My friend is a vet who has a small plane and she volunteers her time to spay/neuter at the shelters and treat some of the animals that might get put down otherwise because they have really bad health issues. She also flies animals to people who will adopt them.

She just brought me a fluffy orange kitty today because mine died of old age last month. He was hit by a car and broke both femurs and lost an eye. She worked on him for free so he wouldn't be put down and he is literally the sweetest, friendliest, cuddlbug ever. Both my purebred german shepherds were adopted. So spay and neuter, but also adopt!! No more designer pet shop kitties and puppies!

Work in an inner city hospital. Read these boards. Idiot HUMANS breeding bothers me more. You have no idea.
That being said, people should spay or neuter their pets. People should also spay or neuter themselves.

I agree, SAF, spaying/neutering AND adopting pets are the way to go. I cringe whenever I'm at SO's mom's house because SO's oldest niece lives there with three dogs, two males and a female, and none of them have been fixed. We've tried explaining it to her about how many dogs are put down every year because of irresponsible owners and how neutering her males alone will make their lives better, but, she won't hear any of it because her boyfriend refuses to neuter his dogs *smh*

And I personally get nauseated whenever I hear of anyone buying a puppy or kitten when they could either a) go to their local animal shelter and find a comparable dog or b) find a breed-specific rescue to adopt the dog they want. Just recently, one of my classmates was gushing over the husky puppy she was adopting. I saw the pic and said "cute, but, the one local animal shelter has, like, three huskies for adoption all under the age of 2. so, congratulations on your puppy, but, there are three dogs out there that probably would have been just as happy living in your home".

All of our animals are rescues, both of our cats and our Saint Bernard, so, the argument of not getting purebred when you adopt is BS because if you just look in the right places and wait long enough, some irresponsible owner will give up the best animal that they could have hoped for. Seriously, our Saint is the best dog I've ever had and I think his previous owners were so cruel to surrender him to a kill shelter of all places. And worse still is that he was 2 and a half when we adopted him and not neutered! What the hell?!

There was talk around the shelter we got him from that his owners gave him up because they lost their house to foreclosure, but, that he was adopted by another family who returned him within a week because they couldn't take a dog his size. People just give up animals for the dumbest reasons sometimes. Like, our most recent cat was given up for adoption because his previous owners had a baby. The cat wasn't even 1 when they turned him into the shelter and we believe that he's a Chartreux cat, which is an insanely expensive breed of cat to just be dumped in the shelter, especially because of a baby. He, too, was not neutered when he was surrendered. And, honestly, I'd love to know why his owners believed they couldn't have the cat and a baby because all he does is sleep in cardboard boxes all day long (appropriate considering we named him Schrodinger). I can't imagine giving up my animals, even if I lost my home, I'd sooner live in my car with my dog and the two cats than turn them into a shelter.

But, whatever, their previous owners lost out and we get to enjoy them for the rest of their lives.

Poodie cat is from the rescue and was fixed and fully immunised when we got him.He is an everyday grey stripey cat with lot's of character.I don't need fancy breeds , Poodie is the kids best friend....behaves quite frankly more like a dog, eg follows my little boy down to the beach when he goes fishing.I just wish he wouldn't always steal our food and sleep on the table when he thinks nobody is watching, lol.

SAF I didn't read all of the comments so maybe this was mentioned but I got my dogs spayed thru this organization- friendsofanimals.org

You go online and put in your zip code. They email you a list of vets in your area that participate in their program. You pay under $100 for the certificate. They mail it to you and you pick a vet on the list and pay nothing more!! It's a different price for males and females. I believe males were $65 and females were $90 but it may have changed.

I used the certificate for both of my pugs. My vet wanted $600 to do it!!

I agree owning a pet is a lifetime commitment to the pet. Get them spayed/neutered no exception. The Humane Society here spayed for I think $60.

My sweet girl coonhound is a rescue and the only way I would give her up is if my health failed to the point of hospital or nursing home, ie elderly.

Since I have no kids and SD doesn't love me, I am considering leaving my money to a no kill organization if DH is gone.

I adopted both of my dogs. I've always rescued dogs. DH and I are looking for property to build our house and I found 24 acres for an extremely reasonable price and it's only about 15 mins further out than we originally planned on going and DH said "No, because we will have a zoo a month after we move in" I love animals- whenever I see stories about animals being abused it literally makes me sick to my stomach. I like animals more than people.