The holiday season is the time of year when I set about telling people not to give pets as presents. This year, I'm making a small exception. I'll get to that in a minute. Of course, all the old rules still apply: No surprise gifts to your spouse or partner. No buying a puppy on the spur of the moment because you're picturing your children's faces when they open it. No buying your friend a kitten because you think she needs the company.
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What's wrong with these very well intended ideas? They're shortsighted. Yes, I know they're tempting. After all, I'm a veterinarian. Nobody is a bigger sucker for puppies and kittens than I am. But, also as a veterinarian, I see how things can turn out if pets are acquired for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time. Most animals who end up in the humane society were adopted once, as cute desirable puppies or kittens, by someone who didn't look ahead. When things didn't work out, for predictable reasons, the animal was brought back. Only by this time, it is grown and much harder to adopt out. With the best of intentions, these people took away the pet's best chance at finding a permanent home.
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Before you decide to get a pet, think about some things like: Who is going to clean up after this animal every day for the next 18 years? Who will feed it? Who will walk it? Who has hundreds of dollars for its vaccines and spay/neuter? Not to mention the money to take care of it when it gets sick. Do we have what it takes to put in the time to train the dog so that eight months from now, we won't be taking it to the shelter for house training accidents or jumping up on us? Also, no matter how careful you are, bad things can still happen. (Yesterday, I bought a new sofa because my dog absolutely destroyed my old one during one bout of separation anxiety.) Your furniture will have hair on it, so will your clothes. Your dog may wake you up in the middle of the night barking. Sooner or later he will probably have diarrhea on your new carpet or throw up on your bed. Someone in the house may be allergic.
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In short, this is not a decision to be entered into lightly. Think 15 or even 20 years down the road. Are you a student who may move from a house that allows pets to an apartment that won't? Are you a young married couple that might decide, after you have a baby, that you don't want all those "dog germs in the house? If you think it would be neat to have a 100-pound dog walking through the neighborhood with you