Different holidays seem to inspire people to buy or adopt animals as gifts, often to the detriment of their unexpectedly time-consuming four-legged purchases.
Easter sees an increase in pet-store bought bunnies and chicks, while Christmas seems to fuel peopleโs desires to buy puppies and kittens when The Bay and Walmart just wonโt do for someoneโs (usually a kidโs) wishlist.
Iโm not necessarily saying that every person who buys their family member or significant other a pet for Christmas is automatically dooming them to be a terrible pet parent.
However, itโs worth noting thatย there often isnโt a whole lot of thought put into the responsibilityย that a pet requires after the video ofย your girlfriend or child sobbing over the puppy that was in the moving box goes viral and is featured on Ellen.
After the initial joy and excitement passes from receiving a new animal on Christmas Day, youโre left with a living creature that will need attention, upkeep and various amounts of money put into looking after it for the next 10 plus years of its life.
Many people donโt consider this when plopping a cute puppy with a bow around its neck in front of the Christmas tree like itโs a scene from Lady and the Tramp and simply call it a day when that part is done.
Parents seem to often use pet gifting as a tool to teach responsibility to their children. And while itโs well-intentioned, people still have to keep in mind that kids are still kids. Sure, they can claim it as their own by giving it a name like Crackers and help look after it by taking it out for a walk, scooping food in their bowl or cleaning out their cage โ but theyโre not completely formed human beings yet.
They are often forgetful and still donโt have the ability to fully look after the pet they were given.
ย I grew up around friends whose parents would buy them hamsters, fish, guinea pigs, etc. โย the so-called โeasyโ pets associated with childhood. But, they would inevitably get bored of them or neglect to completely look after their animal in some way or another until it died.
Now, the โlessonโ here shouldnโt be that the parent is omitted from responsibility because their child forgot to change the water for their hamster.
A pet shouldnโt have to suffer so that you can tell your kid โI told you soโ while youโre burying it in the backyard.
The same can be said for university students who want to train service dogs or get their own dog while theyโre in school. Iโm not saying that this is never possible, but training service dogs takes a lot of time, effort and dedication. And as for your own dog goes, navigating that responsibility with student housing, rooommates and busy schedules can be more difficult than you originally expect.
Owning pets isnโt always cheap, and as much as I would love to respond to every adoption notice I see that tugs on my heart strings, I need to recognize my personal limitations as a pet owner.
Donโt be one of the people who has to return a pet they adopted or post notices on Kijiji because you took on an animal without really thinking it through.
Local animal shelters are faced with enough challenges without having to worry about the influx ofย animals that are dumped on their doorsteps during the holidays.
If you really want a pet or someone you know does, just make sure you do the proper research and have the means to care for it before giftingย someone a furry friend.
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