché concept of animal abuse; I’d like to open minds to a new concept—the concept of shelter pet adoption.  According to the ASPCA, shelters see approximately 5-7 million pets enter their doors each year in the United States, alone.  The Humane Society of the United States, states that four million of these animals are euthanized per year, or “about one every eight seconds”.  Why would anybody take the innocent life from one of our four-legged friends?  Imagine the love in a dog’s large, beautiful brown eyes as he doesn’t know that the injection he’s about to get is going to kill him.  I believe that anybody with morals wouldn’t give the option for an animal to be abused, neglected and unloved.  There are so many opportunities when you adopt a shelter pet.  You are not supporting puppy mills and pet shops by adopting a shelter pet, just as you are preventing overcrowding of animals and you are opening your heart and home to a cuddly and loving new best friend.
         
Allow me to give you a scenario.  What if, you were born in a cold, steel wire cage and were to live there for the rest of your life?  What if you were a female and you were forced to birth litter after litter of puppies?  What if the only chances you had to be loved and appreciated were if you were auctioned off or sold to a pet store?  How would you feel to experience this cycle of pain and suffering?  A major advantage to adopting a shelter pet is that you are not supporting puppy mills and pet stores.  Puppy mills and pet stores almost go hand in hand.  Do you remember a children’s song, “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window”?  Is that doggie in the window worth the suffering of other innocent and lovable pets?  Purchasing a pet from the pet store is just supporting the continuation of puppy mills.  A national rescue organization by the name of Almost Home Dachshund Rescue defines a puppy mill as “hellholes in which the breeding dogs are kept in the most deplorable conditions—dogs confined to small wire cages for their entire lives, fed inadequately, kept in unheated buildings, denied basic veterinary care.”  Any animal lover wouldn’t contribute to this cruel and unjust cause.  To choose shelter adoption over pet store adoption is to say no to puppy mills.  Animal lovers should fight puppy mills one shelter adoption at a time.
         
If one were to continue to purchase pet store animals, they would be contributing to another growing problem.  There are so many people who claim to be against euthanizing animals in shelters that are adopted.  Are you against it?  The American Humane Association reveals that out of all the animals that enter shelters, more cats are euthanized a year than dogs.  American Humane says that this statistic is so because cats are less likely to be identified and returned to their owners than a dog.  Another astonishing fact that American Humane provides is that only a fourth of dogs and cats both are actually adopted from the shelter.  Though the adopter is aiding to prevent overcrowding, chances are that the adopter is going to get a healthy pet.  Shelters provide many services for pets.  The shelter will vaccinate the animal, as well as spay or neuter it.  Spaying and neutering your pet ensures that there will not be any more unwanted animals born. 

Adopting a pet has benefits for animals and humans alike.  While the human is giving the animal an opportunity to live in a loving home, the pet is helping the human fight or heal medical problems.  Studies show, according to WebMD, that children who grow up around furred animals are less likely to suffer from allergies or asthma.  It has been suggested that adopting a cat or a dog lowered blood pressure in those who suffer from high blood pressure.  A pet can be the remedy to many problems.  Take for example, sufferers of depression and mood disorders.  The National Institution of Mental Health recognizes pet therapy as a treatment for depression as a form of psychotherapy.  There are many various statistics, which reveal that having a pet is therapeutic to almost everybody, especially the individuals with medical or mental issues.  Allow me to share some of the amazing statistics with you.  Nine out of ten pet owners say that they consider their pet a part of the family.  Of those owners, about a fourth of them say that they sign their pets names on greeting cards and 27% of those owners also say that they take their pets to have holiday pictures done with their kids.  Over half of the pet owners also talk to their pets and allow them to sleep with them or lie on the furniture.  It is heartwarming how a person could take in a pet and treat them like royalty.  You will have a best friend that will “lick away your tears”.

Why not adopt a shelter pet?  There are so many options and so many opportunities with having a pet that one would be senseless not to adopt.  If you are now or have been considering adoption, remember these few important things: shelter adoption helps to stop the flow of puppy mills while preventing and decreasing overcrowding in the shelter and adopting a shelter pet gives you the opportunity to gain a new best friend as well as treat any medical issue that you may have.  An unknown person once said, “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”  What a true statement?  Owning a pet can be a very joyous experience.  Just imagine waking up in the morning to the sound of tiny little cats paws pattering around your kitchen or receiving a loving lick from your dog upon arriving home from work.  Doesn’t that sound wonderful?  Adopt a shelter pet today.