Adopting wonderful animals from kill facilities known as Pounds (facilities that impound animals) has been one of the most rewarding things I have done throughout my lifetime. This article is NOT to discourage someone from saving a life.  It is to make you think about your options. Is it really cheaper to adopt from a Pound? What are some of the problems when adopting from a Pound?

My experience with Pounds has not been pleasant.  Fleas, Disease, Injuries, Behavior Problems, Medical Complications, Heartache, Huge Vet Bills, Dirt, not necessarily in that order, have been some the things I have personally had to deal with.

Injury was a major unexpected expense with my first adoption of two kittens from a Pound in Nebraska.  I was told that one kitten had come in with a broken leg but it was now healed. When the kitten got home, he jumped off of a box and promptly shattered his leg resulting in a huge medical bill. These kittens were healthy, but I was responsible to have them vaccinated and spay/neutered which was an additional expense.

Dirt and medical problems plagued my second experience when I adopted my Chocolate Lab, Sadie.  I had given up on being approved so I went ahead and adopted my Cocker Spaniel, Casey Jones, from a private party who wanted him gone. When I finally heard from the Pound that I had been approved to adopt Sadie,   I didn't really have room for her. Since the alternative was her death, I agreed to take Sadie. When I went to pick her up from the Pound, I almost didn't want her in my car because she was absolutely filthy and flea infested. She is incontinent and is also epileptic which may or may not have been the result of brain damage during surgery from being spayed. Sadie is on expensive daily medications.

Fleas, dirt and manic behavior characterized my next adoption from a Pound.  Seeing Jake on Petfinder.com, I fell in love with him. When I found out he was held as a laboratory experiment, I knew he needed me. Jake was used for injection and blood draw practice for vet tech students.  As a result of this torture, Jake was a maniac when I picked him up at the college. I was hesitant to let him in my car because he was just wild! Not only was he wild, he was filthy and flea infested. So flea infested, I got bitten up badly before I could get him home to bathe him.  Jake had other behavioral issues, as a result of being experimented upon, which required me to take him to a professional for help.

Disease was a real problem with my final adoption from another Pound. My two Pug puppies seemed healthy, but it didn't take more than one day for them to become ill. So ill with a virulent strain of kennel cough that they were in danger of death. It was bad enough having them ill, but then the rest of my dogs also caught the cough and were all so sick they would have died without treatment. Fortunately, after several hundred dollars in veterinary bills, they all made it through this imported disease. However even more than two years later, all of them still suffer the reverse sneezing that developed from this disease and plagues us still as a memento of this horrendous infection.

Good Rescues, like Pet Pals, require a donation fee when you adopt from them, but is it worth it?  YES! Sure you can get a pet for little or no money these days from a Pound or free out of a newspaper. Either way you are saving a life so again I'm not trying to discourage anyone from adopting a pet and there are no guarantees of a pet's health even from a good Rescue. 

However, a good Rescue will have the pet bathed, altered, microchipped, wormed, vaccinated and evaluate their behaviors so that they are less of an unknown factor before you decide to add him/her to your family. All this is included in your donation fee. Sometimes, depending on expenses, part of your donation fee will go directly to help other pets in their care so you are actually saving more than the pet you are adopting.

Perhaps most importantly by adopting from a Rescue, you will not be suffering the heartache of losing your new member within hours like Pet Pals recently encountered with their little dog, Prayers. These heartaches and expenses are suffered directly by the Rescue. Prayers was sick when bailed from the Pound and died within the next 48 hours but not before hearts were broken, sleepless nights were spent, and fees of over $1,000 were incurred, all for a sweet dog who is now buried in Pet Pals' cemetery. 

Dani Ellis